Language and space as identification values

Abstract

The 21st century has created new societies, states and communities that defend their uniqueness and difference. This phenomenon is not new, its age is comparable and may be equal to the age of humanity. The greatest instrumental opportunities for studying the phenomenon of identity are provided by the theory of values, in particular of the Baden school of neo-Kantianism. The transfer of basic values from one generation to another is extremely important for preserving social identity which is manifested in the feeling of a value connection with the past and other generations not only by history and culture, but also by ethics and teleology. Values are transferred through language, everyday practices and space organization. The values of space, along with ethnic, religious and linguistic ones, predetermine social identity; interrelation and mutual influence of values act as the identification basis of society. Using examples from France, Germany and Russia, the authors show the mutual influence of values, space and language, and the attempts to change social space and values through targeted linguistic policy, describing the impact of spatial structures on social identity and the effect of reverse influence under changes in social space due to the transformation of the field formed by the structured positions of actors. Thus, the article presents differences in the value bases of the space perception in the French, German and Russian sociological and geopolitical schools. The authors pay special attention to the axiological features of Eurasianism as focused on the traditional values of Russia’s peoples and on partnerships with those countries of the Eurasian space that reject globalism and radical liberalism in favor of multipolarity and national traditions.

Keywords

• identity
• theory of values
• operational values
• identification function of space
• language
• geopolitics
• french, german and russian identity
• eurasianism