Political Values in Postmodern Society
Political Values in Postmodern Society

Author(s): Sophia Kravchenko
Subject(s): Political Theory, Politics and Identity
Published by: Институт друштвених наука
Keywords: political values; postmodern society; polarization; elite polarization; media space; information bulbs
Summary/Abstract: Introduction. What happens to political values in the VUCA (Volatility – Uncertainty – Complexity – Ambiguity) world? How does this phenomenon transform in the context of globalization, individualization, and rapidly changing political conditions? Today researchers in the field of psychology, sociology, philosophy talk about man`s loss of reasons, and it happens when the core of values is destroyed. We live under conditions, Durkheim called «anomie»: when old values fell apart, and new ones are not created. It is essential that political values are a guideline that consolidates society. Moral dilemmas, social problem solving and decision-making are attributable to political values to a large extent (Rokeach). Moreover, in the countries of the modern world, including Ukraine, there is a divergence of political values (Van Houwelingen, Iedema, Dekker, 2018). And the problem is: If people do not have values, their opinions are unstable, they can easily be influenced through media manipulation and deconsolidation practices of political elites. And even if we have a democratic governmental practice, however «populous does not hold stable values that guide their political decisions, the government will have trouble translating majority preferences into policies. This [unstable unclear values] mitigates the effectiveness of any democratic government» (Connors, 2019, p.19). Objectives of this article are the following: rethink the concept of political values, analyze their essence and status in the EU countries; consider key conditions that have a particularly strong impact on their transformation; present the trends of social transformations due to the current situation with political values (PV).

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