Pitirim Sorokin's personality at the turn of historical eras

Abstract

Introduction. The article explores the personality of the famous Russian-American scientist Pitirim Sorokin. His life was eventful and passed in Tsarist and Soviet Russia, Europe and the United States. He took an active part not only in the two historical eras of Russia, but also in changing events at the turn of the eras. His passionate personality manifested itself most clearly during the revolution of 1917. Thereafter he became a professor of the largest university in the world, Harvard University, president of many international conferences, author of dozens of scientific papers, including those about the factors of the revolution.Purpose setting. On the structural model of P. Sorokin's personality there is investigated his interaction with the socio-political structure of society. Watching events, passing them through his feelings, thinking, and behavior, he turned them into history. Thanks to the work and communication with talented Russian researchers such as V. M. Bekhterev, I. P. Pavlov, N. D. Kondratiev, the scientist worked out a unique concept of personality. He proposed the model of personality that had four layers and differed from many models of other researchers described in the scientific literature.Methodology and methods of the study. We can analyze this model in layers from the bottom to top. It can be described like that: Subconscious is biologically unconscious; Biological consciousness; Socio-cultural consciousness; Superconscious mind. Interpretation of historical events in line with this model of personality gives us the opportunity to retrospectively deeper understanding the behavior of the real person Pitirim Sorokin.Results. The analysis was carried out in the coordinates which are not studied enough at the moment. This is the interaction of the scientist with the society in the busy life path. He always found himself at the right time and in the right place in the bifurcation points of development of the society. The peculiarities of his behavior can be traced in the exclusive state of the socio-political environment. That means that it is in a stable state of order and unstable state of chaos. In the history of mankind such opposite sides of society periodically replace each other.Conclusion. The functioning of the structural model of personality is transferred to the interpretation of the real personality of Pitirim Sorokin. In particular, historical phenomena are interpreted through the prism of psychological approach in its system of revolutionary factors. This study was carried out in line with the reevaluation of the revolutionary events of 1917.