Abstract
The article provides an analysis of data on the current state of xenophobia and political opposition in one of the Russian regions. Aim: the main goal is to identify and analyze the hidden laws of functioning of the social and political sphere in modern Russia. Method: method of fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis was used for the study, because the traditional quantitative methods do not always allow to detect and obtain reliable information. The article explains the use of the appropriate method in the analysis of social and political phenomena and processes. Results: The main part of the paper contains the results of the analysis of empirical sociological research conducted in the Pskov region in Russian Federation (2013). The study revealed the complex relationship between the treatment of the political opposition and the xenophobic members of certain groups, which are considered “foes”. The obtained results show that the support of political opposition among Pskov Region respondents is in many ways determined by the level of their xenophobia. In particular, it failed to identify that the support of administrative bans in relation to different groups is a typical feature of the declared support of political opposition in Pskov Region. Conclusion: residents of the provincial regions of modern Russia have special understanding of the political opposition, based on different from the classical liberal idea. The revealed characteristics are also accompanied by the support of administrative bans as legal mechanisms preventing the spread of the factors that break the traditional way of life and are regarded as extraneous phenomena. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6s2p26
Highlights
One of the key issues relevant to social studies of the society’s political functioning lies in identifying objective factors of transformation of the political space formed with the help of democratic structures
Social cleavage is by default regarded as some fundamental structural difference between social groups based on given grounds which has been formed for many years by some “critical juncture” or a conflict which revealed the gist of the cleavage
The obtained results show that the support of political opposition among Pskov Region respondents is in many ways determined by the level of their xenophobia
Summary
One of the key issues relevant to social studies of the society’s political functioning lies in identifying objective factors of transformation of the political space formed with the help of democratic structures. At the modern stage of society, social cleavage acts as a non-antagonistic difference, and, as suggested by several researchers, “social division can be based on both objective social characteristics and the system of values” (Akhremenko, 2007). The need to take into account the system of values is of particular importance for us Another crucial point for Russian political space is a new development in the cleavage theory which recognizes the special role of political elites in creating the cleavage. It is important for us to estimate possible impact of the government and opposition on social characteristics of separate population groups. Research objective is the typical social portraits identification of representatives of opposition and pro-imperious political views in the context of their attitude towards representatives of ethnic, cultural and social communities, which are not prepotent for the studied region
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