DOI: 10.17072/2078-7898/2018-1-5-15

Social mythology in the space of everyday life and mass media^*

Andrey G. Ivanov
Ph.D. in Philosophy, Docent,
Associate Professor of the Department 
of Public Administration and ManagementRussian Presidential Academy of National Economy
and Public Administration (Lipetsk Branch),
3, Internatsionalnaya str., Lipetsk, 398050, Russia;
e-mail: agivanov2@yandex.ru
ORCID: 0000-0003-1136-251X

Irina P. Polyakova
Doctor of Philosophy, Docent,
Professor, Head of the Department of PhilosophyLipetsk State Technical University,
30, Moskovskaya str., Lipetsk, 398600, Russia;
e-mail: ir.p.polyakova@yandex.ru
ORCID: 0000-0003-4213-3680

The article gives the definition of contemporary social mythology. When considering social mythology, there are two closely related levels — «archaic» and «instrumental» («conjunctural»). For a better understanding of the social myth essence and the mechanism of its broadcast in the media environment, we need to consider it from the perspective of three subjects: living by the myth («mythical»); maker of the myth (mythmaker); critic of the myth (mythologist). The existence of the selected subjects of the myth allows us to speak about the multiplicity of its functions. Social mythology is characterized by the process of mythmaking (imprinting of social life in the form of myths, constructing of mythological stories) and mythologizing (adding mythological imagery to the social reality). Currently, the media environment is, on the one hand, a manifestation of the basic characteristics of a social myth, and on the other hand, an additional link in the process of social myth impact on society. The mass media immerse a person in a specific reality, comparable to a mythological reality with its illusions, stereotypes, and claim to show certain values intruding into everyday life. The space of everyday life is the place where functions of social mythology are mixing, the sacred and the profane intersect. The prevalence of myths in everyday life and the media environment makes adjustments in the mechanism of work of social myth and in the ratio of mythmaking and mythologizing processes. The transformation of the «sacred – profane» ratio under the influence of the communication space development is a matter of particular interest. All this leads to the fact that it becomes problematic to highlight the constructive functions of myth per se. The functioning of myth in the social media environment gives additional features to public life, including such its dimension as everyday life.

Keywords: social myth, social mythology, media environment, communication space, everyday life, mythmaking and mythologizing, the subject of myth, the sacred and the profane.

References

Babaeva A.V. (2001). Mif v prostranstve povsednevnosti [Myth in the Space of Everyday Life] . Smysly mifa: mifologiya v istorii i cul’ture. Vyp. 8 [The Meanings of Myth: Mythology in History and Culture. Iss. 8] . St. Petersburg, Sankt-Peterburgskoe filosofskoe obshchestvo Publ., pp. 268–270. (In Russian). 

Barthes R. (2004). Mifologii [Mythologies] . Moscow, Sabashnikovs Publ., 320 p. (In Russian).

Bell D. (1999). Gryadushchee postindustrial’noe obschchestvo. Opyt sotsial’nogo prognozirovaniya [The Coming of Post-industrial Society: A Venture of Social Forecasting] . Moscow, Academia Publ., 956 p. (In Russian).

Beseda s Klodom Levi-Strosom Konstantina fon Barleneva i Galy Naumovoy [An Interview with Claude Lévi-Strauss’ made by Constantin von Barloenen and Gala Naumova] . Voprosy filosofii  [Issues of Philosophy] . 2009, no. 5, pp. 66–79. (In Russian).

Caillois R. (2003). Mif i chelovek. Chelovek i sakral’noe [Myth and Man. Man and the Sacred] . Moscow, OGI Publ., 296 p. (In Russian).

Cassirer E. (2002). Filosofiya simvolicheskih form. T. 2: Mifologicheskoe myshlenie  [Philosophy of Symbolic Forms. Vol. 2: Mythological Thought] . Moscow, St. Petersburg, Universitetskaya kniga Publ., 280 p. (In Russian).

Flood C. (2004). Politicheskiy mif. Teoreticheskoe issledovanie [Political Myth. A Theoretical Introduction] . Moscow, Progress-Tradistiya Publ., 264 p.(In Russian).

Frolova S.M. (2012). Mif v povsednevnoj zhizni obshchestva  [Myth in Society Every Day Life] . Vestnik Povolzhskoy akademii gosudarstvennoy sluzhby [Bulletin of The Volga Region Academy of Public Administration] . No. 1(30), pp. 208–214.(In Russian).

Garde-Hansen J. (2011). Media and Memory. Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press Ltd., 174 p. (In English).

Ivanov A.G. (2016). Mehanizm vozdeystviya mifov na razvitie obshchestva  [The Mechanism of the Myth’s Impact on Society Development] . Vestnik Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya 7: Filosofiya. Sotsiologiya i sotsial’nye tehnologii  [Science Journal of Volgograd State University. Philosophy. Sociology and Social Technologies] . No. 2(32), pp. 6–14. DOI: 10.15688/jvolsu7.2016.2.1. (In Russian).

Kirillova N.B. (2005). Mediasreda rossiyskoy modernizatsii  [The Media Environment of Russian Modernization] . Moscow, Akademicheskiy Proekt Publ., 400 p. (In Russian).

Leukhina L.E. (2011). Obydennost’ v usloviyah transformatsii obshchestvennoy zhizni [A Daily Routine in a Transformation of Public Life] . Vestnik Chuvashskogo universiteta [Bulletin of the Chuvash University] . No. 2, pp. 155–159. (In Russian).

Linchenko A.A., Ivanov A.G. (2017). «Zhivite tyshchu let, tovarishch Stalin…»: Transformaciya mifologii obrazov I.V. Stalina v sovremennoy rossiyskoy istoricheskoy pamyati [«Live a Thousand Years, Comrade Stalin…»: Transformation of Mythology of I.V. Stalin’s Images in the Contemporary Russian Historical Memory] . Dialog so vremenem [Dialogue with Time] .Мoscow, Institute of World History of Russian Academy of Sciences (IWH RAS) Publ., iss. 59, pp. 116–135. (In Russian).

Luhmann N. Real’nost massmedia [The Reality of the Mass Media] . Moscow, Praksis Publ., 256 p. (In Russian).

Orlov S.B, Chernyshkov D.V. (2011). Mifologema «Stalin». Obraz vozhdya kak sistemoobrazuyushchiy faktor rossiyskogo obshchestvennogo soznaniya [«Stalin» Mythologem. The Image of the Leader as a Backbone Factor of Russian Social Consciousness]. Svobodnaya mysl’  [Free Thought] . No. 12, pp. 95–102. (In Russian).

Plyutto P.A. (2014). Issledovanie real’nosti sotsiokul’turnogo virtual’nogo: opyt analiza sotsiokul’turnykh illyuziy [The Study of Reality of Sociocultural Virtual: Experience of Analysis of Sociocultural Illusions] . Moscow, Progress-Tradistiya Publ., 368 p.(In Russian).

Polyakova I.P. (2009). Sotsial’no-filosofkoe ponimanie povsednevnosti [Socio-philosophical understanding of Everyday Life] . Lipetsk, LGTU Publ., 138 p. (In Russian).

Sergeeva O.V. (2011). Mediakul’tura v praktikah povsednevnosi: avtoref. dis. … d-ra filos. nauk [Media Culture in Everyday Life Practice: abstract of D.Sc. dissertation] . St. Petersburg, 45 p. (In Russian).

Shapinskaya E.N. (2009). Povsednevnoe kak dinamicheskoe prostranstvo sovremennoy kul’tury [Everyday as a Dynamic Space of Contemporary Culture] . Kul’turnoe nasledie: ot proshlogo k budushchemu. T. 6: Fundamental’nye problemy kul’turologii [Cultural Heritage: From the Past to the Future. Vol. 6: Fundamental Problems of Cultural Science] . Moscow, Novyy Khronograf Publ., St. Petersburg, Eydos Publ., pp. 214–225. (In Russian).

Shestov N.I. (2005). Politicheskiy mif teper’ i prezhde [Political Myth: Now and Before] . Moscow, OLMA-PRESS Publ., 414 p. (In Russian).

Shukshina L.V. (2010). Ekzistentsial’naya tsennost sotsial’nyh illyuziy: avtoref. dis. … d-ra filos. nauk [Existential Value of Social Illusions: abstract of D.Sc. dissertation] .Saransk, 39 p. (In Russian).

Tikhonova S.V. (2009). Sotsial’naya mifologiya v kommunikatsionnom prostranstve sovremennogo obshchestva: avtoref. dis. … d-ra filos. nauk [Social Mythology in the Communicative Space of Contemporary Society: abstract of D.Sc. dissertation]. Saratov, 41 p. (In Russian).

Zharov S.N. (2013). Bytie i real’nost’ v gumanitarnom poznanii [Being and Reality in Humanitarian Knowledge]. Vestnik Voronezhskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya: Filosofiya [Proceedings of Voronezh State University. Series: Philosophy]. No. 2, pp. 18–37. (In Russian).

Received 15.10.2017

For citation:

Ivanov A.G., Polyakova I.P.Social mythology in the space of everyday life and mass media // Perm University Herald. Series«Philosophy. Psychology. Sociology». 2018. Iss. 1. P. 5–15. DOI: 10.17072/2078-7898/2018-1-5-15

 

*Данная статья подготовлена при поддержке гранта РФФИ 17-33-01056 a2 «Мифы о прошлом в современной медиа-среде: практики конструирования, механизмы воздействия, перспективы использования».