Authors

Discussion

The paper is in two parts. First, it develops conceptual instruments that enable us to study morality empirically. The theoretical and conceptual framework is based on Durkheim’s under-recognised later work on morality. Morality/moral order is theorised as a Durkheimian system of interrelated concepts: moral ideal, moral obligation, social attachment to the group, and individual autonomy. In order to disentangle various domains of morality, the paper differentiates between (1) the morality produced by society as Durkheimian sui generis reality (morality of society), and (2) the morality produced by social institutions like the state and media (the moral order). Those moralities are multiple, dynamic and co-exist in the public space.

Second, the paper applies the above conceptualisation to analyse morality and moral order in Russia. The empirical study uses reflexive thematic analysis of the state and mainstream media documents. The paper demonstrates three main findings.

(a) The study identifies a distinctive moral order maintained by the social institutions of the state and media. The prioritisation of the strong Russian state after 2000 constituted a necessary but partial resolution of the internal contradiction in that moral order: between individual economic self-interest (individual material wellbeing) and the need for social bonds and collectivity.

(b) The morality of society was also present in the public space created by the state and mainstream media, though it was not the product of deliberate intervention as was the moral order, nor did it have the same content as the moral order. The morality of society appealed to the ideals of human fellowship and justice and criticised and condemned the moral order established by the state and media.

(c) The discrepancy between the morality of society, and the moral order established by social institutions, revealed by the study, allows further interpretation and evaluation of the moral order. It also enables clarification of the role of the society, and the roles of the state and the media in moral regulation.

The Durkheimian theorisation of morality enables us to go beyond the concepts of ‘moral collapse’, ‘value vacuum’, ‘amorality’, ‘virtue’, or change of values. It offers conceptual instruments to analyse morality(ies), and to analytically separate the morality of society and the moral order established by the state and the media. We can see that the social processes in Russia are common with those in many contemporary societies experiencing the rise of patriotism/nationalism. The ‘apotheosis of wellbeing’ expressed in the prevailing market idea of economic growth and material prosperity reduces society, which is for Durkheim a symbolic reality, to material needs. The Durkheimian perspective offers an alternative to those ideas.