1. Introduction Conception of “political identity” is a very com- plex category. It comprises content characteristics worked out in other spheres of humanistic knowl- edge which are projected on the political aspect. Its content depends on the scientific approaches to the definition of “identity” and the subject of research. An identity has no static character, and self-iden- tity of a person is realized upon different bases and different levels. A human being has to define himself and his place in a constantly changing society and world, so self-identification is an open, flexible and dynamic process, an individual mobility and psy- chological features of an individual being of great importance. The economic, political and cultural changes re- sult in transformation of political identity, which in its turn influences greatly the transformation of all social spheres. On the basis of mentioned above, the process of political self-identity plays the main role in joining peoples’ efforts for the decision of socially significant tasks for providing life activity of political institu- tions. This defines a significance of political identity as one of the main factors of contemporary develop- ment and social transformations. 2. Crisis political identity Development and types of political identity are de- termined, as well as its functions, by the specificity of political process. For the modern societies the most specific are typologies carried out according to the following indications: party, value – ideological, depending on duration, degree of internalization Journal of Geography, Politics and Society 2015, 5(2), 34–36 DOI 10.4467/24512249JG.15.010.5166 NeGatIve IdeNtIty IN CrISIS-rIddeN SoCIety: eSSeNCe aNd fuNCtIoNS Nataliya Pashina Department International Relations and Foreign Affairs Chair, Mariupol State University, Stroiteley 129, 87500 Mariupol, Ukraine e-mail: npash@mail.ru Citation Pashina N., 2015, Negative identity in crisis-ridden society: essence and functions, Journal of Geography, Politics and Society, 5(2), 34–36. abstract The main approaches and characteristics of political identity types connected with transformation of political regimes and so- ciety crises are analyzed. It is revealed that the state of the society results in the dominance of crisis and negative identity. The functional peculiarities of negative identity in the period of war conflicts have been considered. Key words political identity, types of political identity, crisis political identity, negative political identity, positive political identity. Negative identity in crisis-ridden society: essence and functions 35 and steadiness, according to the criteria of subject and object of identity. It is necessary to admit that different types of social identity (ethnical, religious, regional, demographic, professional and so on) can acquire a politicized character in certain conditions and be used by political subjects (state, parties, po- litical elites and leaders) as a political resourse. Transformation of political regimes and crisis of political identity in post-communist countries have actualized in political science the theme of a crisis, positive and negative identity. Thus, political prac- tice in countries with transitional regimes has not only complicated understanding of political identity in the whole but displayed new types of political identity connected with transformation of political consciousness and crisis state of the social system. Scientists have come to the conclusion that a crisis state of the society predetermines the dominance of a crisis state of identity which is displayed first of all in the disparity of his ideological, party and personi- fied levels with the dominance of the last one, as well as in formation of a negative way of self – determina- tion in the political space. The duration of this crisis is determined by the speed of mass consciousness adaptation to new realities (Попова, 2002a). It is necessary to reveal a crisis state of political identity in the context of general socio – cultural cri- sis which is characterized by breaking of not only the structure of rational values and norms predominant in the society but the system of traditional symbols and stereotypes formed in it as well. O.V. Popova (Попова, 2002b) asserts that four situations are typical for the crisis of a political iden- tity. First of all, the broken systems of identification are not substituted by new ones (“ideal” models for imitation do not exist). In the second place, in the course of re-socialization an individual “gets stuck” at the negative stage of identification. Third, dis- coordination of ideological, party and personified levels takes place. In the fourth place, as a result of re-socialization the old and new identities are over- lapped by each other, being often based on mutu- ally excluding valuable directives. 3. Crisis negative political identity and its functions A crisis state of the society is characterized by not only a crisis identity but also by the predominance of a negative model of political identity. The essence of a negative identification is determined by the col- lective “we” through the image of Enemy, “division” of the world into “us” and “them” (“friendly” and “al- ien”), assignment of responsibility for somebody’s own failures on the collective “other”. The signs of a negative identity are self-affirmation based on the “contradiction” and aggressive attitude towards rep- resentatives of any political movement taken as “al- ien”, growth of xenophobia and simplification of the picture of the world, political demagogy and ideolo- gization of the social consciousness (Гудков, 2004). A negative political identity is inherent for not only crisis transforming systems, it is a necessary stage of personal development, that is why it takes place also in the states with a developed democracy. At the same time it is in the transforming non – es- tablished political systems where a negative identity is one of characteristic features of political life. Negative identification is often formed purpose- fully by political leaders, movements and asso- ciations for mobilization and consolidation of their supporters in the process of achieving certain po- litical purposes. According to O.V. Popova (Попова, 2002b), negative identification in the crisis society realizes philosophical, compensatory and consoli- dating functions. L.B. Gudkov (Гудков, 2005) sup- plements this classification by a mobilizing function and introduces a concept of “negative mobilization”. L.B. Gudkov (Гудков, 2005) describes a mecha- nism of population consolidation on the basis of growth of “diffusion mass irritation, fear, hatred”, accompanied by a feeling of community grounded by appearance of “enemy” with a perspective of “un- wanted development of events”. The author admits “an uttermost non-constructiveness” and threat of such type of consolidation for the society, as it blocks a way out of crisis. “Negative mobilization re- sulting in the social consciousness represents a state of moral disorientation, inability to make any prac- tical estimation.” Negative mobilization provokes cynicism, leaving behind “a scorched value space” and impossibility of appearing any innovations of purport (Gudkov, 2007). D.V. Trubitsyn (Трубицин, 2010) proposes to in- terpret a concept “negative mobilization” as contra- modernistic strategy of the society behavior in the conditions of sociocultural crisis, because it can take a part of “a mechanism of return”. 4. Crisis negative identity in the period of war conflict A period of war conflict is characterized by a deep public crisis which happens to be some kind of a point of bifurcation of social development and is accompanied by “wars for identification”, durable and exhausting for the population. A conductor of this or that identity is in the first place mass Media, 36 Nataliya Pashina which helps to introduce definite orientations and stereotypes (for example, in modern Ukraine: “vat- niks”, “ukrops”, “kolorads”, “natsiks” and so on) into the social consciousness. A better-defined and more definite demarcation of the society in relation to the purposes and values is characteristic for the war conflict. And if in the time of peace the characteristic feature of a political identity of the main part of the population is ambiv- alence (duality), non-stability of self-identification, hard confrontation and aggravation of identities conflict are inherent in the war conflict. “Other” as a marker of any social groups, takes a role not only of “alien” but a role of “Enemy”. Identification is real- ized not according to the social criteria, but first of all according to the political and ideological values. The society is united on the basis of negation, negative mobilization. A negative identity of the war conflict period successfully realizes all its functions: philosophical, compensatory and consolidating. However, with ap- proaching the phase of war conflict the regulation of a negative identity can fulfill a part of “a mechanism of return”, block the process of peaceful life, interfere with a collective identity on the basis of constructive peaceful purposes, consensus, compromise. A diffi- cult task of creating a positive identity, consolidation of the society in the state of peace faces the state, which is more complicated in comparison with the process of forming a negative identity in the time of war. Not without reason, a post-war phenomenon of conflicts turns out to be so-called post-war syn- dromes (Vietnamese, Afghan, Iraqi, Chechen and so on), which characteristic feature is a difficulty of hu- man adaptation to peaceful life. Positive identification presupposes identification of an individual with some group or community on the ground of prescribed positive qualities and fea- tures (such as success, status, dignity and so on). The essence of a positive identity is a feeling of proud- ness and self-respect aroused from being connected with a group or community which an individual as- sociates himself with (Пантин, Семененко, 2004). Forming a positive collective identity is a deep-laid, mighty factor of capability of any state as an iden- tity in the last analysis determines a vector of social development. 5. Summary The subject of political identity requires a constant scientific monitoring. It is conditioned by the fact that political identity is an “alive”, dynamic con- struct determined at each historical stage of public development by a specific unique combination of political, economic, sociocultural and other circum- stances and factors. The problem of political identity is actualized in the epoch of crisis and changes. Breaking the traditional sociocultural and politi- cal myths, values and norms, which have determined a process of political self-identification of a person, results in the crisis of a political identity, predomi- nance of a negative model of political identification, performing a set of functions (consolidation, mobili- zation, compensation and others). At the same time the predominance of a negative model of political identity, negative consolidation of the society can block the society’s way out of crisis on the basis of consensus related to the constructive purposes. That is why the major task of an identity policy in the period of finding a way out of crisis is the formation of such a nationwide identity that could be revealed not only in collective positioning in relation to other nations-states, as the ground of integrity of the nation but also as a subject of con- sent on the problem how this community conceives public purposes, principles and values. It is in this sense that political identity presents the basis and mechanism of public transformations and is actual in the context of contemporary science. references Гудков Л.Б., 2005, Феномен негативной мобилизации, Об- щественные науки и современность, 6, 43–53. Гудков Л.Н., 2004, К проблеме негативной идентификации, [in:] Негативная идентичность. 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