Social and Cultural Integration as a Way of Resolving the Identities Conflicts in the Modern Russia: A Regional Aspect

Abstract

The goal of the research is to analyze the social and cultural integration as a tool for resolving the identities conflicts in the modern Russia. The methodology of research includes the systemic, social and philosophical analysis of social and cultural integration as a way for settling the identities conflicts in the North Caucasus. As a result of the study the author comes to the fact that a theoretical synthesis of conflictological paradigm and neofunctionalism is essential. In the paper, it is concluded that the modern conflicts resolution theory focuses its attention on the capacity of social and cultural integration to transform the destructive identities conflicts into constructive conflicts of interests. The author considers the structural factors of regional identities conflicts escalation and emphasizes the destabilizing role of ethnicity politicization. As the conditions of growth for the ethnic tension in the North Caucasus and its transformation into destructive identities conflicts, the author singles out the social inequalities, civic identity crisis, and ethnic mobilization. Proceeding from the analysis conducted, the author identifies the main factor of regional identities conflicts escalation: the controversy between systemic modernization and social disintegration. Finally, the conclusion is drawn about that the conflict resolution strategy for the Russian society has to be built on the principles of civic solidarity and social and cultural integration but not on the assimilation policy and suppression of ethnic distinctions.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6s5p325