RELIGIOUS SITUATION IN POST-SOVIET RUSSIA: TOWARDS THE ANALYSIS OF THE PRO-ORTHODOX CONSENSUS

Blagojević, Mirko and Lebedev, Sergej (2024) RELIGIOUS SITUATION IN POST-SOVIET RUSSIA: TOWARDS THE ANALYSIS OF THE PRO-ORTHODOX CONSENSUS. Social Issues, 2 (3). pp. 127-138.

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Abstract

This paper is dedicated to the theoretical analysis of the religious phenomenon of modern post-Soviet Russian society using the example of the so-called pro-Orthodox consensus. The pro-Orthodox consensus became relevant in the 1990s and endured until the end of the 2000s. In the context of major changes in late modern societies, the religious structure became increasingly complex while social reflexivity gained more autonomy. Sociologists and other scientists introduced the concept of the “reflexive attitude towards religion”. This concept means that in late modernity an individual conceives a sum of socially significant manifestations of everything implied and incorporated in the concept of “religion” and its derivatives. This attitude towards religion is not correlated with religious practices, religious belonging and religious experience as such. On the contrary, it is possessed by any person regardless of his/her inclusion in the religious context or his/her own religious identification. The result of such a religious structure is the fact that in the world of late modernity the epicenter of religious inequalities lies in the symbolic and communication sphere related to religion and its relationship with social institutions such as culture, education, ideology, morality and family. The authors present the idea that those who “gain” most from the emerging religious inequalities are those who present themselves as supporters or opponents of certain religious initiatives, groups or symbols. Therefore, special significance lies in cultural and symbolic types of capital which are not concentrated in the circles of active believers now but spread widely among a broad mass of sympathizers of certain religious trends. The authors attempt to correlate the mentioned types of religious/denominational capital with new sorts of inequalities: inequalities on social networks and so-called situational (trend-related) inequalities. On the basis of this, the authors suggest the criteria for evaluating the vitality (sustainability) of modern religious feelings, including short-term (the general public’s support for certain religious initiatives), medium-term (self-identification with the denomination(s) of socially prestigious social groups) and long-term sustainability (shapingimage of future from the perspective of a particular religious position).

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