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Psychologist
Reference:

Legal awareness of the individual: a view from the standpoint of cultural, historical and activity methodology

Kashirskii Dmitrii Valer'veich

ORCID: 0000-0002-8251-2653

Doctor of Psychology

Head of the Department of General Psychology; Vygotsky Institute of Psychology; Russian State University for the Humanities
Professor; Department of Psychology and Human Capital Development; Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation

125047, Russia, Moscow, Miusskaya pl., building 6, building 7, room 379

psymath@mail.ru
Molotova Viktoriya Viktorovna

ORCID: 0000-0003-4028-7926

Lawyer; Law office of Molotova Victoria Viktorovna; Law Chamber of the Altai Territory
Postgraduate student of the Department of General Psychology; L.S. Vygotsky Institute of Psychology of the Russian State University for the Humanities

655045, Russia, Altai Territory, Barnaul, Penaty str., 22

advocatemolotova@mail.ru

DOI:

10.25136/2409-8701.2024.5.71967

EDN:

XIPBKL

Received:

14-10-2024

Published:

30-10-2024

Abstract: The article is devoted to the theoretical understanding of the phenomenon of legal consciousness of personality from the standpoint of L.S. Vygotsky's cultural and historical theory and A.N. Leontiev's general psychological theory of activity. The regularities of the formation of the legal consciousness of the individual are presented, the psychological properties and functions of the legal consciousness of the individual are described, the hypothesis of the systemic and semantic structure of the phenomenon under consideration is theoretically substantiated. The content of the legal consciousness of the individual is described at the level of "meanings", "personal meaning" and "sensory tissue" of consciousness. The process of formation of the system of legal consciousness of personality is considered through the application of the principle of unity of affect and intelligence, formulated by L.S. Vygotsky, according to which the will of the subject is a single basis and an intermediary link in the formation of consciously controlled processes (the formation of arbitrariness), where in the process of development there is a change in the relationship between affect and intelligence. The theoretical propositions formulated by the authors can form the basis for extensive empirical studies of the legal consciousness of the individual in line with the national psychological tradition, laid down in the cultural-historical approach and the general psychological theory of activity. The regularities of the formation of the legal consciousness of the individual are presented, the psychological properties and functions of the legal consciousness of the individual are described, the hypothesis of the systemic and semantic structure of the phenomenon under consideration is theoretically substantiated. The theoretical propositions formulated by the authors can form the basis for extensive empirical studies of the legal consciousness of the individual in line with the national psychological tradition, laid down in the cultural-historical approach and the general psychological theory of activity. The theoretical analysis of the phenomenon of legal awareness from the standpoint of the national cultural, historical and activity methodology allows us to draw the following conclusions and generalizations. The process of formation and development of legal awareness is a transition from simpler semantic generalizations about law to more complex ones, in the course of general personality development. Thus, the system of meanings of the "language of law" (with different levels of generalizations) determines the content of the components of the structure of legal consciousness, the "development" of these generalizations may indicate the level of development of legal consciousness. A deep study of legal consciousness is impossible in isolation from the categories of "personal meaning", "sensual fabric", as well as those "meanings" in which law finds its objective expression in culture and in a specific person, a subject of law.

Keywords:

conscience, consciousness and activities, affect and intelligence, cultural and historical psychology, legal awareness, meaning, personal meaning, the sensory fabric of consciousness, the cognitive component of legal awareness, the emotional component of legal awareness
This article is automatically translated.

Introduction

Interest in the topic of legal awareness arose in the time of ancient philosophers. Modern ideas and concepts in this field of knowledge originate in the works of Heraclitus, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and Cicero. During the Middle Ages, the works of A. Augustine, F. Aquinas, P. Abelard, N. Machiavelli had a significant influence on the formation of ideas about legal consciousness. In modern philosophy, the problem of legal consciousness has become the subject of research by many prominent thinkers – J. Locke, S.L. Montesquieu, T. Hobbes, J.J. Rousseau, B. Spinoza, I.G. Fichte, I. Kant, G.V.F. Hegel.

Modern works of philosophers and legal theorists have significantly expanded the boundaries in the understanding of legal consciousness, which makes it possible to consider it as an interdisciplinary phenomenon. For example, S.S. Alekseev considers law as a phenomenon of civilization, which is designed to be the bearer of the highest principles, the fundamental values of civilization, to realize the historical purpose of society associated with the assertion of the power and potential of reason in it, high humanitarian principles [3]. Law, according to Alekseev, is also a phenomenon of culture as an individual self-expression of personality, creativity, their accumulation, self-growth [3]. This is expressed in the fact that law reflects life in all its complex manifestations from the deepest layers (economic structure, political system, system of power), to the most mundane, everyday (family relations, inheritance, labor relations, etc.) [1].

V.S. Nersesyants also understands law in a multidimensional way, calling this instrument of social regulation the "mathematics of freedom". Nersesyants notes that behind the external categories and abstractions of law, in fact, there is what is the main and essential in the life of every person and the whole society – the values of freedom, justice, equality, and legal conventions are an absolute necessity for a decent human life [20].

From the above philosophical arguments, the axiological basis of law becomes obvious, which is crucial for its understanding. Being appropriated by the subject, this axiological system becomes an element of his self-consciousness, which makes it possible to introduce into the field of psychological analysis the category of legal consciousness of the individual and conduct its structural and functional analysis in line with various psychological theories and concepts.

An analysis of the current state of research on the psychological aspects of legal awareness allows us to identify several areas. In social psychology, the concept of social representations by S. Moscovici is used as a theoretical basis for the study of legal consciousness (K.A. Abulkhanova – Slavskaya, 1997; O.A. Gulevich 1999; M.I. Volovikova, 2002; E.O. Golynchik, 2004; M.V. Verstova, 2007) [6]. In legal psychology, as a private scientific theory, the research of legal consciousness is based on the functional and structural model of A.R. Ratinov (D.M. Beznosov, 2004; A.M. Ivanova, 2006; O.V. Sergacheva, M.I. Maryin, 2010; N.A. Vedeshkin, 2012; T.A. Simakova, 2016, A.A. Volkov, O.V. Chursina, 2020) [7]. There is an interest in studying legal consciousness from the perspective of psychology of consciousness (G.V. Akopov, 2016; G.V. Akopov, N.N. Yarushkin, A.V. Belous, 2019) [2]. Meanwhile, there is no unified general psychological concept of legal consciousness of a person, which could be formed on the basis of cultural, historical and activity approaches in psychology and significantly expand scientific ideas about the content of the components of the psychological structure of legal consciousness.

The purpose of this article is a theoretical understanding of the phenomenon of legal consciousness of the individual from the standpoint of the national cultural and activity methodology.

The object of the study is the legal consciousness of the individual as a psychological phenomenon.

The subject of the research is the cultural, historical and activity interpretation of the phenomenon of legal consciousness of the individual.

The theoretical and methodological basis of the study was made up of: L.S. Vygotsky's cultural and historical theory and A.N. Leontiev's general psychological theory of activity, revealing the essence and component composition of consciousness and self-consciousness of a person in their diverse connections and manifestations; V.S. Nersesyants' philosophical and legal concept of the libertarian legal theory of law and the state, L.I. Petrazhitsky's psychological theory of law. When conducting a theoretical analysis of the literature on the research problem, the descriptive method, the method of categorization, the historical method, the method of analysis and synthesis of philosophical, psychological, legal, pedagogical literature, as well as theoretical modeling were used.

The scientific novelty of the research lies in the expansion of scientific and theoretical ideas about the phenomenon of legal consciousness in psychology. The new methodological provisions formulated in the article, revealing the essence of the legal consciousness of the individual, can form the basis of empirical studies of this phenomenon in line with the national psychological tradition, laid down in the cultural and historical theory of L.S. Vygotsky and the general psychological theory of A.N. Leontiev's activity.

Theoretical review of the literature

In line with the cultural and historical theory of L.S. Vygotsky and the general psychological theory of activity of A.N. Leontiev, consciousness as a generic characteristic of a person is the highest form of mental reflection of the world, the result of the socio-historical development of an individual, having a social conditionality and connection with human activity and behavior. Personality self-awareness is a relatively late product of ontogenesis, it is associated with the subject's awareness of himself, his place in the world and relationships with others. Legal awareness is a component of personal self–awareness, it is formed during the interaction of the subject with his environment - in the family and various social groups. The formation of a person's legal consciousness is influenced by the cultural life of society, mass media and communications, the prevailing ideology and educational system, etc.

According to A.N. Leontiev, consciousness cannot develop outside the system of public relations, in turn, almost all public relations are regulated by the norms of law. Following the logic of A.N. Leontiev, consciousness develops within the framework of a system of public relations regulated by legal norms, therefore, law as a social regulator "permeates" consciousness. Thus, legal awareness develops as a result of relationships. If conscious reflection is "a reflection of objective activity in its isolation from the existing relations of the subject to it, i.e. a reflection highlighting its objective stable properties [17], then legal awareness is a reflection of objective stable properties of legal reality (legal system, legal institutions and norms, relations within the legal field). The subject activity transforming nature, the subject of which is a reasonable individual, is transmitted through an arbitrary and expedient act of will, contributing to the process of creative learning and development [16]. The process of law-making and law-making, in fact, can be considered a substantive activity that transforms public relations. The source and basis of legal awareness are social relations regulated by the norms of law, and only then the norms of law and laws themselves. Legal awareness is formed by public actors in the field of legal relations (legal relations) and in the process of legal activity [19].

A.N. Leontiev reveals the category of consciousness through the process of generating conscious reflection, which is "scooped out" from the external objective reality. In the structure of consciousness, the scientist identifies three components: sensory tissue, meaning and meaning. Meanings constitute the most important component of human consciousness and are considered by A.N. Leontiev as something representing in the individual consciousness the socio-historical experience fixed in the word. If the sensory tissue is a product of a person's individual experience, then values are assigned [17]. Thus, drawing an analogy with legal consciousness, it can be concluded that "legal experience" is part of the socio-historical experience and is assigned by the subject through objectively existing meanings – legal concepts, principles, norms, legal institutions. As A.N. Leontiev notes, in the consciousness of a personality, meanings begin to live a kind of double life, through inclusion in the life of the subject, they are "subjectivized", and then acquire a personal meaning, which is generated by the specific circumstances of life and the characteristics of the subject. Personal meaning gives consciousness partiality. It is related to the motives and experiences of a person. Like sensory tissue, personal meaning has no "supra-individual", "non-psychological" existence. The life of an individual in society, human activity, is the substance of his consciousness" [16]. Thus, the right, which has its content objectively expressed in meanings, is subjectified in the legal consciousness of the individual. Legal norms can be interpreted and perceived biasively, subjectively assessed as fair or unfair, and have a certain degree of significance for the subject of legal relations. If we consider legal awareness from the point of view of the theory of A.N. Leontiev, then it can be represented at all levels as follows.

At the level of values, a person's legal awareness includes legal literacy, a set of objective knowledge of the subject about the law, its system, and an understanding of the need to comply with legal norms. At this level, the legal consciousness of a person can be represented in the form of an image of a law–abiding citizen, or on the contrary, an offender and a criminal, etc.

At the level of personal meaning, legal awareness manifests itself when a subject expresses his attitude to the legal system verbally or directly in legally significant situations, defending or defending his rights, becoming a participant in transactions and legal acts, an active participant in legal relations (for example, speaking in court, signing a contract for the purchase of real estate, registering a marriage or by filing for divorce, adopting a child or receiving a birth certificate, signing a will or a document on inheritance of property, refusing to testify, etc.)

At the level of the sensory tissue, the legal consciousness of a person is expressed in the form of specific images of reality, actually perceived or surfaced in memory, related to the future or only imaginary. According to their content, these images relate to the field of law, legally significant situations, law-abiding and illegal behavior, etc. Sensory images differ in their modality, sensual tone, degree of clarity, greater or lesser stability, etc. A special function of sensory images of a person's sense of justice is that they give reality to a conscious picture of the world that opens up to the subject. It is precisely due to the sensual content of the legal consciousness of the individual that the world of law appears to the subject as existing not in consciousness, but in the external field as the object of his activity.

The problem of consciousness is central to L.S. Vygotsky's cultural and historical theory. According to the scientist, "consciousness is a problem of the structure of behavior" [12]. L.S. Vygotsky pointed out the fundamental difference between animal behavior and human behavior, emphasized the role of culture in the development of higher mental functions, the formation of consciousness and self-awareness of personality. L.S. Vygotsky introduced ideas about the systemic and semantic structure of consciousness, developed a methodology and methods of psychological research of consciousness, the lines of development of consciousness and behavior – evolutionary, historical and ontogenetic - have been studied [13].

L.S. Vygotsky called the systemic structure of consciousness its external structure, while the semantic structure of consciousness forms its internal structure. It is in the sense, according to L.S. Vygotsky, that the attitude of consciousness to the outside world is expressed. Meaning enters into meaning. There is meaning wherever there is a sign. The meaning of the word is a generalization. It is not constant, but it changes in the course of personality development. The meaning hides the generalization process. A change in the level of development of generalizations, the development of meaning as a generalization leads to a change in the semantic structure of consciousness, transfers it to an increasingly higher level. Thus, the system of meanings determines the semantic structure of consciousness [13]. Meaning is a kind of theoretically generalized and well—established zone of meaning. In this regard, it can be assumed that normative legal acts (for example, laws) are a "zone of meaning" of socially fixed values and legally protected goods (personal, social, cultural, political, economic). The appropriation of "legal meanings" - specific norms and principles of law - in the process of internalization is based on personal meanings and values that make up the qualitative content of a person's legal consciousness. Legal norms that do not affect the field of personal meaning and values remain at the level of "meanings" and do not penetrate "into the depth" of legal consciousness.

Reasoning in line with the ideas of L.S. Vygotsky, it can be assumed that the process of formation and development of the legal consciousness of a person occurs according to the same laws according to which the development of higher mental functions, personality and consciousness as a whole proceeds. First of all, it should be pointed out that the development of the legal consciousness of the individual, apparently, represents a transition from direct to indirect forms of behavior, from natural to social forms, from natural to artificial (cultural) forms. Further, the mechanism of mastering external forms of legal consciousness is interiorization, as a result of which social forms of law-abiding or illegal behavior become internal forms of personality consciousness, i.e. they enter into the legal consciousness of a personality in the form of its substantive and structural units. Finally, the development of a person's legal consciousness can be discussed only when this structural formation is characterized by the property of controllability (regularity), i.e., the mastery of a person's own behavior in legally significant situations [12].

According to L.S. Vygotsky, personality in its development strives for freedom, mastering perfect forms of behavior and thinking ("cultural" is equal to "free" - something that can be disposed of), while legal consciousness is transformed and develops together with personality [13]. It can be said that the right is a measure of freedom defined by society and culture as a kind of social ideal.

In our opinion, the principle of unity of affect and intelligence, formulated by L.S. Vygotsky, can be applied to the process of formation of the system of legal consciousness of a person, according to which the will of the subject is a single basis and an intermediary link in the formation of consciously controlled processes (the formation of arbitrariness), where in the process of development there is a change in the relationship between affect and intelligence. Thus, in the legal consciousness of the individual, the relationship between knowledge of law and legal norms ("intelligence" or the cognitive component of the legal consciousness of the individual) and the emotional assessment of this knowledge ("affect" or the emotional component of the legal consciousness of the individual) gradually develops and changes. In the process of the emergence of mature forms of legal awareness of the individual, when the subject chooses a method of action in legally significant situations, the volitional component is increasingly manifested, expressed in the awareness of the decision made (to implement the rule of law, internally agree with it, or violate the law). In the latter case, it is necessary to talk about the legal awareness of the personality of the offender or criminal.

Results

The theoretical understanding of the phenomenon of legal consciousness of a person from the standpoint of L.S. Vygotsky's cultural and historical theory and A.N. Leontiev's general psychological theory of activity is consistent with L.I. Petrazhitsky's "psychological theory of law", in which the author concludes that psychology, its theory of consciousness, emotions and motivation are able to provide a scientifically sound solution to issues of legal regulation [21, 22].

Our results are also consistent with the concepts adopted in social philosophy and the libertarian legal theory of law and the state, according to which law is considered as a general measure of freedom, equality and justice, expressed in a system of formally defined and generally binding rules of conduct (norms), protected and guaranteed by public (state) authority [20]. Legal awareness, obeying in its development the law of transition to indirect, social and cultural forms of behavior, will eventually be represented in a developed personality by a system of formed views (conceptual thinking, worldview) regarding justice, equality and possible manifestations of freedom in the process of social interaction and legally significant actions within the legal field.

The theoretical analysis allows us to formulate the following generalizing conclusions:

1. Legal awareness of the individual:

a) represents

- integral, dynamic personal education,

- develops under the influence of external and internal conditions,

b) reflects social relations regulated by legal norms and developing into legal reality through legal knowledge, emotions, feelings, value attitude,

c) manifests itself in behavior, activities and relationships with the outside world,

d) regulates the behavior of a person in legally significant situations.

2. The process of formation and development of a person's legal consciousness represents a transition from simpler semantic generalizations regarding law to more complex psychological (conceptual) systems, in the course of general personality development. Thus, the system of meanings of the "language of law" (with different levels of generalizations) determines the content of the components of the structure of the personality's legal consciousness, the "development" of these generalizations may indicate the level of development of the personality's legal consciousness.

3. A deep study of the legal consciousness of a person is impossible in isolation from the categories of "personal meaning", "sensory tissue", as well as those "meanings" in which law finds its objective expression in culture and in a specific person, a subject of law.

Recommendations

Before studying individual manifestations and properties of a person's legal consciousness, it is necessary to analyze how objectively existing law in its cultural external embodiment is reflected in the consciousness of a particular person and correlates with the "personal" image of law.

Theoretical modeling of diagnostic techniques that allow to study the legal consciousness of a person [10] should be based on legal axiomatics and the legal system existing at the present stage of cultural and historical development. It is advisable to use the methodology of qualitative and quantitative approaches to psychological diagnosis for a comprehensive diagnosis of the legal consciousness of a person. To study the value-semantic content of the components of a person's legal consciousness reflecting his "internal" structure, a semi-structured interview procedure can be developed in line with a qualitative methodology. In turn, standardized survey methods can be aimed at diagnosing the "external" systemic structure of a person's legal consciousness, taking into account the theoretical provisions proposed by us.

Conclusion

The conducted theoretical and methodological research allows, in our opinion, to significantly expand and deepen scientific theoretical ideas about the systemic and semantic structure of the legal consciousness of the individual.

The provisions and recommendations formulated in the article can be considered as the basis for conducting extensive empirical studies of the legal consciousness of the individual in line with the national psychological tradition laid down in the cultural and historical theory of L.S. Vygotsky and the general psychological theory of A.N. Leontiev's activity. The analysis of theoretical provisions on the ontological and axiological foundations of law, the correlation of provisions on law with cultural activity methodology, allows us to approach the theoretical modeling of the general psychological concept of personality's legal consciousness, to develop and theoretically substantiate a general psychological model of the structure of personality's legal consciousness, which can be used for applied interdisciplinary research in social and legal psychology, sociology, pedagogy, theory law, cultural studies and other humanitarian fields of knowledge. In particular, on the basis of the developed theoretical provisions, a standardized questionnaire on the importance of rights and freedoms was created, which underwent a preliminary procedure of empirical validation, an assessment of psychometric properties [29] and is used to conduct empirical studies of the cognitive and value components of a person's legal consciousness. As further research prospects, the creation of a theoretical model of the psychological structure of legal consciousness, the development of psychological tools for its complex diagnosis, and empirical research on various samples are highlighted.

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The subject of the research in the presented article is the legal consciousness of the individual in the context of the positions of cultural, historical and activity methodology. The descriptive method, the method of categorization, the historical method, and the method of analyzing scientific literature were used as the methodology of the subject area of research in this article. The relevance of the article is beyond doubt, since the study of the phenomenon of legal consciousness of the individual has its origins in the works of ancient philosophers. Throughout the history of science, various methodological approaches to the study of legal consciousness have begun to appear. In the context of the multiparadigmality of the research process in relation to the legal consciousness of the individual, the study of this phenomenon from the standpoint of cultural, historical and activity methodology is of scientific interest among various scientists. The scientific novelty of the research consists in studying according to the author's methodology and "theoretical understanding of the phenomenon of legal consciousness of a person from the standpoint of L.S. Vygotsky's cultural and historical theory and A.N. Leontiev's general psychological theory of activity." The article is written in the language of scientific style using in the text of the study the presentation of various positions of scientists to the problem under study, as well as the use of terminology characterizing the subject of research. Unfortunately, the structure of the manuscript is not consistent with the basic requirements for writing scientific articles. In the structure of this study, a brief introductory part, the main part, conclusions and generalizations, and a bibliography can be conditionally distinguished. The content of the article reflects its structure. In particular, the author's judgment is of particular value that "self-awareness of a person is a relatively late product of ontogenesis, it is associated with the subject's awareness of himself, his place in the world and relationships with others. Legal awareness is a component of personal self–awareness, it is formed during the interaction of the subject with his environment - in the family and various social groups. The formation of a person's legal consciousness is influenced by the cultural life of society, mass media and communications, the prevailing ideology and education system, etc." The bibliography contains 10 sources, including domestic periodicals and non-periodicals, as well as an electronic resource. The article describes various positions and points of view of scientists characterizing methodological approaches to understanding the legal consciousness of a person. The article contains an appeal to various scientific works and sources devoted to this topic, which is included in the circle of scientific interests of researchers dealing with this issue. The presented study contains conclusions and generalizations concerning the subject area of the study. In particular, it is noted that "the process of formation and development of legal awareness represents a transition from simpler semantic generalizations about law to more complex ones, in the course of general personality development. Thus, the system of meanings of the "language of law" (with different levels of generalizations) determines the content of the components of the structure of legal consciousness, the "development" of these generalizations may indicate the level of development of legal consciousness. A deep study of legal consciousness is impossible in isolation from the categories of "personal meaning", "sensual fabric", as well as those "meanings" in which law finds its objective expression in culture and in a specific person, the subject of law. Before studying individual manifestations and properties of a person's legal consciousness, it is necessary to analyze how objectively existing law in its cultural external embodiment is reflected in the consciousness of a particular person and correlates with the "personal" image of law." The materials of this study are intended for a wide range of readers, they can be interesting and used by scientists for scientific purposes, teaching staff in the educational process, psychologists, jurists and lawyers, sociologists, philosophers, cultural scientists, analysts and experts. As a disadvantage of this study, it should be noted that some important elements in the structure of the article are either not fully disclosed or completely absent. In particular, it would be advisable to pay attention to the description of the research methodology and designate this structural element in separate headings. The results of the study are not described and are not highlighted in a separate heading. Based on the results of the study, it would be advisable to formulate a conclusion as well, and not be limited only to conclusions and generalizations. When preparing the study, it was possible to turn to more modern sources, pay more attention to periodicals, as well as foreign scientific literature on the subject of the study. When making footnotes and bibliography, it is necessary to pay attention to the requirements of the current GOST standards, and the electronic resource specified in the bibliography should be issued as an electronic resource, it is necessary to specify the date of access to the source. In addition, the volume of the submitted manuscript does not allow to fully disclose the declared topic of scientific research. These shortcomings do not reduce the scientific significance of the study itself, however, they must be promptly eliminated and the text of the article must be substantially improved in terms of its volume, content and structure. It is recommended to return the manuscript for revision.

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The article "Legal awareness of personality: a view from the standpoint of cultural, historical and activity methodology" is submitted for review. The work is a brief statement of the problem and a detailed theoretical analysis. The subject of the study is not formulated in the work. At the same time, the work is aimed at carrying out a theoretical understanding of the phenomenon of legal consciousness of the individual from the standpoint of the national cultural and activity methodology. Research methodology. The paper provides a summary review and analysis of the research published in Russian and foreign publications. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study was: - the cultural and historical theory of L.S. Vygotsky and the general psychological theory of A.N. Leontiev's activity, revealing the essence and component composition of consciousness and self-consciousness of the individual in their diverse connections and manifestations; - the philosophical and legal concept of the libertarian legal theory of law and the state by V.S. Nersesyants, - the psychological theory of law L.I. Petrazhitsky. When conducting a theoretical analysis of the literature on the research problem, the author used: the descriptive method, the method of categorization, the historical method, the method of analysis and synthesis of philosophical, psychological, legal, pedagogical literature, as well as theoretical modeling. The relevance of the research is due to the fact that the axiological basis of law is crucial for its understanding. Being appropriated by the subject, this axiological system becomes an element of his self-consciousness, which makes it possible to introduce the category of legal consciousness of a personality into the field of psychological analysis. The author notes that it is important to carry out a structural and functional analysis of the category of legal consciousness of a person from the standpoint of the national cultural and activity methodology. The scientific novelty of the research. The author noted that the theoretical and methodological research carried out made it possible to expand and deepen scientific theoretical ideas about the systemic and semantic structure of individual legal consciousness of a person. Style, structure, content. The style of presentation corresponds to publications of this level. The language of the work is scientific. The structure of the work is clearly traced, the author highlights the main semantic parts. The logic in the work is presented. The content of the article meets the requirements for works of this level. The amount of work is sufficient to reveal the subject of the study. The introductory part briefly defines the research topic and identifies its "problem" areas. In the main part, the author presents the approaches of psychologists to the consideration of basic concepts (A.N. Leontiev, L.S.Vygotsky). The author notes that in line with these approaches, consciousness as a generic characteristic of a person is the highest form of mental reflection of the world, the result of the socio-historical development of an individual, having a social conditioning and connection with human activity and behavior. Personality self-awareness is a relatively late product of ontogenesis, it is associated with the subject's awareness of himself, his place in the world and relationships with others. Legal awareness is a component of personal self–awareness, it is formed during the interaction of the subject with his environment - in the family and various social groups. The formation of a person's legal consciousness is influenced by the cultural life of society, mass media and communications, the prevailing ideology and educational system, etc. The next section is devoted to the description and analysis of the theoretical research results. The author presents the content of the concept of "legal consciousness of personality" and its structure, describes the process of formation and development of legal consciousness of personality. It is noted that a deep study of the legal consciousness of a person is impossible in isolation from the categories of "personal meaning", "sensual fabric", as well as those "meanings" in which law finds its objective expression in culture and in a specific person, a subject of law. In the final section, the author formulates general conclusions. Bibliography. The bibliography of the article includes 28 domestic and foreign sources, there are practically no publications in the last three years. The list includes mainly articles, abstracts and online publications. In addition, there are also educational materials, information publications, and monographs. The sources are designed mostly correctly and uniformly. Appeal to opponents. Recommendations: 1) to analyze a larger number of scientific sources, including modern ones, since the problem is being actively considered by domestic and foreign researchers; theoretical analysis of modern sources is insufficient; 2) in the introductory section, formulate the object, subject, scientific novelty of the research; 3) formulate recommendations based on the results of the research; 4) present prospects further research, including empirical; 5) review the work for design (for example, there is a glued text ("Theoretical understanding of the phenomenon"); there are no references to a significant part of the sources in the text of the article;). Conclusions. The problems of the topic are characterized by undoubted relevance, theoretical and practical value. The article will be of interest to specialists who deal with the problems of legal awareness of the individual. In particular, the question of the theoretical understanding of this phenomenon in psychological research is important. The article may be recommended for publication. However, it is important to take into account the highlighted recommendations and make appropriate changes. This will make it possible to submit scientific, methodological and research work to the editorial board, which is characterized by scientific novelty and practical significance.

Third Peer Review

Peer reviewers' evaluations remain confidential and are not disclosed to the public. Only external reviews, authorized for publication by the article's author(s), are made public. Typically, these final reviews are conducted after the manuscript's revision. Adhering to our double-blind review policy, the reviewer's identity is kept confidential.
The list of publisher reviewers can be found here.

This article is made in the traditional style, which is typical for works in which the authors use the theories and approaches of Leontiev A.N. and Vygotsky L.S. as a methodological basis. In such cases, it is important to provide a justification for the relevance of the subject of the claimed research. In this article, the author did not pay attention to this issue. This is a flaw that requires text refinement. In this regard, the formulation of scientific novelty draws attention. In this regard, the author writes that it (scientific novelty) consists in expanding scientific and theoretical ideas about the phenomenon of legal awareness in psychology. And also that "the new methodological provisions formulated in the article, revealing the essence of the legal consciousness of the individual, can form the basis for empirical research of this phenomenon in line with the national psychological tradition, laid down in the cultural and historical theory of L.S. Vygotsky and the general psychological theory of A.N. Leontiev's activity." The wording itself does not raise objections. But according to the text, there are no methodological provisions that reveal the essence of the legal consciousness of the individual, and which can form the basis of empirical research of this phenomenon in line with the national psychological tradition, laid down in the cultural and historical theory of L.S. Vygotsky and the general psychological theory of A.N. Leontiev's activity. Such provisions should be the result of research, as the reviewer understands. Moreover, taking into account the purpose of the study - the theoretical understanding of the phenomenon of legal consciousness of the individual from the standpoint of the national cultural and activity methodology. The formulation of the goal is correct and also does not raise any objections. That is, everything is written correctly in form: the purpose, the subject, the scientific novelty, and, of course, the research methodology. In general, the analysis of the literature data is also correct. But there is no critical analysis in it that would expand the understanding of the legal consciousness of the individual as a phenomenon, taking into account cultural, historical and activity methodology. But the author tries to do this, noting in the text that "... there is no unified general psychological concept of legal consciousness of a person, which could be formed on the basis of cultural, historical and activity approaches in psychology and significantly expand scientific ideas about the content of the components of the psychological structure of legal consciousness." The difficulty of writing articles of this kind lies in a truly fundamental methodology (Leontiev A.N., Vygotsky L.S.), which is very difficult to expand and develop. Therefore, the author can be given due respect for trying to further develop the problem of legal awareness of the individual in the context of cultural, historical and activity methodology. Moreover, this problem is becoming more and more urgent. Therefore, an attempt to increase the potential of the claimed methodology by analyzing the work of researchers from related fields is quite appropriate. We are talking about the psychological theory of law by L.I. Petrazhitsky. To do this, the author used many methods. Such methods as the descriptive method, the method of categorization, the historical method, the method of analysis and synthesis of philosophical, psychological, legal, pedagogical literature, as well as theoretical modeling are indicated. There is a question about the method of theoretical modeling. What does the author mean and what results are obtained with his help? According to the text, it is noted that "The results we have obtained are also consistent with the concepts ...". What does the author mean by that? What results did he get? It is only noted that "The theoretical understanding of the phenomenon of legal consciousness of the individual from the standpoint of the cultural and historical theory of L.S. Vygotsky and the general psychological theory of activity of A.N. Leontiev is consistent with the "psychological theory of law" of L.I. Petrazhitsky, in which the author concludes that psychology, its theory of consciousness, emotions and motivation are able to provide scientific an informed solution to legal regulation issues." However, the meaning of L.I. Petrazhitsky's "psychological theory of law" is not clear from the text. The fact is that L.S. Vygotsky's cultural and historical theory and A.N. Leontiev's general psychological theory of activity are consistent with almost all psychological theories. Therefore, in this case it is difficult to agree with the author about achieving any novelty. The conclusions also already state that "1. The legal consciousness of the individual: a) represents an integral, dynamic personal education, develops under the influence of external and internal conditions, etc." These are well-known things. The conclusions should reflect the specific results of the study. The bibliographic list contains sources on the research topic, with the exception of No. 4. The textbook is not a scientific source. In general, this article is interesting. It has the potential to refine the text and the prospect of publication, since the legal consciousness of the individual is a problem not only scientifically, but also in everyday life, that is, in everyday terms. After finalizing the text, this article can be recommended for publication.
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