CC BY
42
about transitional state of the former Soviet Union territory. In these conditions it is being formed the consumerist way of life when the consumed goods and services as symbols of success, prestige and social ascent turn a "prestigious" way of life into a goal in itself.
Author of the abstract - Elena Dmitrieva
ELYOR IBRAGIMOV. MANIPULATIVE TECHNOLOGIES ON CHANGE CONSCIOUSNESS AND BEHAVIOR OF YOUTH //
The article was written for the bulletin "Russia and the Moslem World."
Keywords: geopolitical competition, manipulation, manipulating technologies, types of manipulative technologies, chain of manipulative technologies, elements of manipulative technology, purpose of manipulation, manipulation functions, manipulation methods, manipulation styles, principles of manipulation.
Elyor Ibragimov,
Chief Specialist, Free Researcher,
Karshi Branch of the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan
Abstract. The article substantiates the thesis that geopolitical competition at the beginning of the new century led to the emergence of various manipulative technologies, which are often used to change the consciousness and behavior of young people. The author makes an attempt to determine the essence, content and main features, to classify the structural components of modern manipulative technologies based on various facts and logical arguments, the social threat of these technologies is revealed.
On the eve of the 21st century, called the "Age of Information," the relations in geopolitical arena have received their own unique characteristics. In particular, the competition between geopolitical forces has reached its peak. Young people in this process began to become the object of geopolitical influence. Political forces on the way to achieve their own goals influence the worldview of young people, amongst other things, to educate future leaders ready to serve their needs and interests. Unfortunately for us, this goal is achieved through manipulation of consciousness and behavior of the younger generation. In this regard the need to study the essence and content of modern manipulative technologies, identify their inherent features, structural components, and initiate mechanisms to confront them becomes one of the most pressing problems of social philosophy.
The word "manipulation" (manus - hand) is used in the sense of working on an object with a specific purpose. This implies the requirements of efficiency and skill. In this regard, the word "manipulation" in a figurative sense can mean such a thing as "entering into a relationship with people as an object." The "Modern Sociological Dictionary," published in 1969 in New York, interprets this as follows: "Without informing others, hiding the true goals, achieving superiority over others, to form the desired behavior."
As psychologists and sociologists emphasize, manipulation is considered one of the types of influence on the consciousness of an individual, its practical application by direct influence on the individual serves the purpose of achieving unilateral advantage. The word "Manipulation," taken from the Latin language, involves action of hands. However, manipulation means hand exercise, in particular, demonstration of magic tricks, based on the art of hands; achieving nefarious goals by fraud, deception, extortion; communication impact based on the activation of motivational situations (feelings, stereotypes).
Manipulation is not violence, it is the temptation of an individual to do something, it is a way to lead an individual astray.
The dangerous side of manipulation is leading to defeat of the inner harmony of an individual, its excessive exposure to external influences.
Usually most people confuse manipulation and deception. However, if the objective of a deception is achieved through conscious substitution of false information for truth, manipulation makes an individual after the treatment to mistake a wrong thing for the right one.
An American scientist R. Cialdini identifies several types of manipulation: a request for help; an impact of the seller; political propaganda; education of children, etc. In his opinion, fundraisers for various funds, street vendors, entrepreneurs, businessmen, sales agents, employees of advertising agencies widely use manipulation in their activities. Thus, manipulation is the formation of deliberately wrong people's consciousness at the expense of lightweight ideas, opinions and views and due to this redirection of the individual to the life in the interests of the manipulator. A person who performs this kind of action in practice is called a manipulator. One can identify the following types of manipulators:
1) Manipulator as one of highly professional specialists in his / her field, motivated by material interests, serves political forces pursuing unseemly goals;
2) Manipulator in order to manipulate a specific person or a particular group, or to withdraw them from the right path effectively uses various means, the potential of modern technology;
3) Manipulator in his / her activity strictly adheres to the rule of the account of interests, aspirations and desires of individuals, and in particular young people;
4) Manipulator distributes his / her ideas through "students" from among young people with weak will, low level of thinking, living for the moment, and uses them as instruments throughout the process.
Currently, the manipulative technology is carried out as follows, in keeping with the number of people and objects of influence:
1. Individual technology - in this case, one individual is chosen. Manipulators thoroughly study the character of the individual, his/her strengths and weaknesses and usually turn into potential objects of influence five categories of people:
a) Individuals who love a comfortable life, accustomed to think only within the framework of satisfying their own interests. Such people put their interests above everything else. To manipulate their minds, the emphasis is usually placed on their interests, in particular, they are provided with evidence that a given activity is in their interests.
b) Individuals under constant stress. The people of this category are commonly engaged in creative activities, they are dreamy, lose self-control easily. To manipulate their psyches impacts on their mental aspirations are mainly used.
c) Individuals drawing on logical opinion. They are used to believe in facts and arguments. Manipulation of their psyches is carried out by influencing their ideas of justice, conscience, morality.
d) Individuals who do not go beyond satisfaction of the most primitive animal instincts (food, sleep, sexual relations, etc.). Manipulation the psyche in this case is realized by creating conditions that meet their basic needs.
e) Individuals with mental disorders. This group of people suffers from various mental illnesses and has no sane opinion. Manipulation people of this kind is effected by intimidation and inflicting suffering on them.
2. Public (group) technology - the targets of this process are mainly political associations, social movements or certain categories or classes of society. On the one hand, technologies designed to manipulate young people, who are usually considered a strong strata of society, are used. They are designed to reduce the educational needs of young people, to strengthen the desire to
emigrate from the country or to destroy their patriotic feelings. On the other hand, the technologies designed to achieve victory in political struggle in the elections, to belittle the authority of certain political forces, to gain power and other similar goals are used.
3. Mass technology - in this case, the main task is to influence public opinion. An example of manipulation of this kind may be strengthening of consumers' interest in low-quality production due to intensive advertising. Also spread of various far-fetched rumors, in particular, information about the so-called "Last day" should also be regarded as a model for achieving certain interests. In the course of this process, general public, having believed in the end of life on Earth, contribute to the development of consumer society, which, in particular, manifests itself in the increased demand for sedatives and drugs. This, of course, in its turn, resulting in development of certain types of business, leads to satisfaction of material interests of certain people.
This practice, being an ideological way of influence of external forces over the aspirations, morals and preferences of an individual in order to introduce alien ideas into his / her consciousness, is a complex for achieving political goals to change the way of life and mentality of a society on the basis of material, spiritual, psychological impact.
At present time both successes and failures of humanity are of global nature. Unfortunately, the establishment of cultural hegemony is becoming a widespread technology for bringing foreign territories under someone's influence, management of human consciousness.
Manipulators use manipulative technologies to achieve their geopolitical goals. These technologies have their own specifics. Each technology has a corresponding cause-effect chain (hereinafter - the chain), this observation should be extended to manipulative technologies too. Within the frames of this work, it seems appropriate to identify and explore the chain of
manipulative technology aimed at changing the worldview of young people.
The chain of manipulative technology, in our opinion, consists of the following components:
Let us briefly analyze these principles.
1. The goal is to redirect the consciousness and behavior of young people to the target geopolitical road. To do this, the following tasks are set as the main tasks:
a) First of all, study of the real spiritual and psychological atmosphere of young people for introduction into young people's minds the system of values necessary for the manipulator;
b) Definition of opportunities that have an impact on the worldview of young people but have not yet been put into practice;
c) Identification of factors and means to change the worldview of young people;
d) Elaboration and implementation of the mechanism and the complex of actions that serve for changing the worldview of youth within a specific territory;
e) Transformation of the consciousness of the youth so that its forms and content served the goals of the manipulators;
2. Before applying any technology in practice, attention is paid to the development of a set of reliable methods. This requirement is explained by the fact that they (methods) are among the central elements of the technology. When choosing a method, special attention is paid to the following four aspects :
- Each method has its own content;
- Each method is used in specific circumstances;
- Each method has its own value;
- One should not forget that each method includes different approaches and principles.
Currently, about 100 methods of manipulation are used. Within the framework of this article it is not possible to dwell on each of them, so we will bring into light some of the most widely used ones.
One of the most widely used methods is slander. According to this method, a specific person in the civic circle is said a few slanderous words about. This means his / her shortcomings (albeit fictional), failings, etc. As a result, people's opinion about this person changes to negative. Even a person who has a positive opinion about this object of slander, loses confidence in him, begins to keep aloof from him / her.
The method of praise is the opposite of the above it is mainly used in various PR campaigns. Usually the advantages and merits of the person in question are shown in an exaggerated form. Hymns of praises sound in his / her honor in the streets, public places and at public events, in mass media. As a result, a positive image of the person chosen as the object of manipulation is formed.
Another method which is often used is the method of reference to an authoritative person. It is mostly used by the people who need to create a positive opinion in a certain circle of people. According to this method, quotes from the statements of famous people are given, they are approached to get and spread their opinions on a particular topical issue. As a result, people
begin to accept these people as highly spiritual and enlightened individuals.
The way of presenting oneself as a humble, modest person is widespread in the spheres of politics and art. Some politicians, artists in order to change the attitude to themselves from negative to positive try to create an image of a person who shares the views of the main part of the population. In most cases, this method makes it easy to achieve the goal.
3. In the process of changing the worldview of young people, various tools, equipment and materials are mandatory. In this case, you should pay attention to the following important aspects. These tools and equipment are of the most modern nature. Thus, the use of modern computers enables you to deliver information to the destination quickly, secretly and without distortion. Naturally, this kind of equipment is considered an effective mechanism of action. Similarly, smartphones, tablets and other media are widely used for the same purpose.
At present, the information system covers the whole world. The Internet, cellular communication, radio and television are widely spread in the world. International, regional, group and other links have also developed dynamically.
4. The consistency of advocacy activities also deserves close attention. On the whole, the method of ensuring such consistency was developed long ago. For example, qualified German specialists showed a sequence of activities that serve the study of social reality even in the 70th of last century.
As they emphasized, the study of social reality must consist of three stages. The first of them is preparing and organizing the study. Within this time interval main aims, ideas and the main stages of the study are identified, a set of analytical actions is developed. At the second stage, empirical research is implemented (in other words, materials are collected). At the third stage the collected empirical data are analyzed. On the assumption of these factors, the manipulators pay special attention to the sequence of the ongoing propaganda process.
5. The next element is monitoring. As it is known, monitoring is a set of data that includes dynamic observations, analytical estimates and forecasts aimed at studying the state of a system. Of course, taking into account the fact that at present geopolitical forces are developing long-term strategies, the process of impact of the ongoing manipulations is constantly being monitored. The focus of the ongoing process of changing the worldview of young people is development of new technologies, abandonment of obsolete technologies, regard to the share of the youth market, constant study of their needs and desires and other similar issues.
Manipulative technologies mainly consist of the above steps. Naturally, these technologies can be enriched by various elements, as well as improved in the course of their practical implementation.
All the above-mentioned underlines once again the need for large-scale opposition to manipulative technologies, which serve as a tool for changing the consciousness and behavior of modern youth.
References
1 A Modern Dictionary of Sociology Hardcover - March 1, 1969, 469 p.
2 Aminova D., Uzbekistan millii zhurnalistika sining mafkuraviiasoslari. (Ideological foundations of national journalism of Uzbekistan). - T.: Turon -Ikbol, 2013.
з. Kara-Murza S.G. Manipulation with consciousness. - Moscow: "Algorithm", 2006. Number of pages 464. Page 34.
41 Urbanov T. ^ozirgi zamon tsivilizatsiyasini tad|i| |ilish metodologiyasi: tad|i|ot uslublarini tanlash masalalari. (Methodology for the study of contemporary civilization: the issues of choosing research methods) / / ^озирги замон фалсафаси (Modern philosophy), Хал|аро илмий конф. мат. (Proceedings of the international scientific conference). - T., 2008. - 226-228-B. (P. 226-228).
5. Social research process / / Translated from German by A. Shestakov and I. Marasanova. - Moscow: Progress, 1975. Number of pages 365. Page 15.
6. The process of social research / / Translated from the German by A. Shestakov and I. Marasanova. - Moscow: Progress, 1975. Number of pages 365. P 15.
IGOR DOBAYEV. JIHAD: ESSENCE, IDEOLOGY, POLITICAL PRACTICE* // The article was written for the bulletin "Russia and the Moslem World."
DOI: 10.31249/rmw/2019.03.01
Keywords: jihad, Islam, Islamism, Koran, radicalism, takfir.
Igor Dobayev,
DSc(Philosophy), Professor, Expert of Russian Academy of Sciences, Director of Center of Regional Studies, Institute of Sociology and Religion, Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don
Abstract. The article is concerned with emergence and evolutionary development of the term "holy war" (jihad) in Islam. There is an intrinsic interpretation of this phenomenon in early Islam and also evolutionary changes in its understanding over the next centuries. There are offered some typologies of jihad. There are considered parameters of its understanding by representatives of orthodox Islam, and then ideologists of radical Islam (Islamism). It is proved that theorists of radical Islamism peculiar define traditional sources of Islam, perceiving Quranic verses at face value, excessively expanding a circle of so-called "enemies of Islam," applying to them takfir. Ideologists of radical Takfirism demand implementation of their unreasonable claims practically, implementation against "enemies" of offensive jihad.
* Article is executed within an internal grant of SFU № BHrp-07/2017-22 "Transconflict regions as a phenomenon of the geopolitical competition: social risks and resources of adaptation to humanitarian calls."
