Yuri Volkov

The article is devoted to the influence of socio-cultural traumas of Russians on the resource capacity of societal development. The author argues for the importance of the long-term socio-cultural traumas impact as factors that slow down the processes of development of Russian society. He analyzes the concept of "sociocultural trauma" used in modern sociological science as well as the main methodological guidelines in the study of the phenomenon of socio-cultural trauma in the objectivist paradigm and in the paradigm of social constructivism showing some difference between them and revealing the research potential of each of them. A significant part of the presentation concerns socio-historical specifics: the author gives a description and analysis of the most traumatic events in history of Russian society, examining their direct impact on the social moods and behavior of Russians. On the basis of the methodological principles of social constructivism the role of the socio-cultural environment in the construction of the image of trauma in collective commemorations and its translation is considered. Considering the objective grounds of commemorative processes – traumatic events of the past, the author focuses on the situation of social uncertainty that arose as a result of a long period of systemic transformation of Russian society at the end of the twentieth century, justifying the traumatic impact of the state of uncertainty about the present and future as a factor of destructive influence on the social mood of Russians. Based on the data obtained as a result of recent sociological studies carried out by the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the author of the article shows that the traumatization of Russians by social changes and the effects of socio-economic crises is manifested in the spread of social pessimism and disbelief to the possibility of setting and achieving constructive goals particularly development goals at the individual and collective level. As the author concludes, unprocessed socio-cultural traumas are factors that hinder the social development and formation of personal social creativity among Russians.