Information on the thesis

The essence of the main factors of globalizations and their effect on the structure of social and political reality are considered. In parallel, the nature of the influence of the risk society and informational society on the structure of the political reality (particularly its institutional component and dynamics) is studied. It is substantiated that in politics the process of self-formation of the individual and local groups united by lifestyles prevails in global communication contexts while political power turns into a tool of such self-formation.

Expansion and merging of global capital market, information and service, new opportunities for transportation and communication are the characteristics of the process of globalization, which actually revolutionize political realities and individual political identity.

The phenomenon of individual political identity within the framework of Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann’s social contructionism has been analyzed. It has been defined that according to social contructionism the political identity arises as the element of subjective reality of the individual, that stems from the structure internalization of political realities, its’ legitimation component in the individual consciousness, an process of secondary socialization. The process of individualization is stated to be the significant tendency in the structure of social and political realities in terms of globalization. It arises as vehement denial of former social forms. This process provides an individual autonomy in the sphere of social and political identity construction.

It has been stated that structure firmness of social reality differentiates the process of individualization of former periods from its modern form, which has been defined by the process of globalization. For not only the individual subjective political realities are constantly changing, but the structure of individual objective (political) reality itself is quite unsteady. Thus, the process of globalization neutralizes the effectiveness of existing political institutions, eroding the structure of political realities. Since the individual is unable to form the stable political identity, basing on institutions such as «country» or «democracy», which are constantly changing, a mass breakaway from mainstream politics to smaller problems of everyday reality takes place. This fact, in its turn, impedes the internalization of the individual political realities and the construction of firm political identity. Thus, political identity acquires the characteristics of plasticity, constant openness and incompleteness.

The essence of the individual political alienation in the context of globalization is explored through the processes of dereification and expansion of the individual autonomy in the structure of the individual political identity. The individualism, pluralism of lifestyles and beliefs, social and political mobility of the entities (which scarcely acquire usual forms) condition the imperceptions of the political sphere as an important mechanism for the fixation of the individual existence in the world. The main causes are the weakening of the role of the state due to the sovereignty dilution, the effect of the identity crisis, progressive multiculturalism and uncontrolled information flow.

The essence of the globalist and anti-globalist projects of the identity reconstruction is defined. Within the framework of the indicated strategies there are institutes (global political institutes or global communication field) functioning that correspond to the nature of transformations and are efficiently internalized by the individual, on the basis of which an integral political identity is built. The principles of transformation of the individual political identity in the context of globalization are stated.

Key words: political identity, globalization, informational society, risk society, internalization, externalization, objectification, political reality.