Power, attraction, and reference in macrolevel social relations: An analysis of closed groups and closed societies based on the psychology of the “Soviet person”

Abstract

In this article the features of social-relationship systems are analyzed based on the data from a sociopsychological empirical study conducted in two stages (2002 and 2014) on a large sample with the help of g. Kelly's Repertory grid Technique. A. V. Petrovsky's three-factor interpersonal-relationships model as interpreted for closed groups by M. Yu. Kondratev and the concept of the closed society as described by Karl Popper provide the foundation for the theoretical hypothesis we tested. The empirical data obtained in 2002 came from 391 participants of different ages who were living in provincial towns in the Nizhny Novgorod region. The elderly respondents (232 people) had lived almost all their lives under the Soviet regime; the middle-aged respondents (159 people) got their education and started their careers in the USSR. Soviet society is considered to be closed because of its authoritarian and collectivist nature, static social structure, and dogmatic ideology. It is argued that both closed societies and closed groups are characterized by a rigid hierarchical social structure, isolation from other systems, and depersonalization of social relations. We have proved that members of a closed group and citizens of a closed society have similar social-relationship matrices.

Untitled

“…We believe that there is not a linguistic, but a socio-political phenomenon that combines multidirectional trends behind this paradox: the alienation of 'people' (petition authors) from 'power' (hence the intensity and negativity of asymmetric communication in relation to all instances with power, which it has already been stated earlier in psychological studies (Radina & Koskina, 2017)) and the need to be recognized and approved by their 'voters' on the part of the authorities, without which it is difficult to imagine democratic forms of government. Consequently, the revealed linguistic paradox problematizes the actual conflict in the sphere of Russian political communication.…”

Text sentiment as a factor of electronic petition success (on the data collected from change.org)

“…We believe that there is not a linguistic, but a socio-political phenomenon that combines multidirectional trends behind this paradox: the alienation of 'people' (petition authors) from 'power' (hence the intensity and negativity of asymmetric communication in relation to all instances with power, which it has already been stated earlier in psychological studies (Radina & Koskina, 2017)) and the need to be recognized and approved by their 'voters' on the part of the authorities, without which it is difficult to imagine democratic forms of government. Consequently, the revealed linguistic paradox problematizes the actual conflict in the sphere of Russian political communication.…”