Simulative Reality as a Challenge for National Identity: Theory and Russian Political Practices

Abstract

The purpose of the study is a political and theoretical analysis of the phenomenon of simulated reality, its impact on the transformation of national-state identity, understood as a macro-political construct - an integrated image of us, ours, the dynamics of which are determined both by the logic of development of a specific national political system and by the wide a range of historical and cultural-psychological factors. The author defines a simulated political reality as a multidimensional space of political simulacra in their interaction and transformation. The mobility of the information landscape of modern Russian society leads to the construction of amorphous and unstable identities that do not have a deep value-semantic foundation and are based on emotional and symbolic content. The indicated identities, which are built around a social fashion - virtual communities of interest - successfully compete with the attitudes of Russian national identity and reduce its significance. In particular, this trend characterizes the self-identification of young Russians - representatives of generations of millennials and digital natives. The specifics of the development of the Runets digital space is not the main reason, but in many respects contributes to the devaluation of the image of the past, and also acts as one of the information-psychological drivers of the crisis of the image of the future.

Keywords

• simulative reality
• virtual reality
• simulacrum
• national-state identity
• the image of «us»
• the crisis of political identity
• the image of the future