Institute of Sociology
of the Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology
of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Shirokalova G. S. Favoritism. Is that a verdict? SocioTime



Shirokalova G. S. Favoritism. Is that a verdict? SocioTime / Social time, 2019, No. 2 (18), pp. 142-149.
ISSN 2410-0773
DOI 10.25686/2410-0773.2019.2.142
РИНЦ: https://www.elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=41353178

Posted on site: 27.04.20

Текст статьи на сайте журнала URL: https://www.volgatech.net/sociotime/Shirokalova%20G.%20S.%20Favoritism.%20Is%20that%20a%20sentence).pdf (дата обращения 27.04.2020)


Abstract

The need for awareness of modern Russian realities is actualized by the deformation of the value worlds of Russian society. Russian philosophers, sociologists, political scientists and social psychologists are actively and comprehensively studying this process. They identify cause-effect relationships that form the Russian population’s tolerance, slightly agitated only with pension reform introduction, which confirms the conclusions about the political passivity of a considerable part of the people, who focus not on the future, but on survival in conditions of social, economic and political instability here and now. The loss of Russian citizens’ subjectivity in the historical process is one of the results of introducing into the political life the new population management mechanisms developed by the social sciences in recent decades and actively used in Russia, especially during periods of election campaigns. But the former social institutions are also improving, and among them is the institute of favoritism. Analyzing the historical aspects of the favoritism phenomenon, the author comes to the conclusion: favoritism is eternal, favorites are random. Only theoretical identification of favoritism boundaries can contribute to network control over it from below. S. P. Paramonova in her monograph “The Role of Favoritism in the Social Process”2 uses an institutional methodological approach to the analysis of the social processes management mechanism, differentiated by the roles “leader - favorite” and typology of moral consciousness (individualism – collectivism).The author has chosen the generally accepted way: from the general philosophical study of the favoritism nature to the sociological specifics of the phenomenon. Exploring the nature of this phenomenon, Paramonova S. P. naturally raises the question: is favoritism objectively unavoidable due to human nature, or is it the result of spontaneity and imperfection of management, and perhaps, in general, an indicator of uncontrollability of social processes in society?