This article analyzes the socio-philosophical and socio-cultural approaches to law enforcement practices in the sphere of criminal punishment and its reflection in the Russian mentality. The recognition of ideological pluralism and multidimensionality of the social environment with the existence of differences and contradictions indicates the presence of the law enforcement boundaries as a measure of their certainty. This is due to the fact that law enforcement is associated with mutual interest of the society in the formation of citizenship in the balance of incentives and penalties. The dialectic balance of «weak» and «strong» by means of «the middle attraction» allows one to consider equality as an impossible limit, because it is an equality of those who are not equal. Currently, there is a need of awareness of legal reality on the basis of socio-cultural practices and, moreover, of its cultural content. This phenomenon is due to the identification of law enforcement mechanisms, as well as their dependence on the degree of society relaxation of the state permitted and established criminal penalties, when there are negative consequences of legal nihilism in the Russian mentality. Considering the enforcement as an activity, we must notice that this activity manifests itself in the”act of abstinence" and the "act of doing" (P. Sorokin). If a passive abstinence has place in the first case, the patience appears as a virtue in the second one. In literary practice, this idea is developed by F. M. Dostoevsky and is opposed by L. N. Tolstoy. In «The Karamazov Brothers» the «acts of patience» are explained by the example of Christ's command: «Do not resist evil». The moral awareness transforms the life into true Being, i. e. spiritual Being as «any activity out of the spiritual content is only half the battle» (M. Mamardashvili). Therefore, it is to be wished that every individual had an opportunity to harmonize their personality and mind and also had an idea of true spirituality and its significance for themselves and the whole society. The self-definition of an individual and their openness to accept foreign ideological constructions contribute to the achievement of mutually acceptable forms of behavior («self-preservation behavior») in the community. This behavior is based on the active life position of the law enforcement subject, when one’s responsibility for one’s actions and deeds is combined with Kant's categorical imperative of «Duty». The dialectic balance of «weak» and «strong» is based on the legitimization of the equality. The fundamental equality of all before the law is that we can expect a much more effective solution of the social problems, if we stimulate interpersonal exchanges, instead of relying on the implementation of Someone's knowledge. An activity aspect of law enforcement identifies problems of a lifestyle, quality of life and social communication. Outside its activity aspect the law enforcement is transformed into the realm of speculations, subjective estimations, random parameters and indicators. The moral individual valued conditionality of this behavior is a manifestation of the mentality in contrast to an external economic, social and politically motivated behavior. One gets used to (adapts to) a specific situation. This addiction is accompanied by prolonged social expectations or deferred needs, which are reproduced in specific social and cultural environment (mentality).
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Jul 14, 2018
Zaka Firma Aditya 
Open Access
