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15
DOI10.23947/2414-1143-2017-11 -3-19-25 UDC008
ORTHODOX VALUES AND YOUTH NATIONAL SELF-IDENTIFICATION IN NORTH CAUCASUS (ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE DON REGION)
Evgeny E. Nesmeyanov, Tamara S. Olenich
Don state technical university. Rostov-on-Don, Russian Federation science-almanac@mail.ru
The processes of globalization and Euro-Atlantic integration, the spread among the Russian youth of postmodern values destroy the Orthodox tradition and its inherent culture and morality. In such circumstances, the study of the spiritual security of the individual becomes an issue, which the article aims at discussing. The authors come to the conclusion that in the process of forming traditional values among young people, spiritual security is the semantic core of national security and a buffer of all negative trends related to the spiritual sphere. The spiritual security of Russia can and should be the guardian of the cultural and civili-zational development of society, give impetus to the vital spiritual interests and needs of the individual. The society and the state face the task of developing forms and methods of public control over the formation of spiritual values that will correspond to Russia's national interests. The central core of such spiritual system should be relations, within which patriotism and an active civil position, but at the same time, favorable conditions for the positive creation of spirituality will be provided. At the same time, relying on public interests and established religious norms of behavior within traditional confessions, the most numerous denominations -Orthodox and Islam - should influence the formation of the system of public relations and the upbringing of the spiritual and moral ideals of youth. The conclusions are confirmed by the results of a sociological survey conducted by the Don state technical university entitled "The ratio of youth in the Rostov region to the Russian Orthodox Church and believers in the context of their support for traditional cultural values", in which more than 1,000 students aged 18 to 35 of all leading universities in the region took part.
Key words: Orthodoxy, youth, culture, traditional values, upbringing, spiritual security.
[Несмеянов Е.Е., Оленич Т.С. Ценности православия и национальная самоидентификация молодежи на Северном Кавказе (на примере Донского края)]
Процессы глобализации и евроатлантической интеграции, распространение среди российской молодежи ценностей постмодерна разрушают православную традицию и присущие ей культуру и мораль. В таких условиях становится актуальным изучение проблемы духовной безопасности личности, что и является целью данной статьи. Авторы приходят к выводам, что в процессе формирования традиционных ценностей у молодежи, духовная безопасность является смысловым ядром национальной безопасности и буфером всех негативных трендов, связанных с духовной сферой. Духовная безопасность России может и должна выступать оберегом культурно-цивилизационного развития общества, дать толчок жизненно важным духовным интересам и потребностям личности. Перед обществом и государством стоит задача выработать формы и способы общественного контроля за формированием духовных ценностей, которые будут соответствовать национальным интересам России. Центральным ядром такой духовной системы должны стать отношения, в рамках которых патриотизм и активная гражданская позиция, но в то же время, будут обеспечены благоприятные условия для позитивного созидания духовности. При этом опираясьна общественные интересы и сложившиеся религиозные нормы поведения в рамках традиционных конфессий, влияние на формирование системы общественных отношений и воспитание духовных и нравственных идеалов молодежи должны оказать, в первую очередь, самые многочисленные конфессии: православие и ислам. Выводы подтверждены результатами социологического исследования, проведенного Донским государственным техническим университетом под названием «Отношение молодежи Ростовской области к Русской Православной Церкви и верующим в контексте их поддержки традиционных культурных ценностей», в котором приняли участие более 1000 студентов в возрасте от 18 до 35 лет всех ведущих вузов региона.
Ключевые слова: православие, молодежь, культура, традиционные ценности, воспитание, духовная безопасность.
Evgeny E. Nesmeyanov - Ph.D. of philosophy, professor. Don state technical university. Rostov-on-Don, Russian Federation.
Tamara S. Olenich - Ph.D. of philosophy, professor. Don state technical university. Rostov-on-Don, Russian Federation.
Несмеянов Евгений Ефимович - доктор философских наук, профессор. Донской государственный технический университет. г. Ростов-на-Дону, Россия.
ОленичТамараСтаниславовна - доктор философских наук, профессор. Донскойгосударственныйтехническийуниверситет. г. Ростов-на-Дону, Россия.
Traditional confessions are concerned about the spiritual situation of modern Russian youth, the blurriness and instability of its moral and value orientations. Maintaining of moral ideals and moral education are considered to be the priority tasks that are declared, for instance, in the text "Fundamentals of the Social Conception of the Russian Orthodox Church" [5]. At the same time, the processes of globalization and Euro-Atlantic integration, postmodern values spread among the Russian youth destroy the orthodox tradition and peculiar culture and morality. In such circumstances, it becomes urgent to study the problem of a person spiritual security, which is the purpose of this article. Analysis ofvarious aspects formation of the youth spiritual safety is based on the results of social research materials, conducted by Don state technical university under the title "The attitude of Rostov region youth to the Russian Orthodox Church and believers under the context of their support of traditional cultural values". In the Rostov region this project was carried out by the responsible departments "Orthodox Culture and Theology" and "Philosophy and World Religions" of DSTU, the Department "Orthodox Culture and Theology" branch of DSTU in the city of Shakhty. More than 1,000 students from all leading universities in the region took part in the research. Respondents aged from 18 to 35 were interviewed. To obtain quantitative characteristics a survey method was used in the study, which was conducted according to a formalized questionnaire. The purpose of this sociological survey was to identify and describe the attitude of the Rostov region youth towards the Russian Orthodox Church.
This study geographically covered the territory of the Rostov region. The Don region is a land of original culture and rich spiritual traditions, some researchers call it the Cossack land. In fact, we can say that the Orthodox faith, the Cossack freemen and the state service were (and still remain) the basis of self-identification of the Russian Cossacks. Orthodoxy in many ways was and remains the most widespread religion in the Rostov region territory. The analysis of the data obtained as a result of the research allows us to identify a number of characteristics that describe the situation that has developed in the sphere of person's spiritual security formation. The research results showed that the Church strives to participate in moral education together with secular institutions of education and culture. It is difficult to overestimate the role of moral education in our state. In this connection Pavel Florensky's idea that "the focus of the individual is a religious cult is considered to be interesting ... the whole human culture is generated from this core of a person, from the cult". Moral education contributes to the growth of civic consciousness level and the development of society. In this regard, Orthodoxy and the ROC today again become the pivot of the society spiritual life, which influences the face of Russia, its traditions and way of life, opposes conflicts on religious grounds.
In Russia, Orthodox believers become the dominant social group, while this group is real, not nominal, and can defend its values. And the process of resecularization is largely
conditionedby the changes in the system of Russians moral orientations and the appeal to the postmodern Western culture that is reflected in cultural (cultural merging), anthropological (surgical operations for sex changing) and moral (the unsavory behavior of famous people in public.) aspects. The corresponding offensive of postmodern is connected with the rejection from universalism, from aspiration to cover the whole diversity of infinite reality by several general ideas or some exhaustive philosophical conception.The assertion of a postmodern society requires a corresponding transformation of the social cognition established ways: thus according to N.T. Abramova, the fundamentalist ideal foundations are being weakened, about which the following factors testify. "Firstly, the idea about invariant basic truths absence for the various classes objects (about inadequacy of representations about truth united criteria towards any confirmations);secondly, about mosaic structure, heterogeneity of modern cognition objects; thirdly, the idea about the choice tactics altera-tionof basic foundation; and finally, the fourth, the idea about priority of individual over entirety" [1].
Undoubtedly, in the context of such comprehensive changes that occur in modern society, the research of the young people views on the traditional values is very curious and socially significant. The scientific novelty of our research is concluded in posing of new research problems - the simultaneous study of the cultural, national and religious self-identification of the Rostov region youth under the conditions of globalization, in the aspect of its opposing to the postmodern culture. To solve the assigned tasks of research one should to apply the research methods complex. To obtain quantitative characteristics of the researched situation, a mass survey method is used in the research, which is planned to be conducted through a questionnaire. A mass questionnaire survey is a method of primary sociological information obtaining, based on an oral or written appeal to the population under study with questions the content of which represents a research problem on an empirical level. The information, received during the survey, reflects the social reality in the form, in which it is refracted in the minds of the respondents. The method of mass survey enables to obtain information about the people's attitude to any events, register the actual behavior of respondents, and consider the nature of their relationship to some future and present events. The methodology of this research stage is based on statistical models and the sampling method. This makes it possible not only to obtain opinions and assumptions, but to find out the exact numerical values of the researched indicators. The selective method, used to form a sampled population enables to state that the results of this quantitative research are statistically reliable, they can be applied to the wide general population.
During the sociological survey, the following conceptual-categorical apparatus was used. Youth - sociodemographic group, experiencing the period of social maturity formation, entering into the world of adults, adaptation to it and its future renovation. The group boundaries are usually associated with the age of 15-35 years. But there are researches, where the authors indicate the boundaries in 14-40 years.Youth is a flexible and mobile social group, it reacts to the slightest changes in the society life, it can as reject society traditions, so give impetus to their development. The research of the modern youth attitude to the Orthodox tradition in the Rostov region, in the context of the ongoing changes in Russian society, enables to identify certain trends and prospects of the general direction of long-term social development. The youth religiosity-degree of youth inclusion into the religious values and systems. It is a certain form or degree of religious consciousness, experience and behavior of young people. Cultural identity - an individual's belonging to a culture or a cultural group, forming value attitude of a person to himself, other people, society and the world as a whole. The loss of identity is possible in connection with the rapid changes in the sociocultural environment that a person does not have time to realize. In this case, the identity crisis can take on a mass character, giving rise to "lost generations"
[5].To test the hypothesis, 1,000 respondents were interviewed for national identity and religiosity, in Rostov-on-Don, Azov, Shakhty, which made it possible to more widely distribute the characteristics of the study and the general population.
The main meaning of human life, the overwhelming majority of the surveyed youth, 69%, sees - in the family creation and children upbringing. Also, 29% believe that the main thing is to "take everything from life", and 2% want to devote their lives to a career (Pic. 1). The principle of "taking everything from life"also includes the creation of a family, thus it can be confirmed that more than 69% of respondents see the meaning of life in the family creation.
The main sense of human life
T ° , I
29%
1 ■ To Cfeate family and
1
Pic. 1. The life aim according to the respondents answers
The analysis of the diagrams shows that the youth majority of Rostov-on-Don and the Rostov region believe that the Russian Orthodox Church is an authoritative body in the society, occupies a high position in a social life, and Orthodoxy is the spiritual core of the Russian youth life.
The following hypotheses were confirmed in the result of research:
1. The society supports the aspiration of the Russian Orthodox Church to participate in moral education together with secular institutions of education and culture in the Rostov region. The role of the ROC in moral education in our country is highly estimated.
2. In most part of the South of Russia (the North Caucasus), Orthodox believers become the dominant social group, in promoting positive spiritual values, while this group is real, not the nominal one, and can defend its values.
3. Youth inclusion into the cultural heritage of its people is also considered to be very popular among the young people (70 % support the given type of activity) In addition to the need for cultural enlightenment, 70% of young people need a moral estimation of the of modern life phenomena.
Do you preserve your national culture, traditions and do you ingraft them to your children?
1 ■ Yes ■ No, we lost it
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Pic. 3. Do you preserve your national culture, traditions and do you ingraft them to your children
The main conclusions that can be drawn from the results of the research are as follows: the Western path does not fit for Russia, since the archetypes of Orthodox culture have formed quite different moral norms and traditions. Patriarch Kirill notes that the idea about state sufficiency of a person and citizen rights and freedom protection was fixed in Western mentality since the time of Russo, and that a person chooses kind and useful for life by himself. In this ideology there is no concept of sin, moreover, as Patriarch Kirill points out, the state encourages sin in these countries, since "the permissibility of immorality is justified by the doctrine of human dignity"[2].
Decree No. 683 of the Russian Federation President from December 31st, 2015, "About the National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation", paragraph 11 of the Strategy states the following spiritual and moral values: the history of Russia, freedom and independence of Russia, humanism, interethnic peace and harmony, cultures unity of the Russian Federation multinational people, respect for family and confessional traditions, patriotism. These values are enough to form a doctrine and a protective system of the spiritual and moral security of Russia[4]. At the same time, the interpretation of these values and the mechanisms for their protection depends on the position of the Russian Federation President. V.V. Putin himself repeatedly said during the year 2016 about the need to protect the spiritual and moral security. For instance, he considers it useful to add a cultu-rological course to the school program that would enhance the spiritual and moral culture of pupils. The Strategy generally focuses on enhancing the role of the school in educating young people as responsible citizens of Russia on the basis of traditional Russian spiritual, moral and cultural-historical values, as well as in the prevention of extremism and radical ideology; improving the quality of teaching the Russian language, literature, national history, the foundations of secular ethics, traditional religions, the increasing role of the school in educating young people as responsible citizens of Russia on the basis of traditional Russian spiritual, moral and cultural-historical values, and in the prevention of extremism
and improving the quality of teaching Russian language, literature, national history, the foundations of secular ethics, traditional religions [6; 8].
The national security strategy also defines the most complex concept of "traditional Russian spiritual and moral values" [3]. This is the priority of the spiritual over the material, the protection of human life, human rights and freedoms, family, creative work, service to the Fatherland, rules of morality and virtue, humanism, charity, justice, mutual assistance, collectivism, the historical unity of the Russia people, the continuity of the history of our Motherland[9].
Thus, spiritual security should become the conceptual core of national security, act as a buffer of all negative trends, one way or another connected with the spiritual sphere, confessional and spiritual culture. Therefore, Russia's spiritual security can and should be an amulet of the society cultural and civilizational development, give impetus to the vital spiritual interests and needs of the individual, "tear off' this personality from the consumer boom. And it should help the society and state to elaborate forms and methods of the public control for spiritual values formation, meeting the Russia national interests, where patriotism and active civil position will stay at the first place and where one should build such relations system, which would enable to provide favorable conditions for spirituality positive creation, also relying on the social interests and customary religious norms of behavior within the framework of traditional confessions, and primarily the most numerous: Orthodoxyand Islamism[5].Reflecting over the humanitarian problems, connected with the definition of national identity, combining of evolutionary paradigms or religious orientation, it is necessary to clearly see those crisis phenomena that have emerged in the spiritual development of our society and one of the options for an adequate response to the negative progressive trends may be a return to the traditional for our society cultural paradigms, which convincingly demonstrate the results of our research.
Литература
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8. Nesmeyanov E.E., Olenich T.S., Plotnikov S.A."Youth and Orthodox" within the context of traditional culture values formation (on the base of social research "Attitude of Rostov Region youth to Russian Orthodox Church and the believers in the
context of the support of traditional culture values")// Научныйальманахстран-Причерноморья. 2016. № 1. http://science-almanac.ru
9. Yablokovl.N.Religionandethnos // Научный альманах стран Причерноморья. 2015. № 1.http://science-almanac.ru
References
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July 16, 2017
