Factors of formation of the professional subculture of legal professionals in modern Russian society

Abstract

The phenomenon of professional subculture in modern society is associated not only with the increasing differentiation of labour, but also with the attempts of people who work in any communities to separate themselves from other professional groups. The specifics of the professional subculture of legal professionals are determined not only by the peculiarities of legal activity and the uniqueness of professional knowledge and skills, but also by social engagement, the specifics of functioning social institutions that reproduce the subculture. The use of systemic and structural-functional approaches allows to single out objective and subjective factors that influence the formation of the professional subculture of legal actors, to consider the institutionalisation of informal legal practices as a cause of professional deformation of professionals. The process of legalisation and legitimisation of informal relations, which are outside of the public control, takes the form of various types of corruption. A new set of values, norms and rules is the changing content of the most important component – the professional culture. An analysis of empirical data obtained through the sociological research methods allows to conclude that the moral degradation of society, impunity, corruption, and a low legal culture of Russian citizens contribute to a negative transformation of the professional culture of the law professionals.