Analysis of foreign and Russian approaches to the study of personal patriotism

Tsveks Mihails Vasil'evich ORCID: 0000-0003-2498-0392 Postgraduate student, Department of Psychology and Pedagogy, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia 17 Miklukho-Maklaya str., Moscow, 117198, Russia mihail001@inbox.lv Other publications by this author

Introduction

Today, Russian society is on the verge of major changes due to the changing geopolitical and international economic situation. In such times, it is especially important to make decisions about the country's development strategy carefully and thoughtfully, it is important to have civic cohesion focused on actions for the benefit of your country. Since ancient times, philosophers have noted that the highest value of guiding the actions of a person for the benefit of his country is patriotism. Patriotism is one of the highest personal values that help develop a sense of responsibility and a sense of duty towards one's country and manifest these feelings in service for the benefit of one's Homeland (Izard, 2014). However, patriotism, as a personal characteristic, has a complex nature and a variety of forms of its manifestation. Today, the concept of "patriotism" is characterized by diversity and ambiguity, since the problem of patriotism is studied in various conditions (historical, social, political and psychological). In our opinion, the issue of studying patriotism as a personal characteristic is quite relevant and important, since a person who loves his homeland has the right to be a patriot in all senses of the word. In this regard, within the framework of this work, we will present a theoretical analysis of both foreign and Russian studies of patriotism for a more complete understanding of this phenomenon.

Foreign studies of patriotism.

It should be noted that now both Russian and foreign authors have studied the phenomenon of patriotism most of all from the standpoint of philosophical, social and historical sciences and least of all from the standpoint of psychological science. It is worth noting that the theoretical literature offers a wide range of definitions of the concept of "patriotism". Analyzing foreign philosophical and psychological literature, it is possible to identify five main components noted by the authors as the main components of the concept of "patriotism". These components form certain approaches to the vision of the phenomenon of patriotism:

1. Patriotism – as a personal identification with "your country";

2. Patriotism as a creative feeling;

3. Patriotism is like selfless work for the benefit of your country;

4. Patriotism is a duty to the country.

5. Patriotism as a civic virtue (Kosterman, Feshbach, 1989; Audi, 1997; Costa, 2017; Archard, 1999; Teperik, 2018; Ben-Porath, 2017).

One of the key components of the concept of "patriotism" is personal identification. Almost all foreign authors present the idea of "my country", "my homeland", "my fatherland" when describing patriotism. Patriotism is formed in relation to "one's own country" on the basis of an individual's personal identification with a specific country, and not with some abstract vision of the country (Primoratz, 2002). Such identification is noted by the authors as one of the basic elements that forms the basis of patriotism. However, from this point of view, there is a lot of debate about the moral side of the concept of "patriotism" (Schatz, Staub, Lavine, 1999). To solve this problem, foreign authors have proposed several options for dividing patriotism according to the criterion of morally unacceptable and acceptable ways of expressing it:

1. True patriotism and pseudo-patriotism;

2. Blind and constructive patriotism (Berzina, 2018).

T.V. Adorno, R.N. Sanford, D. Levinson believe that true patriotism acts as a critical perception based on love for one's country, correlation with its national values and acceptance of the values of another nation, its ways of acting even when these ways of acting are not personally accepted. In turn, pseudo-patriotism can act as blind adherence to certain national and cultural values, as uncritical obedience to the ways of action of the dominant group in their country (Berzina, 2018).

Speaking about blind and constructive patriotism, foreign authors emphasize the importance of critical thinking. If blind patriotism contains an unconditional, always positive assessment of the actions of one's country and trust in it without doubt, then constructive patriotism is based on constructive criticism. Studies have shown that blind patriotism is associated with support for conservative ideology and nationalism, and constructive patriotism is interrelated with higher rates of political complicity (Szhatz, et al., 1999).

Speaking about patriotism as a creative feeling, R. Kosterman and S. Feshbach (1989) imply that a person has an emotional connection with the country. This emotional connection consists of feelings of love and pride towards your country. In this case, patriotism is more a sentiment than an ideology, which concentrates feelings of pride and shame (Appiah, 1997). Patriotism can cause both a feeling of disappointment towards one's country and a sense of national pride (Audi, 2009). In this approach, we observe the allocation of a fairly wide range of feelings accompanying the phenomenon of patriotism. For example, in this context, patriotism is characterized by experiencing a sense of belonging to one's country, faith in the future of one's country, forgiveness of mistakes to one's country, gratitude for the opportunities provided by the country for personal development. However, in patriotism, as a creative feeling, the central axis is marked by love, which contributes to the formation of an active life position aimed at the growth and development of one's country and experiencing a sense of joy for its achievements and for its failures (Audi, 2009).

It should also be noted that part of "patriotism" is experiencing feelings of love and loyalty towards your country. In the first case, attention is focused on feelings, in the second – on action. This distinction is conditional, since feelings affect work, and work affects feelings (Costa, 2017). Historically, patriotism was opposed to apathy and selfishness, and an important indicator of patriotism was work for the benefit of the Motherland. Thus, patriotism is a moral attitude to act selflessly for the benefit of one's country (Archard, 1999). In this context, corruption is put in contrast to patriotism and attention is focused on the importance of forming a sense of patriotism not only among ordinary citizens, but also among elite segments of the population. Thus, patriotism as an action is not only work for the benefit of the Motherland on the part of ordinary citizens, but also the demanding attitude of the authorities to their activities, courtesy towards the work of their citizens.

Working for the benefit of one's country is also closely linked to another component of the concept of "patriotism" – duty to the country as a common project. Explaining this component, it should be noted that a patriot is someone who experiences a sense of belonging to his nation as a geopolitical phenomenon, who was able to connect the past of his country, which gave him a certain political and moral identity, with the project of the future of his country, the implementation of which is accepted as a responsibility. In this context, the "project" refers to the future of the nation, responsibility to the nation, as a common "project" (Macintyre, 1984; Ben-Porath, 2007). This view of patriotism reveals this concept not only as an autonomous relationship of an individual with his country, but also as a process of interaction with his people for the common good. The disclosure of the concept of "patriotism" in this context shows the importance of intellectual interest in the political processes of one's country and active participation in them. Otherwise, patriotism is incomplete and limited.

The next component of the concept of "patriotism" is civic virtue. The idea that civic virtue is an important element of patriotism has been present in philosophy for several centuries and is widespread. Even in the French encyclopedia of 1751-1752, patriotism was explained as a political virtue (Engelhardt, 2007). Further, the idea of patriotism developed as the opposite of the aristocracy, which the patriots considered "rotten". In this context, patriotism, as a civic virtue, is formed through gratitude for the past of one's country and willingness to join in a common cause for the benefit of the future of one's country (Ben-Porath, 2007). Ben-Porath describes patriotism as: "a future-oriented civic virtue that proceeds from a willingness to realize the common project of one's country and which includes justice, concern for the well-being of society, mutual respect and other widely accepted virtues" (Ben-Porath, 2017, p. 45). Here we understand that in order to have civic virtue, it is important to have a vision of the future of your country formulated in society and the value foundations on which this vision is based. In this case, values are a pillar and a point of report that allows you to assess the correctness of the direction of movement: the country and its society are moving towards the goal, or it has lost its way (Primoratz, 2002).

It is worth especially noting the classification of types of patriotism by P. Kleingeld, who divided this concept into 3 types: civic patriotism, nationalist patriotism, and trait-based patriotism (Kleingeld, 2000). Civic patriotism contains the Republican idea, which means choosing political freedom and its supporting institutions as the object of one's love. Such patriotism contains a commitment to the duty of the country to serve its citizens for the sake of their common good. Nationalist patriotism is characterized by correlation and belonging to a particular nation and is closely related to the national ideas of the country (Winter, 2008). It should be borne in mind that in the process of developing nationalism, it begins to be closely intertwined with civic patriotism, as a result, the perception of patriotism based on the republican idea fades into the background, and purely national ideas of the country are put in the foreground. The third type of patriotism is based on love for one's country, as it contains unique, only characteristic features, such as nature, social guarantees, etc. (Winter, 2008).

It should be noted that the components of patriotism described above, which form the main approaches to the study of this phenomenon, allow us to say that the representation of patriotism in the West is determined by the process of developing ideas about the status of a citizen, civil society and their interrelationship. In this context, patriotism acts as a civic personality trait based on moral and legal obligations to society and implying active human participation in solving socially significant problems.

Domestic studies of patriotism.

In Russian science, the study of patriotism originates from a socio-philosophical approach within the framework of which such authors as N. Chernyshevsky, I. Ilyin, P. Chaadaev, F. Tyutchev, A. Khomyakov, F. Dostoevsky, M. Lomonosov, N. Danilevsky, G. Plekhanov, V. Lenin, N. Berdyaev, and others wrote. Later, during the Soviet period, Russian researchers began to take a closer look at the problem of patriotism, thereby bringing a lot of new things. For example, the highest form of patriotism was considered precisely socialist patriotism, as a phenomenon born in the USSR. In this context, the authors analyzed how national relations affect Soviet patriotism and the pragmatic component of patriotism was the constant emphasis on the achievements of the Motherland (Kashintsev, 1998; Petrosyan, 1990). During this period, most attention was paid to the study of the relationship between internationalism and patriotism (Agaev, 1975).

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, many studies of patriotism in the context of socialism turned out to be unclaimed. But on the other hand, the issue of personal patriotism has become relevant in connection with the current new socio-political situation. And here it should be noted the names of scientists who began to look at the problem of patriotism in a new way: A.I. Dyrin, V.I. Gidirinsky, A.A. Shcherba, P.V. Petri, V.I. Lutovinov, A.A. Krupnik, A.S. Milovidov, B.I. Kaverin, V.V. Gopeeva, etc.

To date, several main areas of research on patriotism can be distinguished: research on patriotism as a historiosophical problem (Gidirinsky, 1997; Dyrin, 2000; Shcherba, 2002); research on the value aspects of patriotism (Krupnik, 1995; Melnichenko, 1996; Petri, 2002); research on patriotism in the context of the features of patriotic education (Lutovinov, 1998) studies of the problem of the structure, essence and features of the functioning of patriotism (Gopeeva, 2002; Mikulenko, 2001).

If we look at patriotism from the perspective of political science, then here it is explored more as a tool capable of changing socio-political reality. Patriotism serves as the basis for the national idea and acts as an element of the formation of collective identity. Political scientists emphasize the manipulative potential of patriotism (Lubsky, Serikov & Shevchenko, 2014). It is worth noting a very pragmatic view of patriotism in this approach.

Interestingly, the pragmatic view of patriotism is shared by scientists in the psychological and pedagogical approach. From the point of view of this approach, patriotism is an integral part of human spiritual development, which is associated with the need to be devoted to one's Homeland (Petrova, 2012). The study of patriotism is able to solve topical problems related to the development of constructive civic qualities of an individual in the process of moral and patriotic education of young people. Such educational work can have a beneficial effect on the process of socialization of young people.

The existence of many approaches to the study of patriotism required their systematization.

A.V. Kuznetsova proposed to differentiate these approaches according to the criterion of an essential feature (Malinkin, 1999).

1. Patriotism as one of the highest feelings. This feeling appears in childhood and develops in the social, spiritual and moral sphere of an individual's life.

2. Patriotism as one of the highest feelings manifested in action. In this approach, the emphasis is on the inextricable connection of patriotism with active activity and actions aimed at the benefit of one's Homeland.

3. Patriotism as a deeply social phenomenon. This approach draws attention to patriotism as a source of vitality and development of society, a necessary element for the survival of society.

4. This approach argues that Russian patriotism has a characteristic principle of sovereignty, which was formed due to the specifics of the historical development of our fatherland. It is noted that in modern Russian society, the development of patriotism is one of the key conditions for the revival of Russia as a great power.

5. The approach focuses on the individual as the main subject of patriotism. Identifying oneself as a patriot of one's state is the primary social task of a citizen. This task is carried out through awareness of one's national, cultural, spiritual and other belonging to the fatherland. Realizing this affiliation, a patriot is able to determine the meaning, strategy and goals of the life of his Homeland and begin activities aimed at the benefit of his country (Kudinova, 2015).

In addition, it is worth highlighting socio-psychological studies of the problem of factors in the formation of patriotism. Thus, domestic authors have identified several factors in the formation of patriotism: the factor of social communities (Butorina, 2004); the factor of cultural community; the factor of attachment to the place of birth; the factor of religiosity of society. The peculiarities of these factors are their frequent unconsciousness and activity throughout a person's life (Malinkin, 1999).

It should also be noted that within the framework of the socio-psychological approach, the behavioral modality prevails. Scientists conclude that patriotism acts as a component of an unreflective structure that determines people's attitude to their country. This attitude is based on the feelings, emotions and experiences of a person associated with a sense of attachment to their country. This attachment determines the form of behavior of a citizen in relation to the state. Attachment is the identification of a citizen with the image of his country, its culture and people (Butyrina, 2015). The loss of citizens' trust in their country and the lack of a state ideology negatively affects the process of identification with their country. Civil and ethnic identity are the most important in the social self-determination of an individual, however, as N.L. Ivanova (2008) writes, they are poorly studied.

We have already noted above that the phenomenon of patriotism has been actively studied in philosophy, sociology, history, political science and pedagogy, but the psychological aspects of patriotism have been studied for only a few decades. In Russian psychological science, the phenomenon of patriotism is actively studied on the basis of the system-functional approach of A.I. Krupny. In the context of this approach, patriotism is considered as a basic personality trait. On the basis of this approach, A.V. Potemkin concretized the phenomenon of patriotism as "a system-functional property of personality, represented by a set of instrumental-stylistic and motivational-semantic characteristics that ensure the constancy of aspirations and the readiness of the subject to realize actual and potential socially significant values, ideals and beliefs" (Potemkin, 2009, p. 5).

A.V. Potemkin identified the peculiarities of the manifestation of patriotism among various national and ethnic groups. So Russians rely more on their own strength and capabilities in the manifestation of patriotism. The peculiarity of the Tatar national-ethnic group is the presence of a variety of different techniques and ways of patriotic attitude to reality, the successful implementation of which leads to joyful and optimistic emotions. The patriotic behavior of the Shors has a constructive effect on work, study, communication and solving production tasks. The Nogai national and ethnic group showed a deep understanding of the essence of patriotism and showed a stable and strong patriotic attitude to reality (Potemkin, 2009).

Today, on the basis of the systemic-functional approach of A.I. Bolshoy, domestic authors actively study the peculiarities of patriotism in various groups: social, academic, national-ethnic, etc. Thus, the study of patriotism in line with this approach is actively developed by S.I. Kudinov. The author divided the concepts of "patriotism" and "patriotism", describing patriotism as a socio-psychological education, and patriotism as a personality trait, identifying three clusters according to the intensity of manifestation of this property:

1. subjectively significant – an active desire of a person to express patriotism;

2. undifferentiated – a weakly expressed attitude towards the manifestation of patriotism;

3. Socio-value – the manifestation of patriotism is characterized by a socio-value orientation (Kudinov, 2013).

Studying the students, the dominant variables with a subjectively significant desire to express patriotism were identified. Such variables are: the meaningful egocentric orientation of motivation; the intensity of aspirations and the subjective-personal orientation of realization (Kudinov, 2013).

Continuing the study of the peculiarities of patriotism in different educational groups, G.A. Shurukhina and L.A. Zhdanova revealed differences in the manifestation of patriotism among senior schoolchildren of specialized classes. The highest rates of patriotism were found among the cadets. They more often defend the interests of the country and society, more often show an internal locus of control in behavior, are more aimed at increasing patriotism in society and solving important social problems (Shurukhina, 2015). It should also be noted that an interesting fact has been revealed that the peculiarities of living conditions, the organization of education and upbringing can directly affect the formation of patriotism.

To date, the study of the psychological characteristics of patriotism in Russian science is gaining increasing popularity and is being studied as a complex personality quality, including behavioral, affective and cognitive components (Buzykina, 2019).

M.A. Rushina in her earlier works also considers patriotism as one of the personality qualities that is developed in the process of life, and it is the holistic functional approach that allows us to identify the role of individual characteristics in the structure of patriotism and, at the same time, to determine both weak and strong characteristics of this property (Rushina, 2017, 2018).

However, despite many studies of patriotism, the content of this problem has not yet been fully established in the scientific world.

Conclusion

In the research of foreign scientists, patriotism is analyzed in the context of national and social issues and is practically not studied as a personal education, property or quality. In the context of these issues, the authors focus on such components of patriotism as: moral, sensual, value, behavioral, cognitive and the relationship of these components. Thus, at the heart of patriotism, most authors note the identification of themselves with their country, based on feelings of love, pride and shame. The expression of patriotism can manifest itself in morally acceptable or unacceptable forms of behavior, such as civic virtue, responsible inclusion in the development of the "common project of one's country", or nationalism. However, foreign authors do not talk about personal characteristics that contribute to one or another expression of patriotism. But it is worth noting the approach of T.V. Adorno, R.N. Sanford and D. Levinson, emphasizing the importance of the cognitive component, namely critical thinking in relation to one's own country, as well as in relation to the values of one's own or "foreign" country. The presence or absence of this thinking affects the forms of expression of patriotism.

In Russian science, the authors note that patriotism appears as a complex and partly contradictory phenomenon. Most studies of patriotism relate to political science, sociological, psychological, pedagogical and philosophical approaches. Each of the approaches has its own significant sign of patriotism. The article examines such problems as the role of patriotism in the national ideology, the education of patriotism, the value aspects of patriotism, the place of patriotic motives in Russian spiritual culture, the factors of patriotism formation. The problem of the essence of patriotism, its content and features of functioning continues to attract special attention of Russian scientists. This problem is being actively studied within the framework of the system-functional approach of A.I. Bolshoy, which is currently the most promising approach in psychological science for the study of patriotism.

An analysis of Western and domestic literature on the problem of patriotism allows us to conclude that Western and Russian studies of patriotism have many connotations, especially in the sociological and political sciences. Western and domestic scientists have identified similar essential signs of patriotism: patriotism as one of the highest feelings, as a creative feeling; patriotism as selfless work for the benefit of one's country, as a manifestation of higher feelings in action, as a duty to the country; patriotism as a deeply social phenomenon, as a civic virtue. It should be noted that such essential signs of patriotism as statehood and personality, which is the main subject of patriotism, are characteristic of domestic authors. For this reason, there are no studies of patriotism as a personal characteristic in Western science. These studies were mainly conducted in the CIS. There are common views on patriotism in political science. In the West, patriotism is seen as a phenomenon of political awareness, quite closely related to nationalism. Agreeing with this conclusion, domestic political scientists clarify that this connection appears due to the presence of a common emotional component. The importance of having an emotional connection with one's country is also emphasized in the socio-psychological approach, by Western and domestic authors. Scientists agree that patriotism is based on a sense of attachment and identification with "one's own" country. However, there is a difference in the emphasis. Western scientists write about the relationship between the feeling of love and a sense of duty, loyalty to their state, which is based on intellectual interest in the political processes of their country and active participation in them. In turn, Russian scientists note that love for the Motherland is a manifestation of the basic spiritual value of a person. In the psychological and pedagogical approach, the Russian authors emphasize that patriotism is a part of the spiritual development of a person. In the West, in this approach, patriotism is more often interpreted as a value that is an integral component of liberal ideology. In Western culture, this component has brought issues of freedom, responsibility and the rule of law to the fore. The differences in the interpretation of the concept of "patriotism" and in approaches to its research can be explained by fundamental differences in culture and state and political traditions. In turn, the intersections in the definition of patriotism indicate that this phenomenon has certain interethnic and interstate features. The question of studying remains open and quite relevant.