Sitkovsky A.L., Latov Y.V., Vasilchenko A.A. The Essence and Causes of Social Tension in the Context of Ensuring Public Safety. Proceedings of Management Academy of the Ministry of the Interior of Russia. 2023. No. 3 (67). P. 49–59.

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Abstract

Relevance: understanding the essence of social tension and the reasons for its change is an important element of the public security monitoring system, the provision of which has become a priority for state activity in recent years. To prevent outbreaks of mass destructive protest activity, it is necessary to have deep theoretical knowledge about social tension, the growth of which increases the likelihood of such outbreaks. Тhe problem statement: although the concept of “social tension” is actively used not only in scientific discourses, but also in the regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation, however, even in the scientific literature there is still no generally recognized, logically non-contradictory, definition of it. There are also no comprehensive ideas about the causes of the dynamics of tension, as well as about the ability of the internal affairs bodies to influence this dynamics. The purpose of the study: to formulate a definition of social tension as the most important characteristic of public security, as well as to give a systematic presentation of the social factors that can lead to its growth. This creates a theoretical foundation for a practically oriented concept of social tension. The research methods: the analysis is carried out at the intersection of sociology and jurisprudence by generalizing scientific concepts. Within the framework of the study, general scientific methods were applied – analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction and the system-structural method. Results and key conclusions: on the basis of criticism of sources and general theoretical considerations, a definition of social tension is given, and a logical model of the system of social factors leading to its growth is proposed. Social tension should be defined as a state of public consciousness associated with the awareness and experience of extraordinary threats to the security of society in general and its individual groups in particular; in other words, it is a mass feeling of dissatisfaction with the lack of security of citizens (the presence of significant threats to their security). All factors (sources) influencing social tension should be divided into four groups – economic, political, cultural and psychological. The first three are the most important, while “crowd frenzy” plays an important role only in replicating tension, but not in its primary generation. The vast majority of these factors are largely or completely independent of the activities of the internal affairs bodies, so they can and should monitor the level of social tension, but fundamentally cannot contain it on their own.