Репрезентация в русском фольклоре лиц с физическими и психическими нарушениями

Abstract

Folklore is supposed to be a regulator of the collec-tive unconscious and one of the main sources of social representations and social norms of behavior. Consequently, the conducted analysis of the repre-sentation in folklore of people with physical and mental disabilities can explain, to some extent, the steady attitude towards this category of people as “unfit”, incapable to perform social functions. How-ever, in the Russian folk tradition, this does not make them “irrelevant” in society. This is reflected in the phenomenon of “foolishness for Christ”, which was characterized only in Russian Orthodox culture. The “healing” of characters in Russian folklore, as a rule, occurs with the help of Divine powers, or thanks to the help of other characters. This empha-sizes the importance of others in the lives of people with physical and mental disabilities. This also cor-relates with success of their lives with others, which is consistent with the basic values of Russian col-lectivist culture. Nevertheless, the same sociocultur-al characteristics can contribute to the formation of a consumer position, formed by the disabled’ expec-tations on the idea that their surrounding is able to solve their personal and social problems. The un-derstanding of that close relationship with other people makes the process of interaction between disable people with the social environment extreme-ly important. Thus, in psychological research it be-comes relevant to study their relationship because they primarily influence the success of training and socio-psychological adaptation in society.