Social empathy: the consolidation of russian society

Abstract

The paper presents a sociological analysis of social empathy, the features of the study of empathy, identifies the main vectors of its theoretical understanding and empirical mechanisms of its measurement and study. Social empathy depending on the form, type and display type is treated as a tool to promote or consolidate or divisive society. Using the methods of questionnaire survey, expert interviews and focus groups, the author shows the relationship between the expressed empathy and the processes of social solidarity of society, and also between the poor social empathy and the processes of social disintegration, also highlights the contradiction between the normative behaviors and real-life strategies. The findings suggest the internal contradictions between the cognitive, affective and activity of social perception of empathy, which in turn is a wake-up call in the socio-cultural dynamics of the consolidation processes of contemporary Russian society.