Myths Of Online Civil Society

Abstract

The relevance of the topic is due to the fact that the digital space presupposes new forms of interaction between citizens and the construction of new communities different from those that existed before. The modern networked civil society is not only one of the forms of self-organization of individuals, but also provides opportunities for the construction of new subcultures with their own mythologies. From this point of view, the case of digital vigilantism is interesting -an unformalized institution that regulates the behavior of citizens with the help of sanctions (and not always virtual ones) against those whose behavior does not correspond to their value system. The purpose of this report is an attempt to study the mythology of these communities in the Russian-speaking segment of the Internet. The object of the research is the materials of such communities in the social network "VKontakte" as "Project Lev Protiv", "StopHam", "Hriushi Protiv", "Trezvie dvori". The subject of study is the myths on which their activities are based. As a specificity of the myths of a networked civil society, one can single out the fact that they are based not only on the myths inherent in the virtual community (we are talking not only about Russian users, but also foreign ones), but also on the political culture of Russia.