POLITICAL ASPECTS OF INTERACTION OF THE STATE AND CIVIL SOCIETY INSTITUTIONS WITH THE VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT (CROSS-REGIONAL ANALYSIS)

Abstract

Aim. To study the political aspects of the volunteer movement, including an assessment of its role in reducing the potential for political conflict, analysis of the possibilities of political resocialization and indoctrination of the consciousness of participants in this movement, as well as its possibilities to become an independent political actor.Methodology is a comparative analysis of the volunteer movement in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, differing in intensity of the formation of civil society institutions. The empirical base of the study was the results of a sociological survey conducted by the authors in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug-Yugra and in the Perm Territory.Results. The analysis has shown that a positive political effect of the development of the volunteer movement is the secondary political socialization of its participants. At the same time, the role of volunteering in the formation of solidarity ties in society remains small, which is probably due to the lack of altruistic motivation of members of the volunteer movement. The possibilities for purposeful indoctrination by mean of symbolic politics are insignificant. However, the possibilities of non-profit organization as a platform for the formation of civic consciousness should not be exaggerated either. In general, the volunteer movement does not have the resources to turn into an independent political actor.Research implications. The analysis of the institutional possibilities and limitations of the volunteer movement proposed by the authors deepens the theoretical understanding of the peculiarities of the formation of civil society in modern Russia.

Keywords

• volunteer movement
• volunteering
• civil society institutions
• non-profit public organizations
• political socialization
• indoctrination