Abstract: The article focuses on the processes of legal socialization,influencing the choice of axiological maxims, which determine social behavior of a person. Special attention is paid to alternative models of socialization, humanistic and authoritarian, which serve as development determinants for value and sense systems of public conscience. The author analyzes the problem of a socializing person, which is connected with the questions of forming a system of socio-legal values, behavioral patterns and guidelines of public leaders, who establish specific legal relations with their followers determined by the purpose of their activity. The research methodology contains Erich Fromm’s theory about two kinds of ethics (humanistic and authoritarian), and the theory of legal socialization by Sh. Kurilski-Ozhven, who considers the degree of a person’s knowledge of progressive elements of socio-legal life as a criterion of socialization efficiency. The author concludes that the humanistic model of legal socialization forms a rationally thinking person, who is able to determine the criteria of his or her actions independently, and promotes the person’s true existence, while the authoritarian model challenges the human’s existence, inciting him or her to a false existence, depriving the person of freedom, right of rational choice and ability to think independently. For both social progress and formation of a human being as a personality, the domination of humanistic values in public conscience is a necessary precondition. 

Abstract: The article is devoted to the assessment of the role of legal thinking as a regulator of a person’s social behavior, and to the question of determination of its importance for educational process. As an object of the research legal thinking is considered as a cognitive and value-semantic component of legal conscience. It is characterized by egocentrism, and is influenced by socio-cultural values prevailing in the society. Legal thinking is often enclosed into an archetype matrix of the legal unconscious, is disposed to formalization and standardization and, both indirectly and directly, functions as a regulator of social behavior. As the methodological base the author uses the theory of social ideas of S. Moskvichi and the concept of thinking activity of G.P. Shchedrovitskiy. The author outlines five main functions of legal thinking: formation and development of normal legal consciousness, understanding, explanation, presentation and interpretation of the phenomena of legal reality, adaptation of new knowledge to the existing system of legal ideas; mediation, determination and regulation of legal relations and social behavior, semantic synthesis. The author concludes that deeds and actions legality dependence on the level of thinking (high or low) is not of a cause-and-effect relation character. 

Abstract: The article is devoted to the analysis of the axiological problems of legal education. The author characterizes legal education as a complicated dialectic process of formation of values and meanings system of legal conscience, involving important cognitive, motivation and will-related components. While a cognitive element is a system of moral forms developed by a person, which were formed as a result of cognition, reflexion and moral search, the motivation and will component is characterized by an individual motivation, subconscious positions, habits and quality of his will. The author pays special attention to the role of legal reflextion within the development of the system of value orientations and meanings within the framework of legal conscience. The methodological basis for the studies of the problems of legal education of a person is formed with the principles of dialectics and fundamental provisions of activity theory. The main function of legal education of a person is formation of values and meanings component of legal conscience.  It is an important component of legal socialization. Reflexion is efficient for the formation of the values and meanings orientation inevitably leading the subject to critical analysis of the existing social and legal values and positions. It facilitates formation of a personal position regarding resolution of topical problems in the legal sphere. 

Abstract: The article is devoted to the problems of legal socialization of the Russian youth.  The authors single out a number of social contradictions, which influence psychosocial evolution of young people as subjects of law. Legal socialization is characterized by them as a complicated dialectic process through which hte citizens gain socially valuable personal qualities, necessary for performance of legal roles. The article contains a conclusion that the existing social contraditions preclude the formation of efficient mechanisms for the manageable socialization of the young Russian citizens, who have to adapt to social and legal system, having a number of significant flaws and fundamental contradictions.  Their presence complicated management of the legal socialization process, and it lead to considerable deformation of legal conscience among a majority of the Russian young people. While the youth is a complicated social formation, and it constantly reproduces and changes the legal system in a society, the state government institutions pay too little attention to the youth.  The manageable legal socialization could have facilitated three specific socially important functions of the youth: reproduction, translation, and heuristic function.  The existing social antagonisms preclude formation of the efficient mechanisms for manageable socialization and provision of the clear socially useful guidelines for legal activities to the young people.

Abstract: The article is devoted to the analysis of political factors that contribute to the development of patriotism in modern Russia. The author of the article focuses on theoretical and methodological concepts already developed by Nikolay Berdyaev in his article 'Patriotism and Politics' published in 1917. The initial thesis of a Russian philosopher was the provision aboutthe need of the Russian society in a national renaissance which could be triggered only by a special patriotic mood. V. Gulyakhin's research is based on the same thesis, too. To him, patriotism means, in the first place, love for Russia represented as a willingness to serve Russia's interests and to protect Russia including self-sacrifice. 'Love' is the key word in this definition. Love meas actions but not passive feelings. It is one's active care about life and growth of what we love. The author states that love of most Russians for their homeland is rather infantile. Russians see it as a mother who must care about them no matter whether they are bad or good pepole. Russian citizens try to lay all the responsibility for their own lives on the government. They constantly demand the government to solve all their problems and are quite capricious about the government decisions. Many citizens come to a pretty 'childish' conclusion that if Russia does not love them, they should pay the same in return. Even when Russian citizens fight for their rights, these are usually very 'childish' rights demanding social support and protection. At the end of the article the author concludes that Berdyaev's ideas are still very topical for Russia even thouh they were developed during the Revolution of 1917. Today's Russia also needs a patriotic mood and national spirits to move on. 

Abstract: The article is devoted to the studies of the role of modern family as a legal socialization agent. Using the psychoanalytic methodology, the author studies the issues of early legal socialization of a person within the framework of family relations.  In the opinion of the author the family is a part to a normative element in a society, since it bears certain moral, legal, value- and meaning related complex, by which the legal education and teaching of a child are implemented, defining his social functions and status.  The family forms a primary cultural and psycho-social environment, in which the social and legal personal qualities are being developed.  A child sees parents as an embodiment of spiritual and moral, legal and social complex, to which they belong as subjects.  Evolution of an institution of a family in a state however is not without trouble, and its development is not always on an ascending route.  In order to successfully resolve fundamental problems of early legal socialization, it is necessary that both  mother and father are willing to teach their child humanity, kindness, conscience, common since, discipline and respect for order.  The article contains a conclusion that due to global social and economic transformations the tonus of a modern human ego is lowered, which is due to negative tendencies in the family development, where the socializing functions of the elder generation relatives are minimalized and the traditional role of a father as an embodiment of order, discipline and rules for his children are lowered. 

Abstract: The article includes evaluation of legal culture as an object of scientific studies. The author singles out five key methodological approaches towards this matter in legal life of people: axiological, activity-relatied, social, information-semiotic, and systemic.  The author considers that the legal culture allows not only to provide for already existing social relations, but also to form innovative connections, for which both the society and legislator should strive consciously.  The system-forming element of the legal culture is legal conscience, which has a forming influence on the legal activities, legal techniques and subjects of laws themselves.  Each of these components  has its own sub-components and structure.  The article contains a conclusion that the key criterion for the evaluation of legal culture in the society is legal practice.  It is important to establish how efficient is the institution of law, having formed under the influence of social and cultural dominant traits, in facilitating the successful social development  of this community of people - bearesr of historically formed system of legal archetypes. 

Abstract: The article concerns the problem of dialectic dualism of law, as express in its ontological division into natural and positive law.  Firstly, author considers that there is a fundamental contradiction between those types of law, and this contradiction has a genetic influence upon the processes of legal evolution of a person, during which such a person learns the norms of law-abiding behavior and accepts the legal values at the level of morals. Secondly, the positive law should be regarded as liberating force and not a coersive one.  It should overcome the obstacles to spiritual and physical development of a person. Based on the  public good, the society should define the boundaries of freedom provided for an individual.  According to the provisions of natural law, the external freedom of a person should be limited with the external freedoms of other persons.  The article contains a conclusion that a person shall unconditionally follow the norms of positive law only when it shall be a historically founded expression of moral requirements of natural law. 

Abstract: The article describes the role and place of archetypes in political culture of Russian citizens. The author goes on a premise that archetypes (psycho-social behavioral codes) are coded in matrices of all ethno-political processes. Unlike their content, their forms are almost unchangeable and make a significant influence on formation of an individual's political conciousness. At the end of the article the author concludes that archetypes form the system of values in political culture and outline the patterns of social and political interactions between Russian citizens. 

Abstract: This article investigates the features of the legal mindset of Russian citizens. As a distinct product of the sociohistoric and psycho-social development of a nation, the mental component of legal consciousness assigns to one's personality a model of legal activities, one which is manageable and familiar in terms of the traditional norms of social conduct. The author concludes that there are significant contradictions between Russian citizens' traditional model of legal activities -- given their mindset and the dominant archetype of Truth -- and a modern legal system, one which can transform the individual into homo mechanicus (E. Fromm), bureaucratization, a narrow pragmatism at the expense of spirituality, and the transition of people from being the subject of law to being its object, alienated from their natural rights and freedoms. To address the issues facing the Russian state, it is necessary, by relying on traditional Russian ethical principles, to unify our social and legal existence by bringing together our legal thinking with a multifaceted national culture and socio-cultural reality.

Abstract: The author of the article studies the main psychosocial forms of legal nihilism. The author uses methodology offered by an American social psychologist Erich Fromm. This methodology allows to give an objective evaluation of the psychogenic nature of this phenomenon. Based on deep motives of human and the level of destructiveness of his social behavior, the author describes the five forms of legal nihilism: infantile nihilism resulting from personal immaturity and immature system of moral and legal values; frustrating nihilism caused by the fear of his material and social status and revengeful nihilism created as a response to imaginary or actual danger for his life vital interests and regressive nihilism caused by the archaic aggression ("blood lust") of a human who has degraded to the level of an animal and completely denies all natural rights and freedoms of the other person. At the end of the article the author concludes that legal nihilism is in some wy a psychosocial and cultural phenomenon consisting of the ideas which deny legitimate social stereotypes and bearing certain spiritual load caused not only by social trends and associated values but also by a number of psychogenic factors. 

Abstract: The article is devoted to the main structural and functional features of  legal consciousness of person. The various conditions of legal consciousnes, allowing a subject  to implement his existential needs in a constructive form, are considered by the author. The author concludes that these conditions of legal consciousness are the main stages of personal legal development and they may be presented as the parts of Hegel’s triad (thesis - antithesis - synthesis).

Abstract: This article deals with the problems of research methodology for doctoral dissertations in legal science. The author concludes that the failure of many Russian researchers to make decisions about methodological problems leads to the fact that many dissertations, instead of disclosing the method’s “secret”, have methodological propositions which are clones of juridical chimeras – speculative, conceptual constructs which do not have any value in the search for scientific truth.