Social myth as a factor in constructing images of the future

Abstract

The article defines the contemporary social myth as a value-laden phenomenon with the potential and significance, but which is used in different ways by actors – an indwelling by a myth, a creator of a myth and a critic of a myth. The process of myth-making is considered as launching the so-called work on myth, which includes both the activity of myth-makers and the functioning of the myth in the masses. The appeal to the project function of the social myth and the consideration of the degree of awareness of the myth by individual groups actualize the question of the myth as a factor in constructing images of the future. Taking into account the ideas of R. Barthes and C. Bottici, the author concludes that the myth already contains significant images that allow the future to become more concrete. Using the example of the state as the main generator of myths for a wide audience, it is suggested that all the trajectories of creating potential images of the future are confined to the myth of the hero. Conclusions are drawn about the demand for such images of the future, which are built around the figure of a leader correlated with a mythological hero, that the scale of the state is a suitable level for reasoning about the spread and limits of the influence of modern myth-making, and that the constructive potential of the myth is involved in creating images of the future.

Keywords

• social myth
• myth-making
• work on myth
• image of the future
• state
• national leader
• myth of the hero