Chekhov raises questions about the value of human life, about the moral obligation of a person to the people, about the meaning of human life. Anton Pavlovich Chekhov wrote: “Everything in a person should be beautiful: face, clothes, soul, and thoughts.” This desire to see people as simple, beautiful and harmonious explains Chekhov's intransigence towards vulgarity, towards moral and spiritual limitations.
The hero of the story "Ionych" is a young man full of vague but bright hopes, with ideals and desires for something lofty. But love failure turned him away from striving for a clean, reasonable life. He lost all spiritual interests and aspirations. From his consciousness disappeared the time when simple human feelings were characteristic of him: joy, suffering, love. We see how a person, smart, progressive-minded, hardworking, turns into an inhabitant, into a “living dead man”. Such heroes of Chekhov as Ionych are losing that human nature that nature endowed them with.
A remarkable story by A.P. Chekhov "Gooseberry". The hero of the story is an official, a kind, meek person. The dream of his whole life was the desire to have a "manor" with gooseberries. It seemed to him that this was enough for complete happiness. But Chekhov's idea of real human happiness is different. “It is customary to say that a person needs only three arshins of land ... A person needs not three arshins of land, not a manor, but the whole globe, all nature, where in the open he could show all the properties and characteristics of his free spirit,” wrote Chekhov. And so the hero's dream came true, he acquired a manor, gooseberries grow in his garden. And we see that before us is no longer the former timid official, but "a real landowner, gentleman." He enjoys having achieved his goal. The more the hero is satisfied with his fate, the more terrible he is in his fall. And the hero's brother cannot answer the question of what kind of good should be done in order to get rid of vile possessive happiness.
The problem of human moral degradation is also raised in Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. This is a novel that tells the story of a young man, Dorian Gray. The “esthete” and cynic who despises morality and cynic, Lord Henry, into whose mouth the author puts his own judgments about art and life, becomes Dorian’s spiritual “teacher”. Under the influence of Lord Henry, Dorian turns into an immoral playboy and commits murder. Despite all this, his face remains young and beautiful. But the peculiar portrait of Dorian, once painted by his artist friend Hallward, reflected both the cruelty and immorality of the original. Wanting to destroy the portrait, Dorian plunges a knife into it - and kills himself. The portrait begins to shine with its former beauty, while the face of the dead Dorian reflects his spiritual degradation. The tragic ending of the novel refutes the paradoxes of Lord Henry: immorality and soulless aestheticism turn out to be qualities that disfigure a person and bring him to death.
E. Durkheim: Morality is an obligatory minimum and a severe necessity, it is the daily bread, without which societies cannot live."
MORALITY - internal spiritual qualities that guide a person, ethical standards; rules of conduct determined by these qualities. Morality is also the defining aspect of culture, its form, which gives the general basis of human activity, from the individual to society, from humanity to a small group.
The well-known researcher L.V. Kudryavtsev notes that “a strong and socially prosperous state cannot exist without a sufficiently high level of its citizens, at which moral deeds are valued, and immoral and even dishonorable ones are condemned. The stability and viability of the state is determined primarily by the moral and spiritual levels of its population.
It should be stated that today the world is engulfed in an economic crisis, which is a consequence of the moral crisis of our time, unprecedented in scale. It is quite obvious that in the 20th century there was a sharp decline in morals throughout the world, and this decline continues even more rapidly in the 21st century. Many prominent thinkers - Spengler, Heidegger, Toynbee, Jaspers, Husserl, Huxley, Orwell, Fukuyama, Thomas Mann spoke about the decline of Western culture. Heidegger, the most outstanding of this series, nevertheless hoped that it was not technology that threatened man, the threat lurked in the very essence of man. "But where there is danger," he wrote, "there also grows salvation." Theological concepts of culture put forward as the main idea that the culture of mankind as a whole has completed its ascent and is now irresistibly rolling towards death. Since the core of any culture is religion and the foundations of morality developed by it, it is they who are experiencing the most severe crisis from the invasion of rationalism.
Turning to our domestic realities, we can state that in Russian society there is a decline in morality. In many areas of life, we everywhere observe violations of moral norms and prohibitions, especially in advertising, the media, and mass culture. There is a manipulative influence, especially television and advertising, with the popularization of the "hedonistic project", which suggests "getting everything from life", and therefore try alcohol, drugs and other "joys of life", which leads to a change in value attitudes.
Society is losing cultural traditions that served as a moral anchor. The growth of consumerism, permissiveness, licentiousness are signs that society is plunging into a pool of moral degradation. Previously, people still somehow distinguished good from evil. Now you can do whatever you want.
The woman became the "engine of trade". Rare advertising does without the image of a half-naked woman. The older generation would consider such actions as blatant immorality. On every corner - obscene scenes and photographs. Films that were previously not recommended for viewers under 18, now the whole family watches with complete peace of mind. And today it is often aimed specifically at children.
The values promoted in the modern world are cultization, self-indulgence, encouragement of overt violence, cruelty and sexual promiscuity, and presentation of all this as something normal. Understanding all this, many people talk about the need to create a national idea that would become a springboard for introducing moral values to the masses.
Many have lost their faith, and with it their moral guidelines. Every power and authority that dictates the norms of life has fallen in the eyes of the people. So the concept of good and evil for them became relative. Accordingly, respect for traditions and family values is falling, the family is degrading as the most important social institution, which negatively affects demographic indicators.
The article by Andrey Yurevich, Dmitry Ushakov "Morality in Modern Russia" provides horrifying statistics:
Every year, 2,000 children are killed and seriously injured;
Every year, 2 million children suffer from parental cruelty, and 50,000 run away from home;
Every year 5,000 women die from beatings inflicted by their husbands;
Violence against wives, elderly parents and children is recorded in every fourth family;
12% of teenagers use drugs;
More than 20% of child pornography distributed worldwide is filmed in Russia;
About 1.5 million Russian school-age children do not attend school at all;
Children and adolescents "social bottom" covers at least 4 million people;
The growth rate of child crime is 15 times faster than the growth rate of general crime;
In modern Russia, there are about 40 thousand juvenile prisoners, which is about 3 times more than it was in the USSR in the early 1930s.
There is a further decrease in the population of the Russian Federation. In 2010, the trend of reducing the birth rate and increasing mortality in Russia continued. Mortality still covers the birth rate, and the population of Russia in 2010 decreased by 241.4 thousand people. However, in relation to 2009, the rate of natural decline decreased - by 5.6%. The death rate from alcohol poisoning remains quite high. In 1993-2006, about 40 thousand people died annually in Russia from alcohol poisoning. However, since 2004, a steady decline in mortality from alcohol poisoning has begun in Russia. In 2009, 21.3 thousand people died from this cause, which is the lowest figure since 1992.
The birth rate in Russia does not reach the level necessary for simple reproduction of the population. The total birth rate is 1.6, while for simple reproduction of the population without population growth, a total birth rate of 2.11-2.15 is required. According to the forecast in the report of the UN Development Program published in early October 2009, Russia will lose 11 million people by 2025. The country has entered a period of mass predominance of small families. More and more families are focusing on one child with the postponement of his birth. The proportion of children born out of a registered marriage is constantly growing. These trends are also confirmed by the data of the 2008 VTsIOM (All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center) sociological survey. Their data show that almost two-thirds of Russians (60%) do not have children and do not plan to have them. (Only 5% of Russians surveyed are going to have children in the next year or two. Every third (34%) is a parent - 22% have one minor child, 10% - two children, 2% - more than two children). Russia ranks first in the list of 40 industrialized countries of the world in terms of the number of abortions per birth (before 1995, it was second after Romania). However, in recent years this figure has been declining almost constantly - from 206 per 100 births in 1990 to 81 in 2008. But still, this is a fairly large number of abortions. And these are official figures, the real picture can be completely different, how many clandestine abortions are done, only God knows.
Under these conditions, the primary task is the development of the institution of the family, the active promotion of family values. Neglect on the part of parents and the school of raising children contributes to the development of all the vices that exist in modern society. The formation of a child's moral values is influenced primarily by parents, then by the school and the social environment. The researchers concluded that the majority of children who could not realize themselves in adulthood and turned into alcoholics, drug addicts, criminals, did not receive the necessary amount of warmth and love from parents who did not properly educate their children. It is the selfless love of parents, their own example, that is the main criterion for educating children of moral qualities. Therefore, parents, and then school, universities should form positive images in the mind and soul of the child.
If moral ideals are not assimilated by a person or are poorly assimilated, then their place as a determinant of behavior will be taken by other qualities that can be characterized by the adjective "immoral" (in this context, socially passive behavior is also understood as immoral). Criminal ethics is the most socially negative manifestation of immorality.
Fools and roads
One of the most acute problems in Russia is theft. Although they say that in Russia there are two main problems “Fools and roads”, but we have bad roads precisely because colossal money is stolen from their construction. Aleksey Bezborodov, CEO of the Russian research agency InfraNews, as an example of unsubstantiated theft, talks about the construction of the Adler-Krasnaya Polyana road, which is only 48 km long. As the Russian edition of Esquire calculated, for $7.3 billion spent on it, this track could be lined with a centimeter layer of black caviar or generously covered with 22 cm of foie gras.
The level of theft in Russia exceeds all conceivable limits. In every state there are people who steal, and according to statistics, such people make up no more than 2-3% of the population (including those with kleptomania), and in Russia everyone who can steal, despite the fact that most Russians call themselves believers. Can a believing person (Orthodox, Muslim, Buddhist) really be a believer if he violates one of the important commandments of these religions: “Thou shalt not steal”? A rhetorical question.
As the Korrespondent writes, the authorities of the Russian Federation cover up theft in state corporations, as a result, tens of billions of dollars go from the state budget into the pockets of corrupt officials. Experts believe that Russia is stealing at least a fifth of state money
A year ago, the first stage of the Eastern Siberia - Pacific Ocean (ESPO) oil pipeline was launched, and today this giant pipe has become the epicenter of the largest corruption scandal in the history of modern Russia. As Correspondent writes, the reason for it was the documents posted on the Internet by the well-known Russian public figure Alexei Navalny. According to the papers, which, according to Navalny, were drawn up by the state company Transneft, which was building the pipeline, a fantastic amount of $4 billion was stolen from the state treasury during its construction. In other words, about $35 was taken out of the pocket of every adult Russian.
Russia took 154th place out of 178 possible in the index of the level of corruption of the countries of the world, prepared by Transparency International. In 2010, Russia was given 2.1 points out of a possible ten. A year earlier, Russia ranked 146th in the Transparency International ranking.
The Russian corruption market is estimated at $300 billion. At the same time, Transparency International studies on corruption in Russia record a steady increase in the number of violations in this area. According to data published at the end of 2009, over the past two years the market for corruption in Russia has increased dramatically: the average household bribe has grown from 8,000 to 27,000 rubles.
About the total corruption in all echelons of power, even the officials themselves can no longer remain silent. At the end of October 2010, Konstantin Chuychenko, head of the control department of the President of Russia, said that "the economic effect of clearing [from] vicious purchases, according to the most conservative estimates, could exceed 1 trillion rubles [$32 billion]". "That is, the volume of theft can be reduced by a trillion rubles?" - President Dmitry Medvedev asked him and immediately instructed the government to legislatively solve the problem
As long as theft flourishes at all levels in Russia, when budgetary funds are stolen by officials on a colossal scale, no significant changes will occur in the country. Only strict and even harsh measures can stop it or significantly reduce it.
British scientists have proved that the level of development of theft does not at all depend on the material well-being of a person. After conducting a practical experiment, scientists have confirmed that both rich and poor people are prone to infringement on someone else's property. At the same time, rich people steal even more often than poor people, because they feel their impunity.
After studying over 100 countries with different economic, social, and religious levels of development, scientists came to the conclusion that theft directly depends on the punishment provided for in the country. The more severe the punishment, the less willing to steal someone else's.
Moral degradation of Russian society
With all the variety of such phenomena, as well as the processes characterized by the above statistical data, they can be summed up under a common denominator, which is the moral degradation of modern Russian society or, using the well-known expression of E. Giddens, "evaporation of morality." It is natural that, according to the results of sociological surveys, the decline in morals is perceived by our fellow citizens as one of the main problems of modern Russia, they state “damage to morals” as one of the worst trends.
A few years ago, a sociological survey was conducted among Muscovites on the topic "Spiritual and moral state of modern Russian society." The survey involved 1,000 residents of Moscow.
According to Veronika Moiseeva, President of the Imageland Group of Companies, “the idea of conducting this survey by a PR agency was born as a way to draw attention to the problem of the spiritual and moral state of society, since this problem usually escapes the attention of the state due to the solution of socio-economic issues.”
As the results of the survey show, the majority of Muscovites assess the state of Russian society unsatisfactorily in terms of observance of the norms of morality and ethics in people's daily lives. 42% believe that there are many problems in this area, 29% consider the situation almost catastrophic. 21% share the belief that the situation is generally normal, and only 2% - that the morale of society is good.
At the same time, 58% of respondents agreed with a rather harsh statement: “we live in a society of self-interest, lack of spirituality, moral standards are forgotten and devalued” (32% “completely agree”, 26% - “rather agree”). The share of “rather” or “completely” disagreeing with this thesis was 36%.
The assessments of the consequences of the current moral situation in society also look pessimistic. 66% of respondents believe that this condition can lead to serious social upheavals in the future. It is significant that the proportion of people who fully agree with this thesis was 44%. “Rather agree” 22% of respondents.
Among those state and public institutions that should bear the main responsibility for the development of the spiritual and moral state of society in modern Russia, the respondents most often named: the family (67%), educational institutions (48%), state power (45%), the media ( 28%). Religious institutions (18%), public organizations (6%), pop stars and other role models (3%) were mentioned much less frequently among the three possible options.
At the same time, many of the public institutions that are entrusted with the function of spiritual and moral education, according to Muscovites, cannot cope with it. 68% of respondents generally agreed with the statement that the Russian authorities are doing nothing to maintain a normal moral and moral climate in the country (36% - "completely agree", 32% - "rather agree"). 23% of survey participants are ready to object to them, and 9% found it difficult to answer.
According to 67% of respondents, modern television has a negative impact on children and adolescents in Russia, destroys their moral qualities, accustoms them to cruelty. Only 14% share the opposite point of view: television has a positive impact on young people, educates free and enterprising people adapted to real life. 13% of survey participants do not see any noticeable influence of electronic media on the moral state of the young generation of Russians.
As for the traditional institutions for the formation of moral norms - religious organizations, then in relation to them, the survey participants were divided into two approximately equal parts. 54% of respondents positively assess the strengthening of the role of religious organizations in the upbringing of children and youth, believing that this will lead to an improvement in the moral climate in society. 42% rather or completely disagree with this statement.
The data obtained during the survey were discussed within the framework of the expert club operating under the Imageland PR agency. At the same time, most experts agreed that the figures would have been even more depressing if the study had been conducted not in Moscow, but throughout Russia. According to the executive secretary of the Interreligious Council of Russia, Roman Silantiev, “a moral crisis is the absence of a moral core among people, that is, the blurring of the concepts of “good” and “evil” ... There are societies in which ideas about good and evil are completely blurred, and children are brought up in such a “value system” where there are simply no values. Now, unfortunately, we are close to this state.
Evgeny Kuznetsov, Director of Research and Special Projects at Imageland PR, says that although the survey data turned out to be quite predictable, they are remarkable for at least two reasons. First, they eloquently testify to the obvious public demand for a more active role of the state in regulating the situation in the sphere of morality. Secondly, the study gives a very disappointing understanding that the population perceives the media as an object that exists on its own, autonomous from society, which has a certain destructive effect, and it is useless to wait for some kind of moral educational work from it. Therefore, society as a whole has nothing against either censorship or state control over the "fourth estate", in one form or another.
Andrey Yurevich and Dmitry Ushakov note that the extremely disturbing moral state of our society also comes through in its sociological and psychological research. The antagonistic confrontation of two types of morality is often stated: the morality of the rich minority and the morality of the poor majority, although, of course, there are many more types of morality and their “antagonistic confrontations” in our society.
I.V. Shcherbakova and V.A. Yadov compared such a form of politeness as holding the door in the subway to the next passenger, among residents of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod and Budapest. Muscovites showed the worst performance, while Budapest residents demonstrated the best, and in the Budapest metro this was most often done by young people, while in our country it was middle-aged and elderly people. Some Russian respondents compared the metro ride during rush hour to a struggle for survival, in which other passengers are perceived as competitors for a seat in the car. Canadian sociologists conducted a study in 2006 that showed that in terms of the frequency of cases of helping behavior, expressed in the willingness to help one's neighbor, Moscow closes the list of 48 cities in the world. Other comparative studies of everyday culture also show that we are clearly the leaders in terms of rudeness, aggressiveness and hatred of our own kind, and there is a tendency towards “brutalization”, i.e. to an even greater toughening of our social life (it is natural that the term "brutalization" occupies a prominent place in the terminological apparatus of Russian sociology). Everything is "brutalized" - from relations between spouses who hire killers to resolve family issues, to methods of committing suicide. And about 50% of our fellow citizens admit that they are rude to others on a regular basis, considering such behavior a social norm, and most often this is done by young and well-to-do people.
Data have been obtained that in our country there are much more, in comparison, for example, with the United States, respondents who answer in the affirmative to the question “Can a person break the law and be right at the same time?”. And the number of people who believe that laws cannot be violated under any circumstances, i.e. Genuinely law-abiding, at least in words, has practically not changed over the past 15 years and amounts to 10-15%. Unlike Western countries, where moral and legal socialization occurs mainly through imitation of the norms and laws accepted in society, in our country this process either “gets stuck” at the initial stage, where obedience is ensured with the help of fear of punishment, or, bypassing the middle level, immediately "slips" to the highest, characterized by reliance on the highest ethical principles and conscience. Similar results are obtained from a study of the moral judgments of younger schoolchildren, who consider fear of punishment and sympathy to be the main reasons for committing acts, and this explanation scheme has changed little over the past 70 years.
The moral degradation of our society is stated by representatives of various sciences, and it can be considered a truly "interdisciplinary" fact. Psychologists demonstrate that "Russia for many years turned out to be a" natural laboratory ", where the morality and legal consciousness of citizens were severely tested." Sociologists show that “at the end of the 20th – beginning of the 21st century, Russian society, plunged by the state first into “perestroika” and then into “radical reforms”, constantly experienced moral deviations and a shortage of not so much social, economic and political as moral guidelines, values. and patterns of behaviour. They also state the "moral aberration" of the thinking of our politicians - its distancing from moral values and guidelines, which are supplanted in it by categories of an economic nature, such as economic growth, GDP, inflation rates, etc. Economists note that "among the components of that exorbitant social the price that had to be paid for radical economic reforms in Russia was the neglect of the moral and psychological world of a person, emphasizing the “intensive eradication of the moral and ethical component from social life”.
Sociologists state that “Today, in the context of the intensive expansion of the criminal-criminal subculture into the everyday life of Russians, the society has few social constraints left to resist this expansion. The normative system of the criminal world, actively relayed through the media and products of mass culture, finds fertile ground in a society that is experiencing a shortage of social values (value anomie), and the disrespectful attitude towards formal legal law, traditional for Russian culture, only facilitates such an “invasion”: today in In the minds of many citizens, it is the thieves' law that embodies justice."
The following statements by sociologists are also characteristic: “Today, elements of the criminal subculture are present in one way or another in all spheres of life in Russian society - from everyday life to the rules for organizing the economic and political “game”, from interpersonal relations to social institutions”; “In recent years, the criminal subculture has been penetrating on a large scale into the mass cultural product - feature films and TV series, thieves' songs that sound on the radio, in restaurants, cafes, transport, detectives and action films (with which all book counters are littered), even into ringtones for mobile phones. ". It has been noted that the protagonist of our films and TV series is a “good” gangster (“Boomer”, “Brigada”, “Brother”, etc.), and by no means a fighter against crime. According to polls, more than half of our fellow citizens systematically use thieves' jargon, etc. More than 60 news releases dedicated to crime stories are released on our TV channels weekly.
The main motivation of ZMI and especially television is to attract the majority of viewers and get the maximum profit from advertising, that is, money comes first, and the negative impact of scenes of violence, debauchery, permissiveness on the morality of the population is taken into account last.
Domestic and foreign researchers note a very high level of negative influence of a base information product on the psyche and morality of the population, and especially young people. According to the American Medical Association, during the years spent in school, the average child sees 8,000 murders and 100,000 acts of violence on TV. In addition, the researchers concluded that television promotes promiscuity, because in 91% of episodes that show a sexual relationship between a man and a woman, the partners are not married. If an adult can still critically evaluate such television production and separate fiction from reality, then a child often perceives television schemes as a plan for implementation in life, and a criminal style of thinking is gradually formed in him. If you were offended - you must fight back and destroy the offender, if you understand that you cannot achieve what you want legally - it’s not scary to cross the line in something; if you are rich and strong, the law is not written for you. So children get used to crime scenes, learn the false truth that the main way to solve most problems is violent, and they form rather strange ideals or role models (the positive action hero shoots and kills four times more than the negative hero). According to a sociological study by the candidate of psychological sciences O. Drozdov (Institute of Psychology named after G. Kostyuk of the APN of Ukraine), 58% of young people tend to copy the behavior of TV heroes, mainly from foreign films, and 37.3% of young people are ready to commit illegal acts, following the example of TV heroes .
The authors of a sociological study conducted in the 1980s in the United States among convicted criminals published the following facts: 63% of convicted criminals said that they committed a crime by copying television characters, and 22% adopted the “technology” of the crime from television films.
All this will lead to the fact that the level of criminalization of society remains quite high. Russia is among the top five "leaders" in terms of the number of murders among countries in whose territory large-scale military operations are not conducted.
It turns out a rather paradoxical situation: immorality gives rise to such social deviations as crime, which researchers have now begun to pay attention to, and crime, in turn, gives rise to immorality, lack of spirituality. Yu.M. Antonyan and V.D. Pakhomov write in this regard that crime has an impact "on the moral and psychological climate in society, on the upbringing of the younger generation, causes enormous material damage, undermines the economy. In particular, persons who concentrate significant material resources in their hands by committing crimes demonstrate a standard of living beyond the reach of most people, and many, especially young people, are starting to see this level as a benchmark." And such situations are quite natural and psycho-physiologically justified. In this case, there is a principle that has a psychophysiological basis and is expressed by the proverb "a holy place is never empty." The place of morality is replaced by its opposite - immorality.
Business and Morality
Psychological surveys of modern Russian business also give sad results, indicating that it is not ready for a policy of social responsibility, it is perceived by our entrepreneurs as contrary to their commercial interests, and the concept of social responsibility is interpreted in completely different ways by businessmen and the main part of our society. This creates socio-psychological conditions not only for the inevitability of the regular emergence of financial "pyramids" and other manifestations of dishonesty of entrepreneurs, but also for a "cold civil war" between them and civil servants.
The demise of the Roman Empire and other civilizations was facilitated by widespread selfishness and immorality. It was immorality, debauchery, gluttony, greed, lust that became the main reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire. The influx of wealth from conquered countries spread the most extravagant luxury, when peacocks from Samos, pikes from Pessinus, oysters from Tarentum, dates from Egypt, nuts from Spain, the rarest dishes from all parts of the world, were gathered for feasting, and the feasters resorted to emetics to try all the dishes. "They eat," says Seneca, "and then they vomit, they vomit, and then they eat." Apicius, who lived under Tiberius, dissolved pearls in the wine he drank, squandered a huge fortune for the enjoyment of his table, and then committed suicide. A special class of servants, beauticians, took care of the dress, the smoothing of wrinkles, the installation of artificial teeth, the coloring of the eyebrows of wealthy patricians. Hopeless poverty contrasted terribly with great wealth. Huge taxes depleted the provinces, burdened the people, and suffering was terribly increased by war, epidemic, and famine. Free citizens lost physical and moral strength, and sank to an inert mass, demanding only "Bread and circuses", drunkenness was common among the population. The third class consisted of a huge number of slaves who perform all kinds of mechanical labor, even plowing the land, and in time of danger were ready to join the enemies of the empire. The army, consisting mainly of the rudest citizens and barbarians, was the strength of the nation, but gradually degraded, demanding more and more pay. The virtues of patriotism, and conscientiousness in public relations, have disappeared. Everywhere prevailed: base greed, suspicion and envy, bribery, arrogance and servility.
The work to demoralize the people was systematically organized and sanctioned from the highest echelons of power. Emperors showed the most base vices. The pagan historians of Rome branded and perpetuated the vices and crimes of Caesar; misanthropy, cruelty and voluptuousness of Tiberius; the ferocious madness of Gaius Caligula, who tortured men, beheaded or sawed to pieces for his entertainment, who seriously thought of killing the entire senate, elevated the horse to the rank of consul and priest, the bottomless villainy of Nero, the "inventor of crime", who poisoned and killed his teachers Burrhus and Seneca, his half-brother and brother-in-law Britannicus, his mother Agrippina, wife Octavia, mistress Poppaea, who, because of his caprice, set fire to Rome, and then burned innocent Christians for it, like torches in his garden, portraying himself as a charioteer in hellish spectacle; the exquisite malice of Domitian, who amused himself in the agony of the dying; shameless revelry of Commodus with hundreds of his mistresses, and animal passion to kill people and animals in the arena; who rewarded the most fallen men with the highest awards, dressed in women's clothes, married a depraved boy just like himself, in short, turned all the laws of nature and decency upside down, until he was finally killed with his mother by soldiers, and thrown into the muddy Tiber . And in order to fill the measure of wickedness and evil, such imperial monsters were instructed, after their death, by a formal decree of the senate, to rank as deities and celebrate holidays in their honor in temples and colleges of priests! The emperor, in Gibbon parlance, was at once "a priest, an atheist, and a god." Domitian, even during his lifetime, demanded to be called "Dominus et Deus noster" and sacrificed whole herds of animals to his gold and silver statues. It is impossible to imagine a greater public and official mockery of religion and morality.
Unfortunately, some modern rulers also wallowed in luxury and depravity with the poverty of the people, which began to lead to popular riots. Given the current state of affairs, humanity should think about what further consequences can be expected and, seeing the example of the death of Rome, should draw the appropriate conclusions, while something can still be corrected.
Therefore, the protection and preservation of the traditional spiritual values of Russian society (especially such as tolerance, collectivism, good nature, compassion, mercy), its mentality are becoming vital tasks of modern society. Naturally, the main burden in the implementation of this fundamental task in the context of the prevention of immorality lies with the education system. We are talking about the upbringing of the civic activity of the younger generation, the formation of a strong conviction in the relevance of centuries-old spiritual traditions, norms and values.
Many more aspects of this problem can be singled out, but the main thing for us is to work out ways to solve and get out of this situation.
1) Establish an effective dialogue between the authorities and the people. The population should be clearly aware of the tragedy of the current situation and demand urgent decisions from the authorities. As part of this dialogue, there should be an intensification of the activities of the Public Councils under all authorities, which often act formally. The public council is created with the aim of organizing interaction between the state body and public associations, the public, and it should provide a real assessment of certain initiatives or decisions of the authorities from the point of view of public benefit. It is necessary to improve the mechanisms for creating such councils and clearly write out their powers.
It is also necessary to revive the institutions of moral control, which are practically absent in modern Russian society. Despite all the shortcomings in the Soviet Union, there were effective mechanisms of moral control in the party and Komsomol organizations. And today, schools and universities, and public organizations could perform the functions of moral control. For example, entering universities and staying in them is reasonable to make it dependent on the behavior of students in educational institutions and beyond. And public organizations, including political parties, should attach importance to the moral qualities of their members.
2) The adoption of strict legislation aimed at protecting morality. Clear implementation of the principles of the rule of law, especially the principle of equality of all before the law, regardless of position and position in society. It is urgent to take effective and tough measures to overcome corruption and theft in Russia, up to the award of long terms of imprisonment and confiscation of the property of the offending official.
Wide involvement of scientists - sociologists, psychologists, etc. - in the development of laws. Laws are not just legal norms, but the most general rules of social interaction, which should be developed and introduced taking into account its social, psychological, economic and other patterns revealed by the relevant sciences
Certain steps in terms of the moral revival of society are already being made. On April 15, 2009, the State Duma adopted a law aimed at the spiritual and moral development of children. The bill establishes additional measures to promote the physical, intellectual, spiritual and moral development of children.
Appropriate changes, proposed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, are being made to the law "On Basic Guarantees of the Rights of the Child in the Russian Federation." According to the document, the constituent entities of the Russian Federation can establish measures prohibiting children under 18 from being in pubs, restaurants and bars, wine glasses and other places intended exclusively for the sale of alcoholic products, as well as in shops with goods of a sexual nature. According to the bill, state authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation and local self-government should create favorable conditions for the activities of cultural organizations, institutions and organizations for the upbringing, education, development and improvement of children, their entertainment and leisure. In addition, the bill provides the subjects of the Russian Federation with the opportunity, taking into account local traditions and characteristics, to determine by their laws measures to prevent negative impacts on the health and development of children.
3) Implementation of the principles of social justice, which include:
a) respect for the power of their own people and the absence of any kind of arbitrariness, abuse and gross exploitation;
b) the people really (not like now) elect people to the highest government posts and elected positions. If this person does not justify the hopes of people (for example, if a certain percentage of citizens will be dissatisfied with him), then people should be able to recall this person from office;
c) the person denounced by the highest authority really considers the people when making the most important strategic decisions.
4) decriminalization of our society, incl. and his everyday culture. It is wrong to think that this problem is related only to law enforcement agencies. In particular, the decriminalization of mass consciousness involves not only the purification of our vocabulary from thieves' jargon, etc., but also a radical change in the system of relations between the population and law enforcement agencies. Taking measures to protect the information space of Russia from a foreign low-grade information product that popularizes immorality, violence, depravity. Protectionism in relation to those PHI that popularize culture, morality, spiritual values
5) Establishing an effective system for educating the younger generation.
It is necessary to adopt the Strategy for the development of the institution of the family at the legislative level and strictly monitor its implementation with constant monitoring by the public and the media, especially the distribution of funds. The strategy should be aimed at popularizing family values, which implies an increase in cash benefits for the birth of a child, constant social support for families, the provision of interest-free loans for housing construction, the provision of significant benefits for medical care for families, and children's education. Of course, significant funds will be needed to implement this Strategy, but with the establishment of an effective system for combating corruption and theft, they could be found.
6) Active revival of morality through religious institutions.
Faith is the basis of religion, and religion is the basis of morality. L. N. Tolstoy in his work "Religion and Morality" directly says that "without a religious basis there can be no real, unfeigned morality, just as without a root there cannot be a real plant."
The Church and other religious denominations and public organizations can become catalysts for the revival of Russia if they join forces in educating morality and organizing good deeds. It is the church that can accelerate the revival of Russia many times over by becoming one of the coordinators of such a revival. Political parties are unable to do this precisely because of the desire to seize power. We need coordinators who do not seek power, but simply serve the revival of Russia. Because: "The one who wants to rise will be humiliated. And the one who is humiliated will rise." The parties are constantly playing their games, fighting for power and guided by the principle of "Divide and Conquer", which only leads to the division and impoverishment of the country. Therefore, the church, serving the people of Russia, will receive the very authority that no advertising and proximity to power can achieve. Because Jesus said "Judge by deeds. A bad tree does not bear good fruit, and a bad person does not do good deeds." People judge the life of the church by its deeds, not by advertising and beautiful words. At the same time, the church should not be dependent on the authorities and its handouts and boldly criticize all its sins. Let us recall how John the Baptist denounced the immorality of Herod, sacrificing even his own life. Let us recall how Metropolitan Philip denounced Ivan the Terrible, often saving innocent sufferers.
The Church must popularize moral and religious values and spread the faith. Since it is a true believer who will clearly follow the religious commandments, the main of which in most religions is love for the one God and love for one's neighbor. And if we really love our neighbor, and the neighbor is any person who can meet on our life path, then can we steal from him or do him some other harm. If we love our children, then we do everything to make them feel good and give them our attention, warmth and love, and they answer us the same. Therefore, only love as care and giving to another person or society as a whole, as opposed to consumer egoism and permissiveness, can save our country and the world.
Now the Church, the state, the public need to unite for the spiritual revival of Russia. And during the revival of Russia, we do not need to deny other religions and directions of thought, if their supporters help the revival of Russia with their deeds. In one of his sermons, Jesus said, "Whoever is not against me is with me." Therefore, figures of other confessions and religions, and social movements should also play the role of coordinators in the revival of Russia. Because now the country is poor. If the country is rich and prosperous as in ancient times, then all religions in Russia will live well. Therefore, the cooperation of all ministers of the church with other religions and social movements is necessary, and then these movements will contribute to the revival of Russia and its prosperity by their actions.
Part 1. Ten main problems of life on Earth
LIFE IS THE MIRACLE OF MIRACLES CREATED AND LOVED BY GOD.
According to the author, for the first time on planet Earth in the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, ten major interconnected problems of life on Earth arose, which individually and in a certain combination or all together at the same time can lead humanity to complete destruction. At the same time, some of them are global problems, while others are planetary. It is they who, in the main, determine each future world order and the corresponding world order on the planet.
Chapter 1. The problem of the moral degradation of mankind on Earth
Unfortunately, the moral degradation of people has become the main distinguishing feature of humanity in the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century and ranks first among the 10 main problems of life on Earth, since it is one of the root causes of the negative consequences of many other vital problems on our planet. planet.
It is known that the concept of "morality" is morality, a special form of social consciousness and a type of social relations (moral relations); one of the main ways to regulate the actions of a person in society with the help of the norms of his behavior. Unlike a simple custom or tradition, moral norms receive an ideological justification in the form of ideals of good and evil. Unlike law, the fulfillment of the requirements of morality is authorized only by forms of spiritual influence (public assessment, approval or condemnation).
It should be said that there is a fundamental difference between the morality of society and the morality of the person (individual) himself, based on the internal law of the Lord God-conscience and the external law of our Creator - the observance of His commandments that strengthen the internal law and save people's lives.
Everyone knows that morality is imposed on a person by society, therefore, in different countries with different political and economic systems, there are different norms of social behavior. However, as you know, these norms may conflict with the moral norms of people's behavior, formed on the basis of the laws of our Creator. And this fact must not be forgotten.
The concept of "degradation" is a gradual deterioration, decrease or loss of positive qualities, decline, degeneration. Speaking about the concept of "moral degradation of a person or humanity", we mean the gradual cessation of compliance with the internal and external laws of the Lord God, and not the public morality of a particular country or civilization of the world. Therefore, readers need to remember that only this concept is discussed in the BCELEHCTBE as a source of a new Biblical worldview and way of life for mankind.
annotation. Based on the findings of philosophers, economists, psychologists, lawyers, sociologists, etc., the moral level of Russian society at the beginning of the 21st century is determined. - "moral degradation"; developed quantitative indicators are used - the index of the moral state of society (INSO), on the basis of which the dynamics of the evolution of Russian society during the years of reforms is traced; the causes and consequences of the decline in morals are noted; the ways of spiritual revival are outlined as a key factor and prerequisites for the recovery of the economy and, in general, the spiritual revival of the nation.
Keywords: moral state index (INSO) * morality * law * moral degradation * suicide * drug addiction * alcoholism * corruption * violence * crime * anomie * liberalism, pseudo-liberalism * freedom * control - social, moral * moral regulators * social interactions.
Symptoms of moral degradation
Despite the economic successes (pre-crisis), internal political stabilization and other positive trends, the general state of modern Russian society in recent years looks very alarming. Thus, the number of murders per 100 thousand inhabitants in our country is almost 4 times higher than in the United States (where the situation in this respect is also very unfavorable) and approximately 10 times higher than their prevalence in most European countries (Lysova A.V., Shchitov N. G. Systems of response to domestic violence // Sociological Journal, 2003, N 3, pp. 99-115). In terms of the number of suicides, Russia is 3 times ahead of the United States, ranking 2nd in Europe and the CIS not only among the general population, but also among young people under the age of 17 (in this case, after Kazakhstan).
At the same time, for a number of reasons (for example, such as the desire of relatives to present suicide as an accident), the underreporting of suicides in the Russian regions is about 13%; there are also such alarming trends as a decrease in the average age of those who commit suicide, committing them in increasingly cruel ways, etc.
According to the corruption index for 6 years (2002-2008), Russia moved from 71st to 147th place in the world, and the total volume of corruption turnover in the Russian Federation is estimated by experts at 250-300 billion dollars a year. The number of victims of accidents, such as accidental alcohol poisoning and traffic accidents, testify, if not to a massive “unwillingness to live” (a psychoanalytic interpretation of such situations), then at least to the indifference of many of our fellow citizens to their own and to someone else's life.
The annual number of road accident victims in modern Russia exceeds the losses of our country for all the years of the Afghan war, and the situation on our roads is called “war on the roads”, “civil war”, etc.
Taken together, the data presented form a coherent picture (Table 1), indicating a painful state of society, but it is surprising that in the public mind they are perceived with less acuteness than, say, the number of medals won at the Olympics (which in itself is an indicator state of society, as well as gifting expensive cars to already non-poor winning athletes).
Table 1. Indicators of the state of modern Russian society (2006)
Sources: Human Development Report 2007/2008. Published for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) / Per. from English. M.: All world, 2007; Russian Statistical Yearbook 2007. Moscow: Rosstat, 2007; Transparency International. http://www.transparency.org/
The indicators in Table 1 are complemented by other data that demonstrate what kind of society we have built under the beautiful slogans of freedom and democracy:
- every year 2,000 children are killed and seriously injured;
- every year, 2 million children suffer from parental cruelty, and 50 thousand run away from home;
- every year 5,000 women die from beatings inflicted by their husbands;
- violence against wives, elderly parents and children is recorded in every fourth family;
- 12% of teenagers use drugs;
- more than 20% of child pornography distributed worldwide is filmed in Russia;
- about 1.5 million Russian school-age children do not attend school at all;
- children's and adolescents' "social bottom" covers at least 4 million people;
- the growth rate of child crime is 15 times faster than the growth rate of general crime;
- in modern Russia there are about 40 thousand juvenile prisoners, which is about 3 times more than it was in the USSR in the early 1930s. (Analysis of the situation of children in the Russian Federation. M .: UNICEF, 2007; State report "On the situation of children in the Russian Federation", M .: Ministry of Labor and Social Development of the Russian Federation, 2006) Quantitative data can be supplemented with everyday illustrations from the life of society: the practice of criminal "rooftops", raiding, "black real estate", financial "pyramids", various types of fraud, etc. is still widespread. Organized crime is actually legalized, and the so-called "authoritative businessmen" - in fact, legalized thieves - arrange public presentations of their "literary" works, in which hired writers vividly paint their criminal adventures (according to a poll by the Public Chamber, more than half of our fellow citizens do not feel themselves in any way protected from crime), corruption is truly total, and both officials of all levels of government and administrative positions are being sold; you can buy drugs in schools; public speech, including on television and radio, is replete with profanity and thieves' jargon; homeless people are an indispensable attribute of stations, trains, subways, etc.
The Internet is full of films that show in detail how students beat their teachers, elderly people are killed in order to take over their apartments; drunken mothers throw their babies out of windows; there is a slave trade (in the 21st century!), and in the direct, and by no means in the metaphorical sense of the word; cheeky-aggressive youths defiantly do not give up their seats in transport to older people, and sometimes they are able to kill for a remark made by them (in the city of Kolchugino, a company of scum, drinking vodka at the memorial to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War, killed and burned on the "Eternal Flame" a man who tried to to persuade them); there are widespread sects that practice, among other things, human sacrifice, and a typical reaction of a significant part of our youth to a person dying nearby has become ... laughter. All this is not scenes from "horror films", but our life. Not only are such phenomena themselves striking, but also tolerance for them, the perception of them as familiar, and not as out of the ordinary, as the norms of our life. “Facing every day with the egregious facts of lawlessness and arbitrariness, people lose their sharpness of reaction to them, gradually imbued with indifference to what is happening,” writes O. T. Bogomolov. And K.N. Brutents notes that “ Russians almost without any protest and moral rejection(emphasis mine. - A. Yu.) survive in conditions of total corruption, all-encompassing bribery that accompanies almost every step they take, rampant criminality ", this is how tolerance for evil and humility before him, contributing to his assertion in increasingly cruel forms.
With all the variety of the phenomena described, as well as the processes characterized by the above statistical data, they can be summed up under a common denominator, which is called " moral degradation"modern Russian society or, using the well-known expression of E. Giddens," evaporation of morality". It is noted that "violations of public morality, norms of social justice, ideas of civic honor and responsibility are encountered at every turn." And it is natural that, according to the results of sociological surveys, the decline in morals is perceived by our fellow citizens as one of the main problems of modern Russia, " corruption of morals" regarded by them as one of the worst results of our reforms.
The moral degradation of modern Russian society is ascertained by representatives of various sciences, and it can be considered a truly "interdisciplinary" fact. Psychologists demonstrate that "Russia for many years turned out to be a" natural laboratory ", where the morality and legal consciousness of citizens were severely tested"; Sociologists show that “at the end of the 20th - beginning of the 21st century, Russian society, plunged by the state first into “perestroika” and then into “radical reforms”, constantly experienced moral deviations and a shortage of not so much social, economic and political as moral guidelines, values. and patterns of behavior; accentuate the "moral aberration" of our politicians' thinking - its distancing from moral values and guidelines, which are supplanted in it by categories of an economic nature, such as economic growth, GDP, inflation indicators, etc.; economists note that “among the components of the exorbitant social price that had to be paid for radical economic reforms in Russia is the neglect of the moral and psychological world of man”, emphasizing “the intensive eradication of the moral and ethical component of their social existence”; art historians state that “we have formed a totally immoral system”; philosophers connect what is happening in modern Russia with the obvious fact that freedom leads to the release of not only the best, but also the worst in a person, and, accordingly, should involve restrictions on the release of the worst. “What will a person who has not matured for it and is experiencing it as unbridling make of political freedom? - asked I. A. Ilyin and answered, - he himself becomes the most dangerous enemy of someone else's and common freedom. What happened in our country in the early 1990s.
Rice. The dynamics of the moral state of modern Russian society
The Institute of Psychology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, in line with the quantitative macropsychology it develops [See: 14 and others], has developed an index of the moral state of society (INSO), based on the integration of such indicators as the number (per 100 thousand inhabitants): 1) murders and 2) street children, 3) corruption index, 4) Gini index, which expresses uneven distribution of income (see Appendix). The dynamics of the moral state of Russian society quantified in this way during the years of reforms is shown in the figure.
As you can see, the moral state of our society (1991-1994) worsened every year, then improved until the "default" 1998, after which it worsened again (until 2002), and then again showed a trend towards annual improvement (for 2007 - 2008 the index was not calculated due to the fact that the relevant statistical data are not yet available - Without interpreting the identified dynamics, we note that it almost completely corresponds to the dynamics of the macropsychological state of modern Russian society, assessed on the basis of other indicators [See: 11], as well as time development of its characteristics calculated by sociologists (social moods, social optimism, etc.), which indicates the synchronous manifestation of such dynamics in various areas)).
Attention is also drawn to the fact that the quantitatively assessed moral state of our society in the early years of the reforms deteriorated at a high rate, which indicates the connection of its deterioration precisely with the reforms and with the events that accompanied them, and over the next years, although it revealed a non-linear, " wave-like” dynamics, yielded to the level of 1990 by almost 2 times.
Causes and consequences of the decline of morals
Among the main reasons for the decline in morals in post-reform Russia, the following are usually noted. A general weakening of control over the behavior of citizens, the transformation of which, as the history and experience of other countries shows, is characteristic of "turbulent", changing societies, and inevitably accompanies radical reforms. The moral qualities of the reformers, many of whom were recruited as “democrats” from party and Komsomol workers, turned the resource of administrative power into access to property and generalized their personal immorality into the ideologeme of “uselessness of morality” for a market economy that was convenient for them.
Naturally, not everyone. It is customary to distinguish, for example, "romantic democrats", who sincerely defended democratic values, and the "pragmatic democrats" who came to replace them, who used democratic slogans for personal interests, for example, to justify profitable privatization.
The specific nature of the "three sources and three components" of modern Russian business, which were: a) the former Soviet "guild workers", i.e. underground producers of goods and services, b) representatives of the criminal world, who in the Soviet years levied tribute on "guilds" and applied their experience in a market economy, c) party and Komsomol workers, who with amazing ease replaced socialist morality with pseudo-capitalist, but, in fact, to criminal. Distribution in the early 1990s such ideologemes as “everything that is not prohibited by law is possible”, “one must live according to the law, not according to conscience”, “the main thing is money, and it doesn’t matter in what ways it is earned”, etc., essentially denying any morality - the decision the long-standing Russian alternative “according to conscience or according to the law?” in favor of the latter and led to the fact that our society began to live not according to conscience, and not according to the law, but “according to concepts”.
This result turned out to be inevitable: firstly, because “a holy place is never empty”, and the rejection of generally accepted morality in the context of the criminalization of society turned into its replacement with the morality of the underworld; secondly, due to the fact that law and morality are two main, mutually supporting, systems for ensuring social order, and the destruction of one of them inevitably leads to the destruction of the other, the law does not operate without reliance on morality, and morality is destroyed without reinforcement by law. In particular, as Metropolitan Kirill noted, “the law has a chance to work only if it complies with the moral standard.”
The pseudo-liberal, which spread at the beginning of the reforms (“pseudo” - because it is very far from true liberalism, is its highly distorted (in the interests of the most immoral strata of society) version. And the founders of Russian liberalism - B.N. Chicherin, M.M. Speransky, S. Witte, whose followers the authors of the “Russian Liberal Manifesto” developed by the leaders of the Union of Right Forces call themselves, would be very surprised at those who are called “liberals” in modern Russia.), based on the “doctrine of vulgar liberalism”, understanding of freedom as non-observance any rules and prohibitions, as unbridledness and irresponsibility, are willingly assimilated by some sections of our society.
Note that such an understanding of freedom is not our Russian "invention". So, for example, the freedom promoted by the French salons of the Enlightenment "was purely negative, turned into the freedom to deny all moral principles - faith, authority, traditions, experience, respect for authority, declared prejudices" .
Criminalization (not only in the generally accepted - the growth of crime, etc., but also in the extended sense of the word - the criminalization of "all public life"), including an abundance of films about "good bandits", the popularity of criminal vocabulary ("arrivals", "showdowns", etc. .p.), toughening, “brutalization” of this life, the widespread use of power schemes for resolving disputes, the prestige of emphatically aggressive behavior, etc.
Increased aggressiveness as the norm of our life has even affected the Internet, which is natural, since “culture sets the norms of aggression and is the primary source of the formation of delinquent behavior” [16, p. 65].
The attractiveness of the negative patterns of behavior reinforced by the "amnesty of the past" created by the most successful people of modern Russia, who made their fortunes by violating laws and moral norms (it does not matter that the name is a bandit in the past, now he is a "respectable businessman", and his past values).
Anomie is the destruction of the system of moral norms and their mismatch with each other, characteristic of all post-socialist societies and replacing hypernomy - over-normalization - of socialist regimes.
The anomie of entire societies has been talked about relatively recently. Previously, this concept was applied to individuals and was introduced by E. Durkheim to describe the state experienced by a person before suicide. In this regard, it is appropriate to recall the thought of O. G. Drobnitsky that “the requirements of morality ... can also be addressed to socio-historical processes and states” .
abolition social institutions moral control, in the role of which in Soviet society were party and Komsomol organizations, comrades' courts, people's control, etc., which, with all their well-known shortcomings, performed a very important social function - moral control.
The dominance of "economic determinism" in approaches to solving the main problems of our society.
This style of thinking and vision of what is happening in society, when the main thing is the economy, and everything else, including morality, is secondary, was subjected to destructive criticism by A. Tocqueville, C. Polanyi and many other famous thinkers, and M. Ratz called it "a burp of Marxism", emphasizing the derivativeness of "stubbornness in the economy" from the Marxist division of society into an economic basis and a secondary social superstructure.
The fact that although the unity of education and upbringing was considered one of the cornerstones of the national education system, since the early 1990s. the state has, in essence, left the sphere of education.
Having no opportunity in this context for a detailed presentation and discussion of these reasons, we emphasize that moral state of society, which the supporters of "economic determinism" tend to ignore, referring, in their obviously pejorative expression, to the "so-called social sphere", has essentially a multicomponent status in the system of social processes, representing simultaneously three aspects: a) an indicator of the state of society, b ) a consequence of the processes taking place in it, c) the basis of what this society expects in the future. The latter is especially clearly manifested in the low birth rate, which in recent years has been designated, including by the authorities, as one of the key problems of modern Russia.
Studies show that purely economic measures to stimulate the birth rate can give birth rate growth in the range of 15-20%, since the main influence on the reluctance to have children is exerted by non-economic factors. Among them, as polls show, one of the first places is occupied by the reluctance to give birth to them. in such a country, the moral troubles of which are emphasized by the respondents . A. Yu. Shevyakov cites data that “changes in fertility and mortality trends in Russia by 85–90% are due to excessive inequality and high relative poverty of the population”, expressing the moral state of our society, and emphasizes that “the relationship between socio-economic factors and demographic indicators is mediated by the psychological reactions of people and the behavioral attitudes resulting from these reactions. And V. K. Levashov explains the “catastrophic depopulation” of modern Russia as “a moral gap between society and the state” [ibid., p. 426].
According to polls, the majority of our fellow citizens believe that the modern Russian state expresses mainly the interests of the state bureaucracy and the wealthy, and not society as a whole. However, even with a more positive idea of our state and attributing pro-social intentions to it, one has to admit that “the state is losing the war against social vices” [ibid, p. 426].
As R. S. Grinberg states, “demographic studies show that more than two-thirds of the reasons for the depopulation of Russia are associated with such socio-psychological phenomena that emerged in the post-Soviet period as social depression, apathy and aggression”, some of which (for example, mass aggressiveness) are direct manifestations of the destruction of morality, others - apathy, depression, etc. - a mass psychological reaction to its destruction. In particular, a permanent feeling of immorality, hostility and aggressiveness of the environment causes stress, apathy, depression, etc. in a person, which in turn gives rise to mental disorders, diseases of the nervous system, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and other diseases. According to the World Health Organization, from 45% to 70% of all diseases are associated with stress, and psychosomatic diseases such as neurosis, cardiovascular disorders, ulcerative lesions of the gastrointestinal tract, immunodeficiency, endocrinopathy and tumor diseases are directly dependent on it. .
Decline in morals plays an important role among the motives for suicide, and is also directly related to the depressing statistics of drug addiction, alcoholism, accidents, etc., which are the main manifestations of the physical self-destruction of our society. A. Yu. Myagkov and SV. Erofeev note that “in the theories of social integration, the increase in suicides is traditionally considered an important sign of increased tension and self-destructiveness in society, which, in turn, are the result of deep deviations in social structures and the lack of value-normative unity”; state that "the continued rise in suicides is the price we still have to pay for uncivilized forms of transition to the market" [ibid., p. 50].
Similar patterns can be traced in history, in particular, "history provides many examples, starting with the death of the Roman Empire, when, on the whole, economically prosperous states perished as a result of a decline in the moral level of the population" . And B. Kuzyk, on the material of the most important historical cycles of the evolution of the Russian state, shows that each of its political and economic rise and fall was always preceded, respectively, by the rise or fall of spiritual life and morality.
Contrary to the thesis proclaimed by domestic reformers about the "uselessness" of morality for a market economy, their close relationship is shown in the classic works of M. Weber and his followers. It is also obvious to representatives of modern Russian business. So, the president of the Rolf group of companies, S. A. Petrov, emphasizes that “the requirements of morality are not some kind of appendage to business imposed on it by some social forces, that is, from the outside, but the key to its successful development.” The regularity that “the higher the level of spiritual and moral development of the bulk of the population, the more successfully the economic and political system of the country develops”, “the state of the economy directly depends on the spiritual, moral state of the individual”, receives multiple confirmations. And the data we obtained demonstrate that the moral state of Russian society, quantified by the method described above, reveals high correlations with various indicators of its innovative activity (Table 2).
The level of morality has a significant impact on socio-political processes. In particular, it is hard not to agree that "ethics is the heart of democracy", since the latter presupposes confidence citizens to its institutions, which is impossible without the subordination of the activities of these institutions to basic ethical principles. According to the former President of the USSR M. S. Gorbachev, "without a moral component, any system will be doomed." And Metropolitan Kirill put it even more categorically: "Morality is a condition for the survival of human civilization - no more and no less."
Table 2. Relationship between the moral state of Russian society and indicators of innovative activity
Ways of the revival of morality
Despite the positive developments of recent years, Russian society is still "traumatized by chaos", and one of its main problems is not a lack of freedom, which the West constantly accuses us of (which, as always, poorly understands what is happening in Russia), but the exact opposite - a lack of control, above all, control internal - moral. This key need modern Russian society is refracted in the mass consciousness: the vast majority of our fellow citizens, as polls show, are in favor of tightening laws, moral censorship of the media(which its opponents give out for ideological, making a deliberate substitution of concepts) and other forms of moral control. Similar intentions are observed in the authorities, as well as in the Public Chamber, whose members declare that “the main problem of modern Russia is the decline of moral culture”, etc. All this suggests that in our society there is a corresponding need .
Of course, to try to give a simple answer to the traditional Russian question "What to do?" applied to the moral state of our society would be absurd. It is also obvious that declarative calls for the revival of morality and morality sound like a voice crying in the desert, and given the nihilism of a significant part of our youth, accustomed by pseudo-liberal ideologies to “do the opposite” in relation to the calls of the older generation, they can also have the opposite effect. “So far, the progressive public both in our country and in the West continues to sound the alarm about a deep moral crisis. But there are no clear ways to overcome it, "says O. T. Bogomolov."
Nevertheless, the key directions for the revival of morality by "effective therapy for the decline of morals" can be outlined.
Firstly, revision understanding freedom, left to us as a legacy from the first years of reforms and which is extremely distorted in modern Russia. Freedom implies its reasonable limitations implanted in the mentality of citizens, in terms of psychological science, internalized them. A similar understanding of freedom, spelled out in the works of I. Kant, I. A. Ilyin and other prominent thinkers, should be implanted in the minds of our fellow citizens with the help of an education system that, since the early 1990s. practically abstracted from the solution of moral and educational problems.
Secondly, revival institutions of moral control which are practically absent in modern Russian society. One should hardly strive to create institutions reminiscent of Soviet party and Komsomol organizations (in a democratic society this is impossible), however, schools, universities, and public organizations could perform the functions of moral control, for which they need society's mandate for their implementation. (For example, admission to universities and stay in them is reasonable to make dependent on the behavior of students in educational institutions and beyond. And public organizations, including our leading political party, should attach importance to the moral qualities of their members.)
Third, in the conditions of a deficit of internal - moral regulations, one should resort to their "externalization" by giving moral norms the status of laws.
A striking example is the law adopted by the State Duma prohibiting the drinking of beer and other low-alcohol drinks in public places. In this very instructive case, the internal - moral - prohibition was translated into an external form. And it “worked”, although in accordance with the Russian attitude to the laws: our fellow citizens, of course, did not stop drinking beer in public places, but nevertheless they began to do it much less often than in the absence of a legally formalized ban. The same should be done with respect to swearing in public places, which has already been done in some cities of Russia (under the ridicule of media representatives who poorly understand the destructive impact on society of "weak" forms of deviant behavior), demonstrative insults to older people and other forms of rude moral violations.
As O. T. Bogomolov writes, “until moral norms and principles become part of the general culture, it is necessary to force violators of the order to obey the law, to comply with the rules of the hostel, using the authority of the authorities, the press, and television.”
Fourth, decriminalization of our society and its everyday culture. It is wrong to think that this problem is related only to law enforcement agencies. In particular, decriminalization of mass consciousness involves not only the purification of our vocabulary from thug jargon, etc., but also a radical change in the system of relations between the population and law enforcement agencies, including the attitude to informing them about violations of the law, which in our culture, under the obvious influence of the criminal world, is qualified as “denunciations”.
In this regard, the example of Finland, recognized as the least corrupt country in the world, is very instructive. One of the cornerstones of the fight against corruption in this country is the simplicity and effectiveness of informing law enforcement agencies about any cases of corruption, that is, in our terminology, "denunciations" against officials. Any citizen can do this using the Internet without filling out any paperwork and bureaucratic obstacles. There are also posted "black lists" of officials convicted of corruption, getting into which deprives them of the opportunity to get a good job.
We still have not learned to distinguish between ideological denunciations and reports of violations of the law, which in essence are an expression of civil responsibility, besides considering its “minor” violations to be insignificant and not deserving of the attention of law enforcement agencies. It is noted, in particular, that “what some call law-abiding, others call denunciation”, “we do not welcome denunciation ... knocking is not allowed, because the law is “foreign”. There is also no such thing as a "professional criminal", although a significant part of our fellow citizens, being at large, are only able to engage in criminal activity and do not hide it.
Fifth, wide attracting scientists- sociologists, psychologists, etc. - to the development of laws, which we consider to be the sphere of competence of only professional lawyers and ubiquitous politicians.
The fact that athletes and showmen are abundantly represented in our legislative bodies, expanding the social base of legislators, only worsens the situation.
Laws are not just legal norms, but the most general rules of social interaction, which should be developed and introduced taking into account its social, psychological, economic and other patterns revealed by the relevant sciences.
It is easy to predict what fierce resistance such measures would cause among our pseudo-liberals, who have distorted the rational understanding of freedom to the utmost, and those criminalized social strata who benefit from it. However, the risk of new ideological collisions in this case is clearly justified, because “whether we want to admit it or not, but morality really underlies everything” , and, in particular, “it’s time to realize that in Russia moral education, spiritual rebirth is a matter of the nation’s survival and one of the necessary prerequisites for the recovery of the economy.
From the editors of Psychologos
We join the opinion of one of the readers: it is important to move from the conversation “who is to blame” to the specifics of “what to do”. Namely, to decide what each of us personally needs to do, at least at the everyday level, in order to start correcting the situation and making Russia a more worthy country. For example, TOTALLY give up alcohol, cigarettes and drugs - Do exercises every morning - Smile at people on the street - Give up your seat on the bus to older people, pregnant women, etc.: simple, clear and understandable things. Maybe someone will write such a plan for working on oneself, such a list? We will be ready to publish it on the Psychologos so that people can compare their lives with how they should live.
Life is made by people. What will we do?
* The story of the moral decay of the personality of Andrei Guskov is told by V. Rasputin in the story “Live and Remember”. This man was in the war, was wounded and shell-shocked more than once. But, having been discharged from the hospital, he did not go to his unit, but thievishly made his way to the village, became a deserter.
*Ch. Aitmatov wrote about the moral decline of Ober-Kandalovites and Anashists in his "Plakha".
The problem of the influence of religion on human life
In the story of A.S. Pushkin's "Snowstorm", the main character Marya Gavrilovna, having learned to live in accordance with God's commandments, becomes happy. Her mutual love with Burmin is God's gift for both.
· The main idea of the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment" is simple and clear. She is the embodiment of God's sixth commandment - "Thou shalt not kill." The author proves the impossibility of committing a crime in good conscience using the example of the story of Rodion Raskolnikov.
The problem of Christian morality
· D. Orekhov in the book "Buddha from Benares" tells about the teachings, about the transmigration of souls, about the magical world of ancient Indian spirituality.
The problem of good and evil
* In "White Clothes" V. Dudintsev tried to answer the question: how to recognize good and evil, how to distinguish white clothes of good from camouflage thrown over evil.
The problem of moral squeamishness
· A vivid example of an arrogant attitude towards people around is the heroine of the novel by L.N. Tolstoy "War and Peace" Helen Kuragin. Beautiful outwardly, she was spiritually empty, hypocritical, false.
· In the story "Old Woman Izergil" M. Gorky tells the legend about Lara, who was not satisfied with pride and confidence in his superiority. And the greatest blessing - life - becomes for him a hopeless torment.
The problem of human stinginess
* The features of manic stinginess are presented in the image of Plyushkin, the hero of the poem by N.V. Gogol's Dead Souls. Taking care of an insignificant trifle, showing penny stinginess, the landowner loses hundreds and thousands, blowing his fortune into the wind, ruining his estate.
The moral and ethical problem of a person's attitude to what is called "to have more than others", "to live for show".
· A well-known publicist I.Vasiliev wrote that “the same thing happens with the category of the self-satisfied, who live for show, as with the “hiding ones” - closure, distance, isolation from people. Their destiny is spiritual loneliness, which is more terrible than criminal punishment.
· To have a lot, according to I.Vasiliev, is becoming a fashion. The desire to "have" turns into a painful passion for hoarding. But a metamorphosis takes place with a person: acquiring more and more material things, he becomes impoverished in soul. “The place of generosity, responsiveness, cordiality, kindness, compassion is replaced by stinginess, envy, greed.”
· The well-known publicist G. Smirnov wrote that “in the 21st century mankind will face a painful rejection of the fictitious values of material life and a difficult acquisition of the values of the Spirit”.
· The hero of V. Astafiev's novel "The Sad Detective" refers to people who "know how to live." Fedya Lebeda has a police salary, but he bought a two-storey dacha. And all because he adheres to the principle: "Don't touch us, we won't touch..."
The problem of true and false human interest in culture
Let's remember the story of A.P. Chekhov's "Jumper". The main thing that attracted Olga Ivanovna to the world of art was the desire to make acquaintances with celebrities, and by no means a spiritual need for beauty. While admiring mediocre artists and writers, she failed to see in Dr. Dymov a talented scientist whose interest in art was truly genuine.
