Social values ​​of Russian modern society. Value Orientations of Modern Russian Society

Values ​​are generalized goals and means to achieve them, acting as fundamental norms. They ensure the integration of society, helping individuals to make socially approved choices of their behavior in vital situations. The value system forms the inner core of culture, the spiritual quintessence of the needs and interests of individuals and social communities. It, in turn, has a reverse effect on social interests and needs, acting as one of the most important motivators of social action, the behavior of individuals. Thus, each value and value system has a dual basis: in the individual as an intrinsically valuable subject and in society as a socio-cultural system.

Typology of values

There are several reasons for the typology of values. Since values ​​influence the behavior of people in all spheres of their life, the simplest basis for their typology is their specific predilection.

meticulous content. On this basis, social, cultural, economic, political, spiritual, etc. values ​​are distinguished. Specialists count dozens, even hundreds of such values. And if you associate values ​​with qualities, abilities, personality traits, then Allport and Odbert counted 18 such traits (XXI. and Anderson managed to reduce this list first to 555. then to 200 names. But the most common, basic values ​​that form the basis of people's value consciousness and implicitly influencing their actions in various areas of LIFE. not so many Their number is minimal if we correlate values ​​​​with the needs of people: Freud suggested limiting himself to two. Maslow, five needs-values. Murray formed a list of 28 values. Rokeach estimated the number of terminal values ​​in one and a half dozen, and instrumental - five or six dozen, but empirically researched 18 of each.In a word, we are talking about two to four dozen basic values.

Taking into account the results of empirical studies, including ours, four groups of values ​​can be distinguished on this basis:

Values ​​of the highest status, the "core" of the value structure;

Middle-status values ​​that can move to the core or to the periphery, so they can be thought of as a "structural reserve";

Values ​​below the average, but not the lowest status, or "periphery" - they are also mobile and can move to the "reserve" or to the "tail";

Values ​​of the lowest status, or the aforementioned "tail" of the value structure, the composition of which is inactive.

The value core can be characterized as a group of values ​​that dominate in the public consciousness and integrate society or another social community into a whole (according to our data, these include those values ​​that are approved by over 60% of the population).

The structural reserve is located between dominance and opposition; it serves as the area where value conflicts between individuals and social groups, as well as intrapersonal conflicts, are most intense (on average, such values ​​are approved by 45-60% of the population).

The periphery includes oppositional values ​​(they are approved by approximately 30-45% of the population), dividing the members of this community into adherents of significantly different, sometimes incompatible values ​​and therefore causing the most acute conflicts.

Finally, in the tail are the values ​​of an obvious minority, which differs from the other members of the community in the greater stability of their orientations, inherited from past layers of culture (they are approved by less than 30% of the population).

Content:
1. Introduction
2. Values ​​of modern Russian society
3. Conclusion
4. References

Introduction
Values ​​are generalized ideas of people about the goals and means of achieving them, about the norms of their behavior, embodying historical experience and expressing in a concentrated way the meaning of the culture of a particular ethnic group and of all mankind.
Value in general and sociological value in particular have not been adequately studied in Russian sociological science. It is enough to get acquainted with the content of textbooks and manuals on sociology published at the end of the twentieth century and in recent years to be convinced of this. At the same time, the problem is relevant, socially and epistemologically significant both for sociology and for a number of social sciences and humanities - history, anthropology, social philosophy, social psychology, state studies, philosophical axiology and a number of others.
The relevance of the topic is presented in the following main provisions:
· Understanding values ​​as a set of ideals, principles, moral norms, which are priority knowledge in people's lives, have, both for a separate society, say, for Russian society, and for the universal level, a very specific humanitarian value. Therefore, the problem deserves a comprehensive study.
· Values ​​unite people on the basis of their universal significance, knowledge of the patterns of their integrative and consolidating nature is quite justified and productive.
Social values ​​included in the subject field of problems of sociology, such as moral values, ideological values, religious values, economic values, national and ethical, etc., are of paramount importance for studying and accounting also because they act as a measure of social assessments and criterion characteristics.
Elucidation of the role of social values ​​is also significant for us, students, future specialists who will carry out social roles in social reality in the future - in a work collective, city, region, etc.

Values ​​of modern Russian society
The changes that have taken place over the past ten years in the sphere of state structure and the political organization of Russian society can be called revolutionary. The most important component of the transformation taking place in Russia is the change in the outlook of the population. It is traditionally believed that mass consciousness is the most inertial sphere in comparison with the political and socio-economic sphere. Nevertheless, during periods of abrupt, revolutionary transformations, the system of value orientations can also be subject to very significant shifts. It can be argued that institutional transformations in all other areas are irreversible only when they are accepted by the society and fixed in the new system of values ​​that this society is guided by. And in this regard, changes in the worldview of the population can serve as one of the most important indicators of the reality and effectiveness of social transformation as a whole.
In Russia, as a result of a change in the social structure during the transition from an administrative-command system to a system based on market relations, there was a rapid disintegration of social groups and institutions, the loss of personal identification with the former social structures. There is a loosening of the normative-value systems of the old consciousness under the influence of propaganda of ideas and principles of new political thinking.
People's lives are individualized, their actions are less regulated from the outside. In modern literature, many authors talk about the crisis of values ​​in Russian society. Values ​​in post-communist Russia really contradict each other. The unwillingness to live in the old way is combined with disappointment in the new ideals, which turned out to be either unattainable or false for many. Nostalgia for a gigantic country coexists with various manifestations of xenophobia and isolationism. Getting used to freedom and private initiative is accompanied by a reluctance to take responsibility for the consequences of their own economic and financial decisions. The desire to defend the newly acquired freedom of private life from uninvited intrusions, including from the "watchful eye" of the state, is combined with a craving for a "strong hand." This is only a cursory list of those real contradictions that do not allow us to unambiguously assess Russia's place in the modern world.
Assuming consideration of the process of development in Russia of new value orientations, it would not be superfluous to first pay attention to the very "soil" on which the seeds of a democratic social order fell. In other words, what the current hierarchy of values ​​has become under the influence of the changed political and economic situation largely depends on the general worldview attitudes that have historically developed in Russia. The dispute about the eastern or western nature of spirituality in Russia has been going on for more than one century. It is clear that the uniqueness of the country does not allow it to be attributed to any one type of civilization. Russia is constantly trying to enter the European community, but these attempts are often hindered by the "eastern genes" of the empire, and sometimes by the consequences of its own historical fate.
What characterizes the value consciousness of Russians? What changes have taken place in it in recent years? What was the old hierarchy of values ​​transformed into? Based on the data obtained in the course of several empirical studies on this issue, it is possible to identify the structure and dynamics of values ​​in Russian society.
An analysis of Russians' answers to questions about traditional, "common human" values ​​reveals the following hierarchy of Russians' priorities (as their importance decreases):
family - 97% and 95% of all respondents in 1995 and 1999, respectively;
The family, providing its members with physical, economic and social security, at the same time acts as the most important tool for the socialization of the individual. Thanks to it, cultural, ethnic, moral values ​​are broadcast. At the same time, the family, remaining the most stable and conservative element of society, develops along with it. The family, therefore, is in motion, changing not only under the influence of external conditions, but also due to the internal processes of its development. Therefore, all the social problems of modernity in one way or another affect the family, are refracted in its value orientations, which are currently characterized by an increase in complexity, diversity, and inconsistency.
work - 84% (1995) and 83% (1999);
friends, acquaintances - 79% (1995) and 81% (1999);
free time - 71% (1995) and 68% (1999);
religion - 41% (1995) and 43% (1999);
politics - 28% (1995) and 38% (1999). 1)
The very high and stable commitment of the population to such traditional values ​​for any modern society as family, human communication, and free time draws attention. Let us immediately pay attention to the stability with which these basic "nuclear" values ​​are reproduced. The four-year interval did not have a significant impact on attitudes towards family, work, friends, free time, religion. At the same time, interest in a more superficial, "external" sphere of life - politics, has increased by more than a third. It is quite understandable that for the majority of the population in today's crisis socio-economic situation, work is of great importance: it is the main source of material well-being and the opportunity to realize interests in other areas. Somewhat unexpected, at first glance, is only the mutual position in the hierarchy of values ​​of religion and politics: after all, over the course of more than seven decades of Soviet history, atheism and "political literacy" were actively cultivated in the country. Yes, and the last decade of Russian history was marked, above all, by turbulent political events and passions. Therefore, some growth of interest in politics and political life is not surprising.
Previously, the qualities that were desirable for the social system were, as it were, predetermined by communist ideology. Now, in the conditions of the liquidation of the monopoly of one worldview, a “programmed” person is being replaced by a “self-organizing” person, freely choosing his political and ideological orientations. It can be assumed that the ideas of political democracy of the rule of law, freedom of choice, and democratic culture are not popular among Russians. First of all, because in the minds of Russians the injustice of today's social structure, associated with the growth of differentiation, is activated. The recognition of private property as a value may have nothing to do with its recognition as an object and basis of labor activity: in the eyes of many, private property is only an additional source (real or symbolic) of consumer goods.
Today, in the minds of Russians, first of all, those values ​​that are somehow connected with the activities of the state are actualized. The first of these is legitimacy. The demand for legality is the demand for stable rules of the game, for reliable guarantees that changes will not be accompanied by a massive ejection of people from their usual life niches. Legality is understood by Russians not in a general legal, but in a specific human sense, as a vital need for the state to establish such an order in society that actually ensures the safety of individuals (hence the high rating of the word “security” as the main need of the vital type). There is every reason to assume that in the minds of the majority of Russians, despite all the ideological shifts that have taken place in recent years, the correlation of the law with the usual functions of the former state as a guarantor of public order and a distributor of basic goods still prevails. A private person, who was formed in the Soviet era, sees in another private person (or organization) a competitor not in production, but exclusively in consumption. In a society where all sources and functions of development were concentrated in the hands of the state, in a society that tried to develop technologically without the institution of private property, such a result was inevitable. At present, one of the main values ​​of Russians is an orientation towards private life, the well-being of the family, and prosperity. In a crisis society, the family has become for the majority of Russians the center of attraction for their mental and physical strength.
The concept of security, like no other, perhaps, captures the continuity with the consciousness of the “traditionally Soviet” type and at the same time carries an alternative to it. In it one can see nostalgic memories of the lost orderliness (traces of “defensive consciousness”), but at the same time, the ideas of the security of the individual, who felt the taste of freedom, security in the broadest sense of the word, including from the arbitrariness of the state. But if security and freedom cannot become complementary, then the idea of ​​security, with increasing interest in it, may well be combined in Russian society with a demand for a new ideologized lack of freedom of the “National Socialist” kind.
So, the value "core" of Russian society is made up of such values ​​as legality, security, family, prosperity. The family can be attributed to interactionist values, the other three - to the vital, the simplest, significant for the preservation and continuation of life. These values ​​perform an integrating function.
Values ​​are the deep foundations of society, so how homogeneous or, if you like, unidirectional they will become in the future, how harmoniously the values ​​​​of different groups can be combined, will largely determine the success of the development of our society as a whole.
As already noted, fundamental transformations in society are impossible, incomplete without a change in the value consciousness of people who make up this society. It is extremely important to study and fully monitor the process of transforming the hierarchy of needs and attitudes, without which it is impossible to truly understand and manage the processes of social development.

Conclusion

The most significant values ​​are: the life and dignity of a person, his moral qualities, the moral characteristics of a person’s activities and actions, the content of various forms of moral consciousness - norms, principles, ideals, ethical concepts (good, evil, justice, happiness), moral characteristics of social institutions, groups, collectives, classes, social movements and similar social segments.
Among the sociological consideration of values, an important place also belongs to religious values. Faith in God, striving for the absolute, discipline as integrity, high spiritual qualities cultivated by religions are so sociologically significant that these provisions are not disputed by any sociological doctrine.
The considered ideas and values ​​(humanism, human rights and freedoms, the ecological idea, the idea of ​​social progress and the unity of human civilization) act as guidelines in the formation of the state ideology of Russia, which is becoming an integral part of the post-industrial society. The synthesis of traditional values, the heritage of the Soviet system and the values ​​of the post-industrial society is a real prerequisite for the formation of a kind of matrix of the integrative state ideology of Russia.

Bibliography:

revolution.allbest.ru/ sociology/00000562_0.html
etc.................

The development of a branch of philosophy called axiology (the doctrine of values) made it possible to characterize the place and role of law in the life of society more clearly and thoroughly. Law in society in the conditions of civilization from an axiological point of view is not only a necessity, a means of social regulation, but also a social value, a social good. The starting points for understanding law in this capacity are its features as an institutional entity. Due to its institutional nature, law has a number of special properties: universally binding normativity, formal certainty, high security, and others, revealing its mission as a carrier of significant social energy.

Before describing the legal axiology (or the value of law), we consider it appropriate to refer to the meaning of the concept of "value", "values", etc. in modern scientific literature. The etymological meaning of the term "value" is quite simple and corresponds to the term itself - this is what people value, i.e. objects, things, phenomena of nature and society, human actions, manifestations of culture. Values ​​are the foundation of the culture of society and social life. According to T. Parsons, values ​​also form the foundation of society, and the latter remains stable, despite its inherent conflicts, if it has value agreement, a certain set of values ​​shared by everyone. Values ​​in the history of the human race appeared as some kind of spiritual pillars that help a person to withstand life's trials. They streamline reality, introduce comprehension, evaluative moments into it, allow you to measure your behavior with the norm, ideal, goal, which acts as a model, standard. Such values ​​can be the concepts of good and evil, and the views associated with them, people's beliefs - value ideas.

From antiquity to the present day, there have been disputes in philosophy between representatives of various philosophical schools and trends on the question of whether value is an attribute of some thing or whether it is the result of an assessment dictated by the needs of the individual and society. In the first case, value is interpreted as something objective, existing independently of a person. In the second, the concept of value is reduced to subjective value judgments of an arbitrary nature. Values ​​were identified with being itself, and value characteristics were included in its concept. Values, thus, were not separated from being, as noted by V.N. Lavrinenko and V.P. Ratnikov, but were considered as being in being itself. The essence of values ​​is derived not from objects, but from human needs. Both of these extreme points of view reflect some features of the concept of value, but do not give its adequate definition. If we agree that value is only a property of reality, i.e. phenomena of nature, society or culture, then the identification of truth and value is inevitable. However, already Socrates, who was the first to formulate the main questions of axiology: "What is good?", "What is justice?", demonstrated significant differences between them. Knowledge is important, but not the only condition for achieving good. This is explained by the fact that objects and phenomena of nature and society have properties, the awareness of which can be carried out either in the form of knowledge about what is, really exists, or in the form of an idea of ​​what this reality should be like, how a person should behave in relationship with nature and other people. In the first case, knowledge about the subject is characterized in terms of its truth or falsity, in the second case, in terms of the value of the subject, i.e. its importance to man. Quite close in meaning are such concepts as "value" and "good", since both of them have a positive meaning and are sometimes even used as synonyms. The concept of "good" emphasizes that it is something good, necessary, and the concept of "value" has the meaning of what people value "good". In the concept of "good" the objective side is more prominent, and in the concept of "value" - the subjective side. For example, when we mean material objects (things), the concept of "good" practically coincides with consumer value, the usefulness of a thing designed to satisfy certain needs; the "value" of a thing characterizes its essential properties, thanks to which they are included in the system of social relations.

In addition to the above, it must also be borne in mind that the relativity of values ​​has its own specific limits, which, on the one hand, depend on the objective properties of the objects being evaluated, and on the other hand, on the specific needs of society and its citizens. If the phenomenon lacks the qualities that are objectively necessary to meet the needs of citizens, it is difficult to consider it a value, at least a socially significant one. But even the useful qualities inherent in the phenomenon of its interaction with the citizen, compliance with his interests, goals and needs still do not make the object a value. Only in human activity does the potential value of a phenomenon receive its actual existence.

Values ​​in the broad sense of the word are the ultimate foundations of acts of consciousness and behavior of people in situations that require a choice. These values ​​in a person begin to take shape almost from birth, when he is encouraged for some actions and punished for others, when he enjoys in some situations, while in others he feels pain, fear and resentment.

In the work of A.A. Cherepanova and A.G. Litvinenko points out that the structure of values ​​of each person continues to form in the process of social interaction throughout life, but most intensively in the period up to 15-20 years. This structure, it is noted in the work, is specific to each individual person, like fingerprints, but by comparing the value system that many people have, it is possible to identify groups of people who have similarities in certain value subsystems. On the basis of this similarity in value structures, we can identify the corresponding groups of people in society and fix their difference from each other. Moreover, we can set the grouping parameters arbitrarily, depending on what kind of question we are interested in. For example, one can notice that a mathematician has a certain value structure that allows him to work with mathematical objects, that is, to compare which method of proving a theorem is correct and which is not, etc. There is no such structure, for example, for a lawyer who does not have the appropriate knowledge of mathematics. However, a lawyer, on the contrary, can compare the legislation of different countries or different periods of time, and a mathematician who has not studied law cannot do this. It is this difference in value structures that allows us to distinguish a lawyer from a mathematician.

Since the value orientation of a person is not rigidly set once and for all, different groups of values ​​can dominate at different points in time, and each person, thus, can potentially be a representative of various ways and social groups.

A change in the dominant can occur both under the influence of random circumstances, a random change in the external environment, and as a result of a purposeful external influence.

The concept of value is multifaceted, and therefore, in understanding the essence of this phenomenon, L.G. Pochebut highlights two aspects. The first aspect is the consideration of value as the meaning of an object or phenomenon for a person. Value characterizes the quality of the item. The second aspect is the understanding of the value of the phenomenon itself (material or ideal), which is important for a person.

The meaningfulness of values, according to V. Frankl, gives them an objective universal character. He understood personal values ​​as "universals of meaning", i.e. meanings inherent in the majority of members of the community, all of humanity throughout its historical development. A person acquires the meaning of life by experiencing certain values.

Thus, values, according to scientists, are everything that is endowed with a common meaning. The values ​​of law are the most important and deep principles that determine the relationship of a person to law. An analysis of the values ​​of law can reliably determine the changes taking place in jurisprudence as a result of historical, political, economic, social and other transformations. In the mind of the individual, the values ​​of law are presented in the form of concepts that can stimulate the manifestation of various feelings, assessments and attitudes, motivations for activity.

In the legal literature, the values ​​of law and values ​​in law are distinguished. Values ​​in law are those values ​​that are integrated by law. Law in this case combines ethical, political, economic, ideological and other elements of social culture.

The values ​​of law are the values ​​"embodied by law in whole or in part"

These values ​​include freedom, justice, equality, mutual assistance. These values ​​guide human behavior towards the achievement of certain goals, standards, patterns of behavior. These values ​​were not originally "legal", inherent only in law as a social regulator, these are the values ​​of the culture in which law arose. "Lawyers do not invent models of behavior, but borrow them from practical life and value orientations of the social environment characteristic of a particular culture in which they themselves exist." These values ​​"penetrate" the legal consciousness of a given society, play the role of high ideals and thus become the basic values ​​of law. .

Legal values ​​and assessments in the sphere of legal consciousness have a regulatory significance. Legal norms, in turn, acquire the value of values ​​and become the object of assessments. Moreover, "the conscious-volitional behavior of an individual always proceeds to one degree or another from the action of social norms learned and evaluated by him." However, he points out "legal norms may not acquire the value of values ​​in the course of their gradual historical maturation in the bowels of their own legal and value culture, but be borrowed as valuable in themselves, desirable for achieving the results of social transformations in society. The presence of other (one might call them organic) norms does not affects the overall negative or positive assessment of the legal system and the system of law, since the law is evaluated in integrity.

The assessment itself, notes A.V. Belinkov, predetermines the vitality of the legal norm, authorizes its action or inaction, connects or disconnects the reality of life, the existing and the prescription of the norm, the proper. It must be constantly remembered that among all the social values ​​reproduced by society, the highest is the human personality.

Law refers to the achievements of culture only to the extent that it ensures, first of all, human dignity and conditions of existence worthy of a person, human rights. Such an approach to evaluating legal phenomena, elucidating their social value, in our opinion, is associated with the individual's idea of ​​their usefulness, the ability to satisfy various kinds of needs.

As we found out above, in the general sociological sense, the concept of social value characterizes those phenomena of objective reality that are able to satisfy certain needs of the social subject, necessary, useful for its existence and development. The concept of the value of law, therefore, is intended to reveal its positive role for society, the individual. Hence the value of law is the ability of law to serve as an end and a means to meet the socially just, progressive needs and interests of citizens, society as a whole.

The following main manifestations of the social value of law can be noted:

• 1) Law has, first of all, instrumental value. It gives organization, stability, coherence to people's actions, ensures their accountability and thus brings elements of order into social relations, makes them civilized. A state-organized society cannot, without the right, organize the production of material goods, organize their more or less fair distribution. Law consolidates and develops those forms of ownership that are immanent in the nature of a given system. It is a powerful means of public administration.
• 2) The value of law lies in the fact that, embodying the general will of the participants in social relations, it contributes to the development of those relations in which both individuals and society as a whole are interested. The highest social value of law lies in the fact that it has an impact on the behavior and activities of people through the coordination of their specific interests. Law does not level private interest, does not suppress it, but conforms it to the general interest. The value of law will be the higher, the more fully it reflects these specific or private interests with its content.
• 3) The value of law is also determined by the fact that it is the spokesman and determinant (scale) of individual freedom in society. At the same time, the value of law lies in the fact that it does not denote freedom in general, but determines the boundaries and measure of this freedom. Law most fully manifests itself as the personification and bearer of social freedom, social activity, united with social responsibility, and at the same time, such an order in social relations, which is aimed at excluding arbitrariness, self-will, uncontrollability of individuals and groups from people's lives. Law and freedom are inseparable from each other. It is therefore fair to assert that law, in its essence and, therefore, in its concept, is a historically defined and objectively determined form of freedom in real relations, a measure of this freedom, a form of being freedom, formal freedom.
• 4) The value of law also lies in its ability to be the spokesman for the idea of ​​justice. Law acts as a criterion for the correct (fair) distribution of material wealth, it affirms the equality of all citizens before the law, regardless of their origin, financial situation, social status, and so on. The significance of law for the assertion of justice is so obvious that it gave grounds for the conclusion that law is normatively fixed and realized justice.

In passing, we note that justice in the ideas of people has always been linked with law. Translated from Latin, "right" (jus) and "justice" (justitia) are close in meaning. The deep connection between law and justice is due to the legal nature of the latter. Law, by its purpose, opposes injustice, it protects the agreed interest and thereby affirms a just decision. Approving the ideas of freedom and justice, law acquires a deep personal meaning, becomes a real value for the individual and human society as a whole.

• 5) The value of law also lies in the fact that it acts as a powerful factor of progress, a source of renewal of society in accordance with the historical course of social development. Its role especially increases in the conditions of the collapse of totalitarian regimes, the establishment of new market mechanisms. Law in such situations plays a significant role in the creation of a qualitatively new sphere, in which only new forms of communication and activity are able to establish themselves.
• 6) There is no doubt that in the current conditions the law acquires a truly planetary significance.

Legal approaches are the basis and the only possible civilized means of solving problems of an international and interethnic nature. Possessing the qualities of a general social regulator, law is an effective tool for achieving social peace and harmony, relieving tension in society. Law is an effective lever for solving environmental problems both within a single state and within the framework of the world community.

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For many years, material wealth was considered the most important value of society, and economic growth was one of the main targets for the development of society.

It was believed that the achievement of economic growth automatically entailed progress in the development of man and society as a whole, and an increase in aggregate output (for example, an increase in GDP per capita) reduced poverty and increased the overall well-being of the population.

This assumption was based on the idea that production generates income, and higher incomes, in turn, increase material or economic well-being.

The link between output growth and poverty reduction was thought to be so strong that many economists thought it was enough to focus on growth per se in order to achieve the goal of development. Economic growth has become not just a means to ensure development, but the goal of development itself.

The realization that economic growth is not synonymous with human development came with the growing socio-political instability and poverty of the population. The practice of some developing countries has shown that the situation of people can worsen even with the development of production.

In the 1980s, the ideas that people and their development are the most important goal of social progress began to receive increasing support in economic research, the development of national development programs and international cooperation projects.

The United Nations Development Planning Committee decided to devote its report to the humanitarian aspects of economic restructuring. The results of research conducted in preparation of this report under the leadership of Mahbub ul-Haq, as well as K. Griffin and J. Knight, formed the basis of a conceptual approach to human development.

“The main goal of the development of society is to create an environment conducive to enabling people to enjoy long, healthy and productive lives,” Mahbub ul-Haq wrote in the first Human Development Report.

The true wealth of nations is people. This simple truth is sometimes forgotten. Fascinated by the ups and downs of national income as measured by GDP. People tend to put an equal sign between human well-being and material well-being. Of course, the importance of economic stability and GDP growth cannot be underestimated (they are fundamental to the sustainable progress of mankind - this is evident in the example of many countries that suffer from their absence), but the most reliable measure of progress is the quality of life of people.

As Aristotle believed, "...wealth is obviously not what we strive for, because it is simply received and serves something else." That "something else" is the ability of people to realize their potential as human beings. To reach their potential, people must be able to make decisions that promote their fulfillment, creativity and contentment.

Material wealth, the increase of which was oriented to the previous concepts of development, really plays a huge role in people's lives.

This role, however, should not be exaggerated, since:

Wealth is not a sine qua non of democracy, equal rights for men and women, preservation and development of cultural heritage;
- wealth in itself does not guarantee law and order and social peace;
- human needs are not limited to material enrichment: a long and healthy life, familiarization with culture and science, creative and social activity, the preservation of the natural environment and life in harmony with it were, remain or become significant values ​​for many, and for some - more important than to increase wealth.

The main principle on the basis of which the contradictions between wealth maximization and human development are resolved is formulated as follows: “National wealth can increase people's choices. This, however, may not happen. It is not wealth itself that is decisive here, but how different countries use it. And as long as society does not realize that its main wealth is people, excessive concern with the production of material goods will obscure the ultimate goals of enriching people's lives.

Currently, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) is the UN's global development network that promotes positive change in people's lives by providing member countries with access to knowledge, experience and resources. UNDP in 166 countries assists them in finding solutions to global and national development problems, which is based on a conceptual approach to human development.

World leaders have committed themselves to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, aimed primarily at halving poverty.

UNDP is coordinating global and national efforts to achieve these goals: “Our focus is on helping countries with democratic governance, poverty alleviation, crisis prevention and recovery, energy and the environment, and HIV/AIDS. In the context of all our activities, we provide assistance to countries in the field of protecting human rights and empowering women.”

At the heart of Russian culture are Russian national values. To understand what Russian culture is, one must first understand the historically established, traditional values ​​of the Russian people, to understand the mental system of values ​​of the Russian people. After all, Russian culture is created precisely by Russian people with their worldview and spiritual way of life: without being a bearer of Russian values ​​and without having a Russian mentality, it is impossible to create or reproduce it in your , and any attempts along the way will be a fake.

At the heart of Russian culture are Russian national values.

The most important role in the development of the Russian people, the Russian state and the Russian world was played by the agricultural peasant community, that is, the origins of the generation of Russian culture were embedded in the value system of the Russian community. The prerequisite for the existence of the Russian individual is this very community, or as they used to say "world". It should be noted that for a significant part of its history, Russian society and the state were formed in the conditions of military confrontation, which always forced them to neglect the interests of individuals in order to preserve the Russian people as a whole, as an independent ethnic group.

For Russians, the goals and interests of the team are always higher than personal interests and the goals of a single person - everything individual is easily sacrificed to the general. In response, the Russian people are used to counting and hoping for the support of their world, their community. This feature leads to the fact that a Russian person easily puts aside his personal affairs and fully devotes himself to a common cause. That is why are a state people, that is, such a people who are able to form something common, large and extensive. Personal gain always comes after the public.

Russians are a state people because they know how to form something common for everyone.

A truly Russian person is categorically sure - first you need to arrange common socially significant affairs, and only then this single whole will begin to work for all members of the community. Collectivism, the need to exist together with their society is one of the brightest features of the Russian people. .

Another basic Russian national value is justice, because without its clear understanding and implementation, life in a team is not possible. The essence of the Russian understanding of justice lies in the social equality of people who make up the Russian community. The roots of this approach lie in the ancient Russian economic equality of men in relation to the land: initially, members of the Russian community were endowed with equal agricultural shares from what the "world" owned. That is why, internally, Russians strive for such an implementation concepts of justice.

In the Russian people, the dispute in the categories of truth-truth and truth-justice will always be won by justice. Russian is not as important as it once was and as it is at the moment, much more important what and how should be in the future. The actions and thoughts of individuals have always been evaluated through the prism of eternal truths supporting the postulate of justice. The inner desire for them is much more important than the benefits of a particular result.

The actions and thoughts of individuals have always been evaluated through the prism of justice.

Russian individualism is very difficult to implement. This is due to the fact that from time immemorial, in agricultural communities, people were given equal allotments, land was periodically redistributed, that is, a person was not the owner of the land, did not have the right to sell his piece of land or change the culture of cultivation on it. In such a situation it was unrealistic to show individual skill, which was not highly valued in Rus'.

The almost complete lack of personal freedom has shaped the habit of Russians in rush work, as an effective way of collective activity during the agricultural season. During such periods phenomenal combination of work and holiday, which made it possible, to a certain extent, to compensate for the great physical and emotional stress, as well as to give up excellent freedom in economic activity.

A society based on the ideas of equality and justice could not establish wealth as a value: to an unlimited increase in wealth. In the same time live prosperously to a certain extent was quite revered - in the Russian countryside, especially in the northern regions, ordinary people respected merchants who artificially slowed down their trade turnover.

Just by becoming rich, you cannot earn the respect of the Russian community.

A feat among Russians is not personal heroism - it should always be directed "to the outside of a person": death for one's Fatherland and Motherland, a feat for one's friends, and death is red for the world. Immortal glory was given to people who sacrificed themselves for the sake of others and in front of their community. At the heart of the Russian feat of arms, the dedication of the Russian soldier has always been contempt for death and only then - hatred for the enemy. This contempt for the possibility of dying for the sake of something very important is rooted in a willingness to endure and suffer.

At the heart of the Russian feat of arms, the selflessness of the Russian soldier lies contempt for death.

The well-known habit of Russians to suffer is not masochism. Through personal suffering, a Russian person self-actualizes, gains personal inner freedom. In the Russian sense- the world exists steadily and continuously moves forward only through sacrifice, patience and self-restraint. This is the reason for Russian long-suffering: if the real one knows why it is needed...

• List of Russian values
• statehood
• catholicity
• justice
• patience
• non-aggression
• readiness to suffer
• compliance
• non-possessiveness
• dedication
• unpretentiousness