Problems of regional communities’ consolidation: the position of social realism

The purpose of the article is a critical analysis of the most common concepts of regional communities consolidation, their verification based on the results of an empirical study in the regions bordering Ukraine in Russia in the early 20s of this century. Justifying the relevance of the topic under consideration, the authors point out the contradiction between the objectively conditioned, adequate essence of man, the intention to consolidate, which is reflected both in the declarations of state leaders and public leaders, as well as a significant part of the population, and the limitations of its real practices. This contradiction has not yet been satisfactorily explained in the sociological literature, which is dominated by a simplified view of consolidation as a rallying of citizens based on common values. The article examines two concepts of consolidation (value-based cohesion and consolidation as a necessity) and argues that the mechanisms of consolidation are complex and far from obvious. The attempt to simplify the idea of them in epistemological terms reflects the inability to comprehend the real consolidation process in all its inconsistency. In the social aspect, the reasons are related to the desire of researchers to comply with modern political trends, without their full reflection, which indirectly indicates that the “disease” of servility has not been completely cured. The authors prove that only the position of social realism, which is based on an understanding of the ambiguity and heterogeneity of the consolidation process, liberation from considerations of political conjuncture, problematization and deproblematization, reflexive assessment of their own experience of analysis, as well as the experience of other authors, avoids erroneous judgments, although it does not guarantee this. The formulated conclusions are based on the results of two author’s sociological studies conducted in 2021 and 2022 in Belgorod, Voronezh and Kursk regions, and although the research almost did not capture the period of its own, it contrasts quite sharply with the previous “peaceful” period in terms of consolidation practices. This contrast reflects many aspects of the problem not only in relation to the border area, but also to other territories. Based on the results obtained, the authors argue that it is possible to talk about various forms of consolidation – spontaneous, administrative, crisis, partnership, the mechanisms of each of which have their own characteristics. The insufficient success of consolidation is currently associated with the inadequacy of its preferred form (partnership) to the prevailing conditions and the low level of readiness of the population to participate in solving common regional problems. This contradiction is more or less successfully resolved in the frontier regions when choosing a crisis form, in the long term – a mixed, administrative and spontaneous one.