The Politics of Identity Construction

The current stage of socio-political development is characterized by the intensifi cation of discussions around identity issues. Cultural identity has ceased to be an exclusively personal or ethnic phenomenon, becoming an object of state policy. Within the framework of this policy, art and religion act not only as fragments of cultural heritage, but also as subtle instruments of personality formation, constructing its value coordinates and a sense of collective belonging to the emerging forms of identity. The purpose of the study is to analyze the specifi cs and mechanisms of the infl uence of art and religion as instruments of cultural identity policy on the process of personality formation. The theoretical basis of the research was the concepts of P. Bourdieu on symbolic power and social fi elds, B. Anderson on imaginary communities; the theory of social constructivism by P. Berger and T. Lukman. The results of their research within the framework of the principle of functional complementarity have formed a holistic view of society. The methodological basis of the research is the neo-constructivist approach, which reveals the defi nition of identity in the context of research; identity is a functional approach, which reveals the functional essence of religious practices in the formation of personal identity in the Siberian and Far Eastern regions of Russia; the specifi cs of cultural policy in the regions of Siberia and the Far East are revealed. The article examines the mechanism of infl uence of cultural identity policy on personality formation through the tools of art and religion in the specifi c context of the Siberian and Far Eastern regions of Russia. The article analyzes how these institutions become conduits of offi cial and regional discourse, participating in the construction of collective ideas, value orientations and identifi cation models in conditions of polyethnicity and cross-border territories. We proved that in the context of globalization and the threat of fragmentation of public consciousness, art and religion are gaining key importance as soft power resources and means of ensuring the historical and cultural sustainability of the reproduction of regional identity

Cultural identity · Ethnic group · Identity formation · National identity · Personality · Politics · Religious identity · Social identity approach · Regional Socio-Economic Development Trends · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Sociopolitical Dynamics in Russia