National consciousness. Abstract: National identity: concept, types

The article provides answers to the questions: what is the importance of language for building a civilization of creation; why the Russian language is the basis for building a civilization of creation in Russia; Why do the conscience and morality of a people depend on language? The division of speech into the language of truth (the language of creation) and the language of lies (the language of destruction) is described, and the meaning of such a division is explained. Attached to the article is a table distinguishing between the language of truth (the language of creation) and the language of lies (the language of destruction).

The importance of language in civilization building

It is impossible to build a creative society
using destructive concepts.

Every creator needs to improve in discernment,
expose manifestations of the language of destruction
and spread the language of truth - the language of creation.

Language is a system that enables communication and the transfer of information between people and even between generations separated by significant periods of time, for example, through writing and, nowadays, through film and other forms of technical recording. In addition, language is also the medium through which information is processed.

Languages ​​differ by place of origin: Russian, English, French and others. Also in the world, languages ​​are created for various fields of activity: the language of chemistry, physics, there is the language of programmers, medical workers, economists, bankers, there is the language of the criminal world and others. These languages ​​do not live in isolation and some concepts from narrow languages ​​gradually flow into the common speech of the majority of the population of a particular society.

Due to the system of concepts of a language, native speakers of this language have the opportunity to understand each other and unite in joint activities. There are also languages ​​that perform the function of hiding information; they are deliberately made incomprehensible to most people - they will be discussed below. In addition, the words of a particular language often, due to their emotional connotation, convey moral assessments for the phenomena denoted by these words.

For example, according to the language of affirmation and preservation of Sobriety, actively used by the sober movement in Russia, drinking alcohol is called “alcoholic self-poisoning” - words with a negative emotional connotation. The same process, in the language of the structures involved in taking away Sobriety, is called “drinking strong drinks,” “drinking beer, wine,” and other positively colored words. As you can see, you can describe the same phenomenon in a creative, truthful language, using the words “alcohol self-poisoning,” but when using the language of lies (the language of destruction), you can hide the harmful effects of alcohol by hiding it with the words “drinking.”

In turn, representatives of the civilization of creation are taking retaliatory measures to protect morality and increase the vitality of society by developing a creative terminological apparatus. An example of this is the language of affirmation and preservation of Sobriety, which became the basis for writing this work.

Thus, humanity has two comprehensive languages: the language of lies (the language of destruction) and the language of truth (the language of creation). By spreading the language of lies (language of destruction) among citizens

• the ability to understand surrounding events and predict their consequences is impaired,
• the morality of society is declining,
• Sobriety is taken away,
• natural family values ​​are being destroyed,

which makes it easier for narrow circles of a destructive-appropriating civilization to appropriate and acquire money. The language of lies (the language of destruction) reduces the viability of broad layers of humanity.

The second language, the language of truth (the language of creation), is distinguished by its intelligibility; the words in this language truthfully reflect the usefulness or harmfulness of certain phenomena for humanity, due to which the use of the language of truth allows people to build a just world order.

Words define morality

Each concept represents the relationship between a word and an image corresponding to the word. Moreover, what the image of the phenomenon will be in people’s minds, what people’s emotional and moral assessment of the phenomenon will be, largely depends on the word used. For example, the words “love”, “tenderness” have a soft, melodic consonance and these words form a favorable attitude towards the phenomena denoted by these words, but the words “nasty”, “anger”, “abomination” subconsciously evoke a negative assessment of the phenomena denoted by these words, this occurs largely unconsciously, due to the fact that these words have a harsh, rude sound. The words themselves help to understand our world based on the wisdom of the people accumulated in the language. The emotional coloring of words is an important aspect of constructing the language of creation.

The leading layers of a destructive-appropriating civilization understand this, and the violation of society’s understanding of reality plays into their hands. The substitution of concepts can be most clearly seen in the example of the promotion of sexual perversions. For example, according to reports from the “Forward, Citizens” community in Moscow at VDNKh in 2018, the early introduction of “sex education lessons in schools” was proposed, which is essentially the corruption of children. In these lessons, it is planned to introduce the concept of “gender” into the school curriculum instead of the usual concept of “sex”. Gender ideologists deny the concept of “sex” and introduce the concept of “gender” - something like “social sex”, that is, a semblance of sex chosen by a person independently, but this word does not have a clear definition. Thus, with the help of substitution of concepts, children of European countries are now being forced to doubt their gender, and they are trying to push the same thing in Russia. Also in these lessons on sexual depravity, the concepts of “homophobia” and “transphobia” are introduced, which equate people with natural family values ​​with sick people. Instead of the concepts of “sodomy”, “pederast”, “sexual pervert”, neutral or positively colored words such as “gay”, “homosexual” and others are now imposed on us. In this way, representatives of a destructive-appropriating civilization change the morality of people. The destruction of natural family values, first of all, begins with a change in language.

When a word that truly represents a phenomenon is replaced by another neutral or attractive word, according to the rules of Western science, this is called “euphemization.” This word comes from the Greek. ἐυφήμη – “prudence”, but in reality the word “euphemization” is also a manifestation of the language of lies, because this phenomenon does not bring anything “good” to society. For example, to refer to the murder of children in the womb, the inexpressive, abstract word “abortion” is used. At the same time, an unborn person is called a “fetus,” thereby equating it with inanimate objects (vegetables, fruits) and is deprived of any legislative protection - this substitution of concepts helps justify the permissibility of intrauterine murder of children. Destroyers in Western Europe and the United States of America go even further and propose to introduce into the legal field the concepts of “postpartum abortion” and “postnatal abortion”, covering with these words their proposals to allow parents to kill already born, including healthy children, at the request of parents.

Often now the word “cohabitation” is replaced with the words “civil marriage”. Initially, the expression “civil marriage” meant a marriage formalized in the relevant government authorities without the participation of the church. Cohabitation is not actually marriage, it is already a forgery. In addition, in order to preserve the morality and family values ​​of society, it is advisable for society to condemn extramarital affairs, therefore a word with a negative, condemning connotation should be used to designate them; therefore, it is unacceptable to call cohabitation “civil marriage.” Language is the basis of human morality.

Emotionally neutral, politically correct language, which often replaces creative concepts different cultures and peoples, often serves to conceal the destructive effects of many phenomena and helps the spread of these phenomena. Modern world-eaters have united and idealize their false language, calling it political correctness, while claiming the most benign names for themselves and their minions. For example, it is politically incorrect to call economic invaders invaders - now they are “investors.” It is not politically correct to say “sexual deviants”; supposedly one should say “persons with non-traditional sexual orientation”, “gays”. It is not politically correct to say “prostitute” or “whore” - now journalists call them “sex workers”, etc. By the way, the word “correctness” itself means tact, politeness, courtesy, but at the same time it means “accuracy, correctness, clarity." It turns out that if the use of a certain word is considered impolite in a certain circle of people, therefore, it is incorrect and “wrong”. It turns out that to determine what is politically correct, the truth is not needed - a word reflecting the truth can be declared incorrect if it does not correspond to the order accepted in a particular society. Therefore, it is better to use the concept of “correctness” instead of the concept of “correctness”. The word “correctness” is close in sound to the word “truth”, therefore what is called correct must correspond to the truth (objective reality).

By imposing a false language on society, representatives of a destructive-appropriating civilization change people’s thinking, systematically deprive people of the opportunity to understand what is good and what is evil; also, due to the imposition of “political correctness,” the intelligibility of information in general decreases. For example, we are now replacing the concept of “pressure” or “coercion” with the concept of “sanctions”. The word “sanctions” sounds soft, so it is quite calm for the means of forming public consciousness (SFOS) to talk about measures of pressure (sanctions) from the United States of America, calling them our “partners” - but this is a deception. Thus, with the help of the language of lies, they hide from us the weak, dependent position of Russia, and also retouch the true aggressive behavior of the United States of America. Politicians are specially trained to “smooth out” popular indignation by substituting concepts, as well as by introducing new concepts into speech.

If it is necessary to make a massive layoff of employees, then in destructive false language this is called the soft word “optimization,” as a result of which the vigilance of the creators is muffled.

Another example: bankers in Russia and the world are puzzled by how to force people to borrow at a significant interest rate as much and as often as possible. For this, it is very convenient to use the concept of “credit” instead of the true concepts of “usurious debt”, “interest-bearing debt” or “growing debt”. In addition, the expression “credit product” is now spreading, with the help of which citizens are given the feeling that lending money by a bank is not a service, but a type of product or product. When using the expression “credit product”, pawnbrokers and moneylenders take on the appearance of creative people engaged in the production of their “products”.

Understanding the properties of the emotional coloring of words allows everyone to understand and justify that a particular word belongs to the language of truth (the language of creation), or the language of lies (the language of destruction). How to apply this knowledge for creative purposes is described in detail in the last section of this work.

The Russian language is the basis for constructing the language of truth (the language of creation) in Russia

The Russian language is the state-forming language of Russia, it is the basis for the preservation and development of scientific, cultural, historical heritage Russia and the Soviet Union. The use of Russian words is important for citizens to understand the value of Russian culture and awaken love for the Motherland. The Russian language has many other advantages; in order to more accurately describe the meaning of the Russian language, let us compare it with English and with the so-called “international concepts”.

The meaning of some words in the Russian language is often more creative than the meaning of English words. For example, instead of the concept of “Motherland”, as fatherland, native country, in English the word “land” is used, that is, simply “land”.

Nowadays, the word “manager” is widely used. In the Russian Empire there was a profession called “manager”; it would seem, why invent and replace a Russian word with a foreign one? The word “management” itself contains the root “rule”, which is close to the expressions “to do right, to rule, to correct.” A similar root of “rights” is present in the words “righteous,” “truth,” “justice,” “justice.” A person called a “manager” or “manager” may subconsciously feel that he must change reality to the correct state, and his subordinates will expect the same from him. When the creative Russian word is replaced by the English-language “manager,” the concept of the high mission of a manager is blurred in the minds of people, which subsequently has a strong impact on the state of the entire society.

In addition to a more creative meaning, Russian words are advantageous for constructing the language of truth (the language of creation) due to the fact that in the Russian language word formation is easily traced by words with the same root, for example: the words “research” or “consequence” come from the word “trace” - the same Thus, any complex Russian word has a simpler, and most importantly, understandable basis. In the English language, which is actively propagated today, there is no systematic word formation, since many words in it are collected from Latin, Greek, French, Scandinavian and other languages. The continuity of word formation in the Russian language often allows us to figure out what this or that old or newly created word means, helps us to understand the relationships between the phenomena of life - this quality must be preserved.

The excessive polysemy of words that is characteristic of the English language is undesirable. There is ambiguity in the Russian language, but in English there is an order of magnitude more of it; it is characteristic of many English words, for example, the word “break”, according to the Google translator, has 85 meanings, including “to break”, “to lay”, “disperse”, “teach”, “train”, “weaken”, etc. Examples of English polysemy can be given for a very long time.

In addition, in English many words have the same sound but different spellings. The rules of reading in English are extremely vague and there are many exceptions; therefore, in addition to writing, the student has to remember the pronunciation of each word, for which it is customary to indicate the transcription in dictionaries. For example, one creator of a textbook for learning English counted five exceptions to seven rules for reading the letter “u” in various letter combinations. There is an English joke that it is only spelled "Manchester" but pronounced "Liverpool". The famous English linguist Max Muller rightly noted that English spelling is a national disaster. Partly as a result of this deficiency, dialects and dialects of the English language are proliferating in different parts of the world, which often makes mutual understanding difficult. Attempts are regularly made to change this situation, the most famous of them was undertaken by Bernard Shaw: he created a fund, with the help of which a competition was announced to create a new English alphabet with a clear correspondence between writing and pronunciation. This alphabet was created, it contains 40 letters, each of which corresponds to only one sound. Despite the advantages of B. Shaw's alphabet, they did not change the familiar, disordered English writing.

Due to the lack of clear reading rules, the quality of transmission, reception of information and thinking based on the English language decreases. Having clear rules for reading and pronunciation in the Russian language is of great value.

Russian is a figurative language - most Russian words have a clear relationship in our minds with the phenomena denoted by these words. For example, when teaching sciences presented in Russian, students rarely need dictionaries - Russian speech makes it easier to understand the meaning of what is written, the boundaries of the use of Russian words are often intuitively clear. The same cannot be said for teaching based on international concepts, which requires careful memorization of word definitions. Foreign words are often too abstract, which makes it difficult to connect a foreign word with its corresponding image. In this regard, many people who write texts use words whose meaning they do not always understand, or understand the meaning of words differently than readers understand these words, as a result of which the writer’s thought can be detached from the text he is creating. Reading such texts sometimes brings nothing but a headache. In addition, due to speech incomprehensible to the majority, a significant part of the information becomes accessible only to a narrow circle of people who have studied a set of concepts specific to a particular area for a long time. In this way, information is hidden from the uninitiated (from “non-specialists”), which helps build a society in which narrow layers of a destructive-appropriating civilization will dominate. In addition to hiding information, representatives of a destructive-appropriating civilization often deceive people with words that do not have precise definitions, for example, “gender”, “tolerance”, “democracy” and others. These words are introduced into laws and sciences, but they do not have a clear definition, which opens up great opportunities for the creation of false ideals and other types of deception.

Communication in Russia at all levels, especially in the political environment, must be conducted in the Russian literary language; replacing Russian words with foreign ones is unacceptable, because:

• Russian words are most often figurative, precise and understandable;
• the meaning of Russian words is fixed in dictionaries, therefore, communication at any level can be built on the basis of the Russian literary language;
• the approval of the rules of communication in Russian words in the political environment, in the economy and other areas significantly facilitates popular control over the activities of government officials, and also facilitates the entry into power of the indigenous peoples of Russia;
• communicating in Russian words makes it difficult for foreign interference in Russian politics;
• many foreign words from managers, scientists and others through journalists, the education system, the Internet, television, etc., pass into the common speech of the entire society. This changes the system of people’s life values ​​and fosters disrespect for the Russian language and Russian culture. As the “tops” say, many other people tend to speak the same way, therefore, at the highest state level, communication should be conducted in Russian;
• language determines the value system and thinking. Thinking based on the Russian language is more creative, in contrast to thinking based on the international concepts implanted in us.

Beware of office stuff!

Some officials, in order to avoid answering questions that are inconvenient for them, often begin to tell the people a lot of unknown, as well as overly abstract, confusing words and expressions. In this case, there may be no meaning at all in the speaker’s speeches, but due to the incomprehensibility, it will seem to many listeners that this is a “highly qualified specialist” whom they cannot understand due to their lack of education and “misunderstanding of terminology.” A clear manifestation of the language of lies (the language of destruction) is clericalism. The apt word “office worker” was created by K. Chukovsky - it sounds like the name of a disease that affects our speech.

“So what is he, a clerk? He has very precise signs that are common to both translated and domestic literature.

This is the displacement of a verb, that is, movement, action, by a participle, a gerund, a noun (especially verbal!), which means stagnation, immobility. And of all verb forms, there is a predilection for the infinitive.

This is a pile-up of nouns in oblique cases, most often long chains of nouns in the same case - the genitive, so that it is no longer possible to understand what refers to what and what is being discussed.

This is an abundance of foreign words where they can easily be replaced with Russian words.

This is the displacement of active revolutions by passive ones, which are almost always heavier and more cumbersome.

This is a heavy, confused structure of phrases, incomprehensibility. Countless subordinate clauses, doubly ponderous and unnatural in colloquial speech.

This is dullness, monotony, weariness, cliche. Poor, meager vocabulary: both the author and the characters speak the same dry, official language. Always, without any reason or need, they prefer a long word to a short one, an official or bookish one to a colloquial one, a complex one to a simple one, a stamp to a living image.”

Such speech was ridiculed by Ilf and Petrov:

“The task, for example, is as follows:

- Sweep the streets.

Instead of immediately carrying out this order, the strong guy makes a mad fuss about him. He throws out the slogan:

“It’s time to start the fight to sweep the streets.”

The fight is on, but the streets are not swept. The next slogan takes things even further:

– Let’s join the campaign to organize the struggle to sweep the streets.

Time passes, the strong guy does not sleep, and new commandments are posted on the unswept streets:

“Everything to carry out the plan to organize a campaign to fight for sweeping.”

And finally, at the last stage, the initial task completely disappears, and only passionate, shrill babbling remains.

– Shame on the disrupters of the campaign for the struggle to implement the plan for organizing the campaign of struggle.

Everything is clear. It's not done. However, the appearance of desperate activity is preserved. And a strong guy leaves for Yalta to repair his broken body.”

This example is an exaggeration, but you and I are constantly being given the appearance of vigorous and well-intentioned activity with the help of “international”, “business” and “weighty” words.

Dry, confused speech often helps dishonest officials, economists, and bankers to deceive the people and trade in the Motherland, while maintaining the appearance of constructive actions. For example, the most destructive laws in Russia, as a rule, have quite plausible names, in particular, the law according to which in 2018, for the majority of Russian residents, retirement was postponed by 5 years, has an ordinary, camouflage name: “ Federal law“On amendments to certain legislative acts Russian Federation on issues of assignment and payment of pensions” - millions of people will go hungry and beggar because of this, but the title is just “about changes in individual legislative acts.” Another example: the 2014 law on the transfer of some Russian lands to foreign states for next to nothing for a long period of time is called “On territories of rapid socio-economic development in the Russian Federation.” Konstantin Paustovsky, in one of his articles, examines the influence of such a language and concludes: “...only our cruelest enemy could call this language Russian.” The office was and is being built through a special structure of sentences, and also largely on the basis of foreign words. Even Peter I, who zealously implanted the European in Russia, was forced to restrain the introduction of foreign words and other manifestations of clericalism, demanding that his subjects write “as intelligibly as possible.” He said to one of his ambassadors: “In your communications you use a lot of Polish and other foreign words and terms, from which it is impossible to understand the matter itself: for this reason, from now on you should write all your communications to us in Russian, without using foreign words and terms.” .

Scientists also speak in office. Applying in scientific work various “terms” and a confusing structure of sentences can gain the approval of professors, create the appearance of scientificity in its absence, but even if there is a useful innovation in scientific work, the majority of compatriots do not recognize it. Instead of scientific luminaries, thus, we often end up with “scientific obscurities.” With the help of dry, official speech with streamlined formulations it is easy to engage in fraud, but you will not be able to reach people and kindle hearts for good deeds using such language.

It is possible and necessary to speak in simple and precise Russian words, to create documents written in simple Russian, especially since the meaning of Russian words is enshrined in many dictionaries. In some cases, generalizing expressions of clericalism may be needed for bureaucratic and scientific speech, but even in business papers they should be used minimally, since clericalisms in large quantities lead to various speech errors and distortions, make the text difficult to understand, and facilitate deception. Subsequently, through journalists, films, school textbooks, etc., such stultifying, dead speech becomes common. Unfortunately, now clericalism is everywhere: it is served to us through television screens, newspapers, radio, and is created using dry, dead speech. works of art and school textbooks. Nowadays you can often hear how people, communicating in everyday life with their loved ones and acquaintances, instead of using the word “say” - “inform”, instead of simply “doing” - “take measures”, instead of “opportunity” they say “functional”, instead of responding to something they react, instead of condemning they express criticism, instead of observing they monitor, instead of advice they give recommendations and advise, etc. Many foreign words introduced into the Russian language are a manifestation of clericalism , since they give speech a distant, formal sound, and often make speech less understandable.

Previously, foreign words were used mainly among scientists, officials, and among representatives of individual specialties when solving their work problems, but the languages ​​of small groups do not live in isolation, so now these foreign words are being replaced by Russian in all types of communication. As a result of foreign innovations, the Russian language, with rare exceptions, is not enriched, but, on the contrary, becomes poorer. Bright, figurative, living words can now not often be heard or read, for example, the words “sarcastically, caustically, caustically”, even the word “mockery” is now rarely found - they are replaced by the same word “irony”. The abundance of foreign substitutions in the language prevents people from understanding what is happening to them and around them, for example, when a person is asked: “What’s wrong with you?” - he answers: “I’m depressed.” The word “depression” is abstract, sounds like the name of a disease and makes a person think that he needs to be treated for this “disease”; medications for this case are also produced - antidepressants, as a result, sometimes not even the person himself can understand what is happening to him, neither his interlocutor can help him. But if a person said instead of “depression” the expressions “I’m depressed...”, or “I’m depressed that...”, or the word “longing”, then this would be a reason to think about who or what he yearns for, why he depressed, come to the cause of the serious condition and eliminate it.

Many generations of our ancestors, Russian writers, did not create the rich literary Russian language so that we could use dry, inexpressive, streamlined words. Vladimir Dahl’s explanatory dictionary of the living Great Russian language contains about 200 thousand words; instead of this wealth, we are offered to switch to a set of several thousand words and expressions, many of which are dry and abstract. To clear your thoughts and speech from clericalism, we advise you to read Nora Gal’s book “The Living and Dead Word,” as well as the chapter “Clerical Law” from Korney Chukovsky’s book “Alive as Life” and, of course, the classic works of Russian writers.

In order to build society in a creative direction, it is necessary to make information as accessible and understandable to the people as possible, this is especially important for the political and economic areas. If the speech of politicians, economists, bankers is filled with a lot of abstract, incomprehensible words, if a confused structure of proposals from the office is used, then this creates opportunities for fraud, deception of the people, this deprives the majority of citizens of the opportunity to control the work of government bodies and influence it.

What to do?

We need to affirm and preserve a simple, expressive, living, creative language in all areas of public life instead of a lying and dead destructive language. To do this, you need to use predominantly Russian words in your speech and remove manifestations of clericalism from your speech. The concepts of the language of lies (the language of destruction) can also be created on the basis of the Russian language, but most often destructive concepts are introduced into our speech from foreign languages, so often, in order to express ourselves in a truthful, creative language, we only need to translate destructive concepts into Russian. If there is no suitable Russian word, then you need to create it, but if this fails, then a foreign word can be used to build a creative concept, and it is important that it carries the correct emotional, correct moral assessment of the phenomenon it denotes.

“A word can kill, a word can save,
With a word you can lead the shelves!”
V.S. Shefner

Language is the basis of people's thinking. People think in words, use words to designate and generalize the phenomena of reality in their minds, and evaluate them. Thus, language is a computational system: if you use the language of truth, which accurately reflects the essence of phenomena, then humanity, based on this language, will come to correct, creative conclusions and actions; If the language of lies is used, in which the evil is presented as useful and the good is humiliated, then people will be led to erroneous conclusions and destructive actions.

For example, now political correctness is being instilled in the world. At the heart of political correctness is the ideal of using words and expressions that supposedly will not offend any small or large associations based on race, income level, sexual perversion and other characteristics. With this approach, the truth is made unnecessary, truthful words are prohibited from being spoken by the demands of observing political correctness. In response to this, we, the creators, need to use the division of speech into the language of truth (the language of creation) and the language of lies (the language of destruction) - this is a good way to defend the truth and creative ideas. The division of speech into the language of truth (the language of creation) and the language of lies (the language of destruction) is based on the ideal of truth, no matter how difficult and offensive it may be for someone. Honest people agree with the truth. Truth is a value for most. Therefore, if your interlocutor, for example, during a public discussion of something says the word of the language of lies (the language of destruction), you need to point out to him that he used the word of the language of lies, explain why this word is false and destructive, then call on the interlocutor and those around them to use the corresponding word of the language of truth (the language of creation). By acting this way, creators will no longer have to make excuses for their political incorrectness - other people will have to make excuses for using the language of lies and destruction.

Each of us needs to monitor our speech and the speech of those around us, we need to think about what images this or that word will form in people’s minds. It is impossible to build a creative society using the words of the language of lies (the language of destruction). It will not be possible to convey the truth to people with such words - it will be initially distorted, and therefore they will not understand it. For example, one cannot effectively assert Sobriety by calling alcohol a drink; It will not be possible to defend Russia by calling yourself a quilted jacket; won't be able to defend family values, calling himself a homophobe, and homosexuals - gays, etc. It is almost impossible to add your own meaning to imposed destructive words: people will understand them in the same way as they were used to before.

Often, people do not use destructive concepts on purpose, but due to the fact that destructive language is persistently implanted in the surrounding information space, many people simply do not know how to speak correctly. Therefore, we should express our wishes for the use of the language of truth in a polite form wherever possible: in a guest book in any institution, under an article or video material on the Internet, in personal communication, at public events, etc. Translation of destructive information influences into simple, truthful, creative language almost always deprives them of their destructive power, so every creator needs to improve in discernment, expose the manifestations of the language of destruction and spread the language of truth - the language of creation.

Table with examples of distinguishing between the language of truth (the language of creation) and the language of lies (the language of destruction)

National identity is a set of views and attitudes, opinions and assessments that express the ideas of members of a national-ethnic community about their history and prospects for their future development, as well as their place among other similar groups.

National identity includes two components:

• 1. Rational (awareness of oneself as part of a nation).
• 2. Emotional (unconscious empathy for one’s unity with other representatives of the national-ethnic group).

National identity is the core of national consciousness. It acts as a core system of evaluative relations and rational-value concepts necessary for the appropriate self-determination of a person in spiritual and socio-political life.

In contrast to national consciousness, which reflects the generalized ideas of a given national-ethnic group, national identity is a more individual concept, expressing primarily the level at which a member of a community has learned the importance of self-awareness.

Having understood the basics of the concept of national identity, I would like to touch on the next, important topic. When and how did this phenomenon begin to form?

The genesis of national self-awareness is a long historical process, multi-level and very uneven in the course of its development. Initially, in historical terms, the emergence of the rudiments of national self-awareness occurred at the everyday level. It was associated with the action of one of the basic socio-psychological mechanisms of development human consciousness in general, with the formation and rooting in the psyche of representatives of a particular community of the antithesis “us” and “them”. Awareness of oneself as a member of a certain group, of integrity (“we”) is precisely built through opposition to representatives of another group - a certain “they”.

The basis of the antithesis “we” - “they” is usually one or more of the most pronounced features characteristic of “them” as opposed to “us”. This may be a physical appearance (different appearance, facial features, etc.) or cultural characteristics (different language, customs, traditions, etc.).

There may be religious beliefs(other idols, totems, gods, religion) or socio-economic structure (another method of social production and way of life, nomadic or sedentary, agricultural or pastoral, etc.). Such signs can also be a political structure (other ways of organizing power and management) or an ideological doctrine (other value systems). The combination of several of these characteristics in one, opposite national-ethnic group automatically elevates them to the status of negative (they differ from “us”, therefore “they” are bad, and “we” are good). And, sadly, such views are absolutely mutual for both sides.

Later, such antipathy develops into hatred on, say, religious grounds. And this is one step before war.

There are plenty of examples of this at the political level. Let's look at a lesser-known, but no less typical one. Thus, J. Peron carried out his coup in Argentina in 1944, relying on the slogan of a “national revolution” that would build a society of justice that would have the strength to resist both American imperialism and international Bolshevism. He spoke of a special “society of vertical trade unions,” subordinated to national rather than class principles, and achieved victory.

The development of national self-awareness is not linear, but rather wave-like in nature. Its ups and downs are determined by the format of the national-ethnic group. It is known: the smaller the community, the more acutely the problems of national identity are experienced in it, and the more likely its sharp outbursts are. On the contrary, the larger such a community, the more confident its representatives feel, the less concern they have about these problems, and the less likely their sudden aggravation. Representatives of a large nation, as a rule, do not need constant confirmation and self-affirmation of their national identity. Issues related to it have long been resolved on an appropriate state-political basis. Therefore, it is natural that they are concerned about a wider range of national problems.

If we talk about the meaning of national consciousness in political terms, it has a dual role. On the one hand, this can become a progressive process leading to the rapid development of community. However, such a tendency can lead to idealization and absolutization of the nation itself. A national-ethnic community may begin to put itself above others and ultimately come to the idea of ​​destroying everyone in whom they find even slight differences. History knows several such examples.

Otherwise, on the other hand, the development of national self-awareness may turn into its opposite - the decline of value-semantic structures of consciousness to lower levels, the denial of values ​​belonging to communities of a higher order - for example, universal ones, the reduction of consciousness to a narrow framework, such as racism .

University: VZFEI

Year and city: Barnaul 2009

Work plan:
Introduction 3
1. The concept of self-awareness 4
2. National identity, concept, types, functions 5
3. The difference between national consciousness and national identity. Development of national identity. 10
4. Mentality 11
Conclusion 14
References: 15

Introduction

In Russian ethnopsychology and ethnosociology, the main subject of theoretical and empirical research has long been ethnic (national) self-awareness - individuals’ awareness of their own belonging to a particular ethnic community. The traditions of studying ethnic (national) identity in Russian science have a broad theoretical and empirical basis. Later, a broader concept of “ethnic consciousness” was identified, which describes the entire set of ideas of members of an ethnic community about their own and other ethnic groups, including socio-psychological attitudes and stereotypes. In this understanding, ethnic self-awareness is part of ethnic consciousness, reflecting the perception and idea of ​​individuals about themselves as representatives of a particular ethnic community.

The object of study of this work is self-awareness, first of all its concept and essence. The subject of the study is national (ethnic) identity, types of national identity and its functions.

1. The concept of self-awareness

An important psychological condition for the identity of a person is his self-awareness. It is thanks to self-awareness that a person develops a fairly stable and permanent concept of himself, of his value.

In psychology, self-awareness is understood as psychic phenomenon, a person’s awareness of himself as a subject of activity, as a result of which a person’s ideas about himself are formed into a mental “image of the Self.”

In philosophy, self-awareness is awareness of oneself by consciousness, reflection of consciousness regarding oneself. Self-awareness is simultaneously understood both as an act (activity) of reflection by consciousness of oneself and as a result of this reflection - knowledge of oneself. Self-awareness is the condition that consciousness preserves itself in time - maintains itself as the same consciousness. At the same time, they talk about the unity of self-awareness. In turn, the unity of self-consciousness is the condition for any unity in the world. In strictly philosophical sense consciousness always exists - it can neither begin nor stop, since in a strictly philosophical sense it is understood as the very condition for constructing the world, as the very way of being and givenness of the world.

Self-consciousness is understood as the unity of the subject underlying all consciousness.

2. National identity, concept, types, functions

The problem of national identity has become relevant in Russian psychology and philosophy over the past 20 years.

National self-awareness is the level of individual and social consciousness, a set of ideas, traditions and concepts of a nation that make it possible to reproduce this community of people as a whole and classify each individual as a given social integrity. In other words, national identity is one of the forms of expression of the identity of the people and their representatives, due to the unity of their origin.

Some believe that the concept of “national identity” includes people’s awareness of belonging to a given ethnic group; according to others, it has a deeper content and implies the attitude of individuals to ethnic values, the experience of belonging to a given ethnic group. It manifests itself in objective actions, judgments, spiritual creativity people, their likes and dislikes, needs and attitudes.

It is necessary to distinguish between ethnic self-awareness and the self-awareness of an ethnic community. Ethnic (national) self-awareness is not only the consciousness of belonging to a particular ethnic group, but also a person’s awareness of his actions, feelings, thoughts, values, motives of behavior, interests. The self-awareness of an ethnic (national) community is the idea of ​​a certain identity of its members. It also contains ideas about the typical features of “one’s” community: its properties and achievements as a whole. In contrast to the ethnic (national) self-awareness of an individual, the self-awareness of an ethnic (national) community (like all forms of social consciousness) exists not only at the level of the individual, but also subpersonally, including in objectified forms of social consciousness: in language, in works folk art, professional art, scientific literature, norms of morality and law.

National identity is historically formed in the process of formation of a nation, through the awareness of representatives of an ethnic group of their origin and organic connection with their cultural and national roots, recognition of the original nature of their native culture, language, national characteristics, mentality and a sense of national solidarity.

National identity is a reflection of the social consciousness of a particular ethnic community. G.V. Starovoitova defined ethnic self-awareness “as a certain layer of social consciousness, which is limited by the framework of everyday experience, enshrined in customs and traditions, and includes a direct reflection practical activities, morals and customary law, ethnic norms and mores, ideas about their ethnicity, on a certain scale that correlates this ethnic group with others.”

The development of problems of national identity at the present stage is given much attention in the works of social scientists such as Y. Bromley, L. Drobizheva, M. Dzhunusova, S. Kaltachyan, K. Khababulin and others.

From the point of view of L. Drobizheva, modern understanding national identity is associated with a developed self-awareness, in which all or most members of a community have “historical knowledge about their people, developed under the influence of state ideology or leading groups, a certain attitude towards its values, and are ready to act in the name of common goals and interests, i.e. there is a consciousness of the interests of one’s nation, one’s people.”

So, national identity is an awareness of belonging to a certain ethnic community, formed at the level of everyday consciousness, the stability of which is determined by the community of origin, national language, ethnic way of life, characteristics of culture and behavior.

One of the stable elements of national identity is national feeling. National feelings express not only the emotional attitude towards one’s own ethnic reality, but also “the nature of interethnic relations, wars, conquests, national expansion, etc.”

Depending on the depth of development, national feelings in different nations manifest themselves in different ways and at different levels. They reflect the specific living conditions of an ethnic group, its way of life and culture. The stability of national feelings is determined by the stability of the factors that bring them to life.

National feelings are closely related to customs and traditions as the most generalized norms and principles of social relations, passed down from generation to generation and protected by the power of public opinion (A.K. Aliyev, N.S. Sarsenbaev, N.D. Dzhandildin, etc. ).

Customs and traditions are interconnected, interdependent and mutually transferable. Custom cannot exist without tradition, and vice versa.

National traditions- these are historically established views and feelings of people, characterized by relatively strong continuity and stability, enshrined in the customs and rules of their behavior. These norms or patterns of behavior, rooted in family, everyday or national relations, are characteristic of groups of peoples close in their historical past, language, and culture. Consequently, customs and traditions - the most stable phenomena of national self-awareness - are developed in the process of long evolution, passed on from generation to generation and firmly fixed in the minds of people, becoming their spiritual need and acting as a powerful means of uniting and uniting people. National traditions and customs participate in the formation of ideals, tastes, needs of an individual and his worldview. As social phenomena, they participate in the formation of an individual’s life attitudes and beliefs, influencing the individual’s motivational activity.

In accordance with national attitudes, people specifically perceive the current circumstances and act in a nationally unique way when communicating with representatives of other nationalities. For the first time, L.M. defined the national attitude. Drobizheva: national attitude is the readiness of a representative of a certain nation for a unique action and behavior in interethnic contacts.

Thus, national attitudes are an integral part of a person’s national self-awareness, form a certain mood, bring to life the corresponding social norms stereotypes of behavior and actions.

The nature of national identity can be explored through knowledge of the functions that it performs.

1. Regulatory function national self-awareness is carried out due to the predominant influence of national specific thinking on the nature of perception and assessment of the situation of activity.
2. Cognitive function national identity is expressed in the presence of specific cognitive and intellectual qualities that are different from those of representatives of other national communities. The cognitive function of national self-awareness manifests itself in the attitude of an individual, a group, an entire nation to national history, language, system of values ​​that have developed over the lives of many generations.
3. Adaptive function national self-awareness is expressed not only in the adaptation of the body to specific conditions of activity, but also in fixed ways of behavior and activity. Thanks to this function, the individual’s entry into the world of nationally colored and spiritual values, norms, attitudes, and habits is ensured.

The phenomenon of national self-awareness is associated with the process of identifying ethnospecific elements of material, social and spiritual culture. The functions of national self-awareness are in fixing specific, national-psychological traits and psychological separation or, on this basis, contrasting one national community with another. Thus, national identity influences the nature and specificity of the activities performed, the actions and behavior of representatives of a particular ethnic community.

3. The difference between national consciousness and national identity. Development of national identity.

The difference between national consciousness and national identity
in terms of content, it consists in the formation of ideas, images, knowledge not only about one’s own community, but also about other communities. In other words, in contrast to national self-awareness, in the national consciousness the formation of ideas, images, and knowledge occurs not only about one’s own community, as in national self-awareness, but also about other communities.

However, this does not mean that national identity and national consciousness are correlated as part and whole. The dialectic of their interaction
deeper and more complex. Having much in common, being in unity, they are, however, not identical. This unity is dialectical, including difference in both content and form.
The difference in form is that national self-consciousness manifests itself both at the level of the individual and at the level of the nation, while national consciousness, as a rule, at the level of the nation, i.e. the subject of national self-consciousness is the individual and
national community, while the subject of national consciousness is the nation. The difference between national self-awareness and national consciousness is also that in the former the emotional factor plays a large role. This circumstance determines the place that both of these categories occupy in the structure of public consciousness.

National identity is structural element national psychology, which is part of social psychology and manifests itself mainly at the level of everyday consciousness. National consciousness is not part of national psychology; it, as a rule, manifests itself and functions at the theoretical level of social consciousness. Naturally, these facets in the very structure of social consciousness are conditional and mobile. The most important pattern in the development of national self-awareness is its determination by the socio-economic and historical conditions of the nation’s life. The growth of national self-awareness occurs in a contradictory, sometimes painful way, which is associated with its own contradictory nature. Important side in the development of national self-awareness is the relationship between the national and the universal, national and universal human values. It is also important to emphasize one more point related to the formation of national identity. The fact is that there is a specificity in the formation of national identity associated with the number of national communities, i.e. large and small
nations. National feelings, as well as the national self-awareness of small peoples, are especially acute. And this factor must be taken into account most seriously when pursuing national policy. The process of forming national identity is associated with the development of national languages. Language is the most important element of national culture. The development of the national language acts as a prerequisite for the development of national identity.

4. Mentality

IN lately in historical, socio-psychological and philosophical literature, the concept of mentality receives citizenship rights, the definition of which is either not found at all in encyclopedic and educational publications, or, if present, is rather approximate.

Mentality is the most fundamental and deep, and therefore least changeable, in the social psychology of a large social group (class, nation, etc.), while political and ideological influence on it is relatively short-lived and leads only to quantitative, intradimensional changes mentality.

The human mentality is characterized by the diversity and richness of its components: socio-cultural factors ( social life and its structures), natural factors (the natural sphere of human habitation and his own nature), conscious factors (conscious and assessed by a person), unconscious factors (subconscious), rational factors (science, philosophy, ideology), emotional and psychological factors (attitudes, affects), social factors (coming from society, sociality), individual factors (whose roots are in the intimate depths of the individual).

The human mentality is characterized by integrity, the presence of a certain quality core. All the factors that make up the mentality merge into a certain alloy, a structure that determines the individual’s predisposition to think, feel and perceive the world in a certain way, act in a certain way, prefer or reject certain values, cultural codes, etc. In other words, mentality acts as a certain basis for a person’s holistic way of life, determining both consciously and unconsciously the entire line of human life.

A person’s mentality develops over a long period of time. The history of the society in which a person lives, traditions, cultural codes, standards of behavior, style of thinking - all this has been developing over centuries. And all these factors influence a person, settle in him, turn into features of his mentality.

The human mentality is deeply stable in nature. Mentality can be described as a stationary basis human being, which allows him to endlessly modify his behavior while remaining the same.

The human mentality, being the basis of his being, acts as an active factor in human life. It encourages a person to take certain actions, follow certain values, prefer certain culture, way of thinking and feeling. Mentality is the basis for a person’s repulsion of everything that is alien to him, rejection of certain standards of behavior, ideas, etc. Mentality very powerfully determines the entire line of human behavior in life.

Although the formation of mentality is influenced by a huge and diverse set of factors, mentality does not act as their simple consequence, a simple projection into the personal-individual form of existence of these factors. The human mentality has its own qualitative diversity, and it exists, develops, and functions precisely according to the laws of its own qualitative nature.

Conclusion

National identity is one of the properties of a nation, which is often of decisive importance for distinguishing a nation from others. The development of national identity allows a nation to stand out and take shape as a historically established stable group of people, which at one time arose on the basis of a common language, territory of residence, economic life, culture and original character. National self-awareness is a process of self-knowledge and development of the national-cultural identity of a nation, as well as a property of a person that allows him to personally decide for himself which nation he belongs to.

The phenomenon of national identity in the form of ethnic mythology arises in the early stages of human history. Its main function is to create the mental and socio-political unity of ethnic entities. The structure of national self-consciousness includes elements of the unconscious, including various archetypes and stereotypes.

After the collapse of the USSR, the national identity of Russia unexpectedly for many politicians became extremely important. Many national entities have chosen the path of autonomy and self-determination. Practice has shown that such self-awareness does not include the entire social integrity; on its basis it is not possible to resolve social contradictions that exist in reality. As a result, instead of national unification in order to reform the former superpower, in reality the trend of national separatism is intensifying, leading to the weakening of all subjects of national relations and social degradation. In particular, military confrontation, which threatens national destruction, is unacceptable.

Thus, the study of national identity has theoretical and practical significance for the development of society.

List of used literature:

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19 What is national consciousness and national identity? What should be understood by the national idea?

National consciousness is a complex modernized system of spiritual phenomena that are formed in the process historical development nation and accordingly reflect the basic principles of its existence.

This concept covers a wide range of processes, ideas, aspirations, which as a whole form the spiritual universe of the nation. Its essence lies in the unity of the individual and the general.

In the national consciousness, three main levels of functioning are clearly distinguished: the everyday (at which numerous stereotypes and attitudes are recorded, mainly associated with idealized and mythologized interpretations of the historical development of the nation, as well as with an inferiority complex); theoretical (scientific-based ideas and concepts are formed that characterize the intellectual potential of the nation); state-political (ensures the functioning of consciousness). The national idea is formed at the theoretical level, and at the state-political level the process of crystallization of national interests occurs.

The most important functions of national consciousness include: reflective, cognitive, consolidating and communicative. They provide self-knowledge and self-comprehension of the individual and the nation through the system spiritual development. It is through the implementation of these functions that trends in ethnonational development and common goals are determined. Consequently, national consciousness is capable of integrating national, religious and ethnic interests.

Recognizing important role national consciousness in the process of creating a state, we note that national revival is not just the people’s awareness of their ethnic unity and national uniqueness. It is connected with the entire purposeful process of life of people of a particular nation, the formation of personality as a subject of national consciousness.

Modern scientists consider the main characteristics of the Ukrainian national consciousness to be its integrity, universalism, systematicity, structural stability, receptivity to innovation, geopolitical balance, ethnocultural pluralism, relativism (obtaining knowledge through combination, comparison and contrast different positions, i.e. in this way, not unanimity is achieved, but objectivity and impartiality), conservatism and energy.

National identity is the awareness by a community or individual of its national identity. It is associated with the self-identification of a nation, based on state, political, and civil self-identification.

National identity can be an active factor in the creation of a state. Its conceptual essence is the concentration of the national spirit in the plane of self-development and the formation of the state will of the people. After all, only by realizing ourselves as a nation can we take our rightful place among the countries of Europe.

It is important to understand the concept of “identity,” which means that a person or group of people belongs to a certain community, identifying oneself with its normative and functional characteristics and the willingness to become a representative of the latter. The main types of identity: individual and collective, social-functional, real and imaginary, permanent and temporary, marginal and stable.

The process of relating an individual or group (community) with a specific activity or substantial and institutional sphere is identification. The result of this process is identity.

In ethnic identity, the main role is played by objective identities (main, essential indicators): racial (anthropological), cultural (speech), psychological (mentality). Ethnic identity is always objective, even if a person is not aware of himself.

The main role in national identity is played by subjective identities - socio-political factors, interests, prospects. National identity is dynamic. This is a conscious choice.

A component of national identity is the national idea - the idea of ​​a nation as a multi-ethnic community living in a common territory and having a common citizenship. Such a community has its own goal, united by a common historical destiny, language, cultural traditions.

Speaking about the national idea, we mean a certain battery of progressive national programs, political ideas, slogans and values. The national idea determines theoretical foundations national consciousness.

But national inferiority is a forgetting of national identity, loss of pride in one’s nation, an indifferent attitude towards national achievements, a deep distrust of the state, authorities, parties, reforms.

Modern researchers of the national idea consider it necessary to take into account the following factors:

Psychological characteristics of the Ukrainian people, their mentality;

Universal human needs (physiological, security, social connections, self-esteem) and values ​​(truth, justice, love, pluralism, freedom of thought, choice and action, freedom of creativity);

The eternal desire of man for improvement, perfection, the assimilation of universal human values;

The objective need for the consolidation of the people.

The Ukrainian national idea, based on national and universal humanitarian values, should become the conceptual core of the strategy of humanitarian development as the spiritual and moral quintessence of the national identity of Ukrainians and other ethnic groups of Ukraine connected with them by a common historical destiny.

National consciousness

a complex set of social, political, economic, moral, aesthetic, philosophical, religious and other views and beliefs that characterize a certain level of spiritual development of a nation.

N.s. is a product of the long historical development of an ethnic community. The central component of N. s. is national identity. In the structure of N. s. in addition to national self-awareness, there are other elements (for example, the nation’s awareness of the need for its unity, as well as the integrity and cohesion of the nation in the name of realizing national interests; understanding of the need to ensure good neighborly relations with other socio-ethnic communities; the nation’s conscious attitude towards its material and spiritual values ​​and etc.).

N.s. exists both at the level of theoretical consciousness (in the form of the ideology of nationalism) and at the level of everyday consciousness. Structural components N.s. at these levels are different. If the theoretical N.s. is a scientifically formalized, systematized structure consisting of ideological views, ideas, programs, norms, values, etc., then the ordinary level of N.S. includes needs, interests, value orientations, attitudes, stereotypes, feelings, moods, customs, etc. All these components are in close unity; they are dialectically interconnected with each other. It should be noted that ordinary national consciousness is the main psychological basis of various kinds of interethnic tensions and conflicts, since it is in it that national prejudices, negative attitudes, and national intolerance are formed.

National consciousness captures the awareness of an ethnos, people or nation of its socio-ethnic community as a kind of single organism. This community is conscious and stems from two main objective conditions (reasons) - natural and material factors and spiritual superiority. As part of the public consciousness of N. s. is a set of social, moral, political, economic, aesthetic, religious and philosophical views that characterize the content, level and features of the spiritual development of nations.

Ethnopsychological Dictionary. - M.: MPSI. V.G. Krysko. 1999.

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• Facets of Russian self-awareness. Empire, national consciousness, messianism and Byzantineism in Russia, Vakhtang Surguladze. The book, on the basis of a civilizational approach to history and consideration of society, analyzes the features of the formation and further evolution of Russian national and cultural identity.…