Socialization of an individual: individualism and collectivism as reference points of the transformed society

Abstract

The problems of an individual’s socialization have always been relevant, but in the conditions of deep transformation of social institutions of the Russian society, they have become particularly acute and important. The radical nature of the reforms have determined the features of the social state, which consist in the formation of a fundamentally new social reality. The transition to a market economy and consumer society has led to a radical change in the world outlook, values, and value orientations of the population. In these conditions, new approaches to the socialization of the individual, the formation of qualities, and value orientations corresponding to the market society are necessary. The purpose of the article lies in determining the initial principles of human socialization in the changed Russian society based on the analysis of existing approaches in scientific knowledge. For this purpose, the authors have employed the methods of analysis and comparison of existing concepts of socialization. This article presents an analysis of socialization theories of domestic and foreign researchers, analysis of economic and socio-cultural factors in the formation of a new system of values and value orientations in Russian society. The scientific novelty of the article consists in the proposal to consider a balanced combination of individualism and collectivism as the initial principles of personal socialization in the process of forming new values and value orientations of individuals, as well as to consider the socialization of the individual in relation to the socialization of economic relations. The choice of a balanced and harmonious combination of individualism and collectivism as a guideline for the socialization of the individual in the transformed Russian society allows us to build a new system of socialization. This requires new methods of socialization of the individual, new ideological and value content of the social space.