Examples of marginalized groups. Marginalized

Surely you are familiar with the concept of marginal behavior. Real life examples that illustrate it are numerous. In this article we will try to highlight what these examples have in common. It presents characteristics of marginal behavior. You will learn what it is, what it relates to, what its types and features are. The term "marginalized" has become quite common, if not fashionable, in recent years. After the breakdown of the state system and the transition of our country to market relations, this word became entrenched in the vocabulary of Russian residents along with “golden youth”, “oligarch”, “skinheads”, etc.

Boundaries of the term “marginality”

It is not easy to define what constitutes marginal behavior. In our country, many scientific works have appeared that are devoted to this issue. Unfortunately, it should be noted that different authors of these works do not always mean the same thing by “marginal”. For example, today even jurisprudence has become marginal, just like law. In other words, this concept relates not only to personality.

In addition, the phenomenon of marginality is seen today not only as negative, with which it is associated with the majority. It is sometimes assessed as evidence of the support of advanced ideas by the bearer of this quality. In this context, marginal behavior is something that can be evaluated positively.

Non-judgmental concept

By and large, this concept is non-evaluative. For example, I.V. Malyshev points out that marginal behavior is “neither good nor bad.” He also notes that the concept of “marginal” does not have a permanent detonation. What dominates today will be on the margins of the structure tomorrow. Indeed, someone who recently was a “black sheep” often becomes a role model. He transforms from a fringe into a representative of the ruling class. This was the case, for example, with the “new Russians” – aspiring businessmen in Russia.

E. Starikov formulated a rather original approach to understanding marginality. This researcher noted that marginal behavior is behavior that is neutral in relation to evaluations (positive or negative), but at the same time has a multi-vector nature. Marginality is the process of reassembling the mosaic of society, when large masses of people move from one social group to another. The researcher noted that this disease is evidence of the growth of a social organism.

Causes and types of marginality

Depending on what factors and in what area provoked the personality (what is it?) to become more marginal, different types are distinguished. The social marginal could try to climb up in the corresponding “elevator”. But at the same time, he was stuck between floors: he did not achieve a status either higher or lower. Therefore, I dropped out of all groups.

A similar reason may be a person’s desire to achieve an unbearably high level. Because of this, he can risk everything and lose. As a result, one ends up not in an intermediate state, but falls to the very bottom of the social spectrum.

The financial factor brings with it the “economic scum of society.” This can happen due to the loss of a job, the inability to find a new one for a long time, theft of property, or a large waste of the last money on treatment. During the economic crisis in the country, the number of marginalized people increases significantly.

The political is born when people do not have time to adapt and change their thinking to:

political crisis;
changing social norms;
changes in government regulations;
change of regimes.

The ethnic side - after a person moves to another country, to a different people and ethnic group. Especially if not by choice, but as a refugee. The more different the mentality is, the more difficult it is to socialize and the faster the person becomes marginalized.

One of the options is when a family moves to a more successful country, has money and the opportunity to get settled. But at the same time they are not perceived friendly because of the color of their skin and hair. Since this cannot be changed, the family cannot acquire any status among the new ethnic group (and the lack of status is marginality).

A religious outcast is a person who believes in a higher power, but cannot identify with existing beliefs. Because they do not fully correspond to the idea of God. This is what atheists (who are they?) or agnostics may look like compared to all other religious people.

Biomarginals - who are they? These are those who have a defect or health problem: AIDS, disability, chronic somatic disease. They cannot be a useful unit of society; they are often left behind. They are not given attention, not cared for, and are often passed over.

Interdisciplinary approach

So, it can be stated that there are still a number of difficulties in determining the content of such a concept as marginal behavior. In particular, various disciplinary approaches have emerged in the use of the term (in social psychology, sociology, political science, cultural studies and economics). This gives a fairly general character to the concept itself, which becomes interdisciplinary. In addition, in the process of development and clarification of this term, several meanings were established that relate to different types of marginality.

Origin and interpretation of the term "marginal"

This word comes from a French term, translated meaning “in the margins, side.” As a rule, it means the following: insignificant, insignificant, intermediate, secondary. Another meaning of the term, more characteristic of the French language and used mainly in economics, is “almost unprofitable, economically close to the limit.”

But another interpretation is more interesting for us. The Brockhaus and Efron dictionary provides the following definition: marginalia are short notes written in the margins of early printed books or manuscripts. They aim to clarify certain parts of the text. Figuratively speaking, a marginalized person is a person who is on a certain edge, a threshold, and often the one who finds himself “overboard.”

Marginalized people in society

Due to the fact that the worldview and lifestyle of the marginalized are very different from the majority of representatives of other social groups who have traditional cultural and value orientations, they pose a kind of problem for society as a whole, since their socially effective manifestations sometimes give rise to conflict situations .

As a rule, this is why people with a marginal lifestyle cannot (or do not want) to fully identify themselves with different social groups and be identified as their members. As a result, most people in society reject such an individual, which leads to a situation of social alienation and loneliness. Life for representatives of marginalized groups is, as a rule, very difficult.

This is due to the fact that they are either unable to achieve a high rank in society through their efforts, and then society at least partially compensates for their powerlessness (for example, this can be expressed in cash benefits for the disabled, the poor, pensioners, the unemployed), or in their behavior ignore generally accepted norms of interaction, which can only increase alienation from society.

In sociology, the term “marginal” refers to individuals and groups that are located on the “outskirts,” on the “sidelines,” or simply outside the framework of the main structural divisions characteristic of a given society or the prevailing sociocultural norms and traditions.

A typical example of a marginal personality is a migrant from a village to a city. Having arrived for permanent residence in the city, he finds it difficult to get used to the new rhythm of life, new orders and rules, and behavioral stereotypes. He is no longer a rural resident, since he constantly lives in the city, but he is also not yet a city dweller, since he has not yet adapted to the urban cultural environment; previously learned norms of lifestyle are constantly visible in his actions.

The behavior of a marginalized person is characterized by continuous extremes: he can be overly passive, or, conversely, very aggressive, he can easily violate moral and legal norms and is capable of completely unpredictable actions.

Such a person lives simultaneously in two worlds, without being adapted to either of them. Consciousness bifurcates, he easily loses his bearings, becomes a convenient object for political manipulation, and easily falls into aggression or social apathy.

Cut off from his social roots, such a person experiences a feeling of constant dissatisfaction, not without reason seeing the main and main reason in social changes.

Marginal groups arise during mass migration (refugees) or in conditions of “pushing” a certain number of the population beyond the boundaries of socially significant structures (loss of work, home, deprivation of civil and political rights, etc.). The threat posed by this layer is due to the fact that its representatives lose their functional (professional, production and others), and then many other connections with society, and find themselves outside the network of social control.

Everyone can be marginalized

In connection with the above, a logical question arises: how to determine this line, to understand whether this or that individual is “behind the door” or standing in front of it? What are the characteristics of marginal behavior?

The rules of the game established in society have some uncertainty, which can be significant at turning points. This leads to the fact that everyone, in fact, can be considered marginal if:

a person’s social status is not defined;
his tomorrow is not guaranteed;
his psyche and health are unstable;
random turns of fate are allowed;
any character trait, specific appearance, hobby or profession compared to the rest constitutes a clear minority and can be regarded as a deviation from the norm, which, in turn, is a reason for repression.

In the world, it goes without saying, there are no absolutely healthy people, normal in all respects, prosperous, corresponding to certain abstract ideas of classical philosophy about man. However, this approach will not give us anything in defining the marginal. A. Green argued that a marginal person is a comprehensive term. Including everything, this concept does not exclude anything. Therefore, this term should be used carefully and only after defining its parameters.

Vocabulary work, or Who is the marginalized

To find the answer to the question, we turn to the encyclopedia. Here is her interpretation of the meaning of the word “marginal”:

asocial structure, a person standing outside of society, politics, economics, culture, etc.;
a person who does not participate in the activities of groups united by common goals and ideas;
a person expelled from his environment.

Taking into account these definitions, we come to the conclusion that the marginalized include:

people who have decided to become a voluntary hermit, reject the values and norms of behavior of their social environment, downshifters;
migrants who have not adapted to new conditions;
persons who, under the influence of life circumstances, left their usual places;
people whose physical capabilities are limited;
carriers of mental illness;
representatives of national minorities;
suffering from various types of addictions: gambling addicts, alcoholics, drug addicts.
members of small religious movements and sects;
representatives of radical organizations with political and terrorist programs;
those who find themselves in difficult financial situations, people deprived of the opportunity to have the level of income necessary for life;
released from prison after a significant period of time.

Marginal identity

According to A. A. Nikitin, it is characterized by the following two groups of properties: special legal and general social. The latter include a significant change or complete loss of the previous legal and social status, which is caused by factors external to the person. This also includes the interimity of legal and social status, the development of dual social adaptation, etc. Special legal properties are the absence, incorrectness or insufficiency of legal regulation of the position of persons belonging to the marginalized. In addition, this is the impossibility of fully realizing the rights and freedoms provided for in the legislation in relation to these persons. Their legal position is either uncertain or ambiguous.

The emergence of marginality is influenced by the following main factors:

significant change or loss of former social and/or legal status, the forms of which can be different (loss or decrease in income, loss of work, housing or family, loss of ability to work and health, need to change place of stay/residence, etc.);
external factors associated with a deep and dramatic transformation of the social structure in various spheres (national, cultural, political, economic, etc.);
a significant change in the psychological state, which is characterized by a more complex process of self-identification of a given individual in society, a weak perception of traditions, loss of life interests, etc.

Bio- and socio-marginals

Among the marginalized there are bio- and socio-marginal people. The first are people with disabilities due to health reasons. Socio-marginal people have moved away from their class or group due to certain circumstances independent or dependent on the individual. Their inclusion in your class or group is complicated by the fact that such people do not have socially useful connections.

According to D. M. Zaripova, the main forms of administratively and morally punishable types of marginal behavior are begging, vagrancy, as well as sedentary parasitism, which is currently subject only to moral condemnation. In addition, minors who are taken to the police department for offenses are socially marginalized. They also include people involved in prostitution, drug addicts, alcoholics, and forced migrants. Biomarginals are patients with infectious diseases after long-term treatment (that is, cured), patients with tuberculosis, various infectious and venereal diseases, leprosy, as well as HIV-infected people.

Marginalized and lumpen: under the sign of inequality

Many equate the marginalized with the lumpen. Is this fair?

The word “lumpen” (emphasis on 1st syllable), which was given life by Karl Marx, is translated from German as rags. It names a person from the bottom of society who has nothing: no property, no job. We include drug addicts, alcoholics, beggars, homeless people, and prisoners as lumpen people.

If a marginal is a person on the border of social groups who may have property (he just didn’t pass the social identity test), then the lumpen are people without resources and the desire to change anything. Sometimes these include people with a sick psyche and people with disabilities, that is, those who would be happy to break this circle, but cannot find work and change their lives.

"At-risk groups"

It has been repeatedly noted in the literature that marginal subgroups are more susceptible to criminalization (involvement in criminal activity) than others. These are the so-called “risk groups”. These include:

unemployed or fictitiously employed;
poor part of the population;
representatives of the so-called “social bottom” (street children, tramps, homeless people, beggars, etc.);
persons who have been in prison or returned from military service;
internally displaced persons, refugees from “hot spots”, people migrating to the city from the countryside.

These categories exist in any society. In different countries, there is only a difference in the quantitative ratio of representatives of these groups and the “prosperous” part of society.

Levels of marginality

A. A. Nikitin identifies the following 2 levels of marginality: public and personal. Based on whether members of certain groups cross the line of legitimacy, this researcher proposes dividing them into two marginal layers:

social group or risk layer;
asocial group or layer.

The first includes such categories of the population as immigrants, forced migrants, refugees who do not have the status of a forced migrant or refugee, the unemployed, the disabled and persons without registration. The second group includes neglected and homeless minors, prostitutes, homeless people, beggars, vagrants, former prisoners, drug or alcohol addicts, and substance abusers.

Marginality: a measurement system

Taking into account the number of participants in the process, 2 types of marginality are distinguished: individual and group . This is expressed in the fact that individuals and entire layers of the social structure were rejected by society at different times. This was the case with the Armenians during the 1915 genocide in Turkey.

Taking into account the reason why a person began to be ignored by society, marginality is divided into natural and artificial . We consider marginality to be the first type, in which people, through their efforts or lack thereof, have sunk to the “bottom.” The second is a large-scale artificial isolation of the people - the Holocaust aimed at Jews in the 40s in fascist European countries.

During the era of Stalinism, artificial marginalization in Russia reached its maximum. Members of the families of “enemies of the peoples” became real outcasts for many years.

Limit of legality of behavior

Can we say that there is marginal legitimate behavior? The correct answer to this question is as follows. Marginal behavior is a phenomenon that is generally characterized by borderline behavior. It balances on the brink of illegal and legal. This means that marginal behavior includes both legal, but existing on the border with illegal, and illegal. The criterion for assigning a particular marginal group to one of the two layers identified above can be considered illegality (including asociality) and the legality of the behavior of its members. Criminologists are mainly interested in the second (asocial) layer, although people belonging to the first group (illegal migrants, for example) should not be overlooked, since the classification proposed above is conditional.

What is marginal legal behavior? It is based on the following motives: personal egoistic calculations, fear of responsibility, fear of condemnation from society, the state or others. Marginal lawful behavior (examples - alcoholism, vagrancy, etc.) is, as it were, on the verge of antisocial. It leads a person to crime. However, it can be characterized as marginal legal behavior. In this case, the following driving forces are “triggered” in the mental mechanism of a person’s impulses: fear of condemnation, threat of possible punishment, etc. They keep an individual from committing a crime.

Lawful Conduct

17.1. Concept and signs of lawful behavior

Subjects of law daily enter into legal relationships that are different in nature and content, and exercise subjective rights and obligations. Society and the state are interested in the normal functioning of legal relations, which is possible in cases of compliance, execution and use of legal norms. The rule of law acts as a standard for assessing behavior as lawful or illegal. Reflecting the importance of certain behavioral options, the rule of law prohibits some actions, others, on the contrary, are encouraged, and still others are limited. Such types of behavior are called legal behavior, which can be lawful and unlawful (illegal). Behavior that is outside the scope of legal regulation cannot be assessed as legal or illegal and is not legal; it is indifferent to the law and the competent authorities. For example, the tax authorities do not care how many times the taxpayer has studied the requirements of tax legislation; they are only interested in the completeness and timeliness of tax payment.

The level of crimes in the Russian Federation has crossed the three-million mark, and other types of offenses cannot be calculated at all, since there are no centralized statistics, but the proportion and scale of lawful behavior is disproportionately greater than the behavior of the offender. Lawful behavior in society is widespread and large-scale and is typical legal behavior, since the vast majority of citizens and organizations in the field of law act in this way.

The lawful behavior of subjects of law can be defined as their “activities in the field of socio-legal regulation, based on the conscious fulfillment of the requirements of the rules of law, which is expressed in their compliance, execution and use.”

The specifics of lawful behavior are revealed through its signs.

Firstly, this is volitional and conscious behavior. To characterize conscious and volitional behavior (action or inaction), the concept of “action” is used. An act is an act of behavior, expressed in action or inaction, the social significance of which is recognized by the individual. There can be no lawful behavior outside the framework of will and consciousness. However, the very degree of such awareness may vary.

Volitional and conscious processes of the human psyche determine the subjects’ assimilation of the requirements set out in the rules of law, and the subject’s choice of behavior is based on its internal comparison with the requirements of legal norms. In this regard, for the implementation of lawful behavior, it is important to have a constitutional provision that “any regulatory legal acts affecting the rights, freedoms and duties of a person and a citizen cannot be applied unless they are officially published for public information” (clause 3 Article 15). And although in the legal field there is a principle: “ignorance of the law does not excuse one from responsibility,” even qualified lawyers who specialize in certain areas of law do not know all the current legislation. Therefore, citizens need to know the basic provisions of the Constitution and the most general principles of law, and the state needs to pay more attention to the issues of legal education of citizens and legal propaganda.

Secondly, this is behavior that complies with the requirements of the law. Lawful behavior is enshrined in legal norms that establish the boundaries of what is permitted and prohibited. A person acts lawfully if he strictly complies with legal requirements. Compliance with the requirements of the law can be expressed both in the commission of an action and in the commission of inaction. Thus, if an entrepreneur submits a tax return within the prescribed period, then his lawful behavior is expressed in the form of action, and if the entrepreneur does not interfere with the conduct of a tax audit, his lawful behavior is expressed in the form of inaction.

Other forms of compliance are expressed in the observance, execution and use of legal norms. For example, a taxpayer, turning to the tax authorities for clarification of tax legislation, uses the authority granted to him, enshrined in the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. Lawful behavior, characterized by compliance with the requirements of the law, is also expressed in active actions. For example, an entity, making an order to sell part of the foreign currency proceeds, fulfills the obligation enshrined in Art. 21 Federal Law of the Russian Federation “On Currency Regulation and Currency Control”. Lawful behavior, expressed in compliance with the requirements of the law, is based on compliance with prohibitions. To a certain extent, the forms of expression of lawful behavior depend on the very specifics of the instructions formulated in the legal norm.

Thirdly, lawful behavior is ensured (guaranteed) by state coercion, persuasion or encouragement. The state is interested in the lawful behavior of citizens, and therefore takes appropriate measures aimed at ensuring it. The formation of lawful behavior involves both sanctions that provide incentive measures and sanctions that provide punitive measures (penalties) operating at the psychological level. Lawful behavior that is not secured by measures of state coercion, persuasion or encouragement becomes defenseless and loses its specific methods of enforcement.

Impact at the level of sanctions, providing for measures of state coercion, is carried out in relation to persons prone to committing offenses. The specificity of the impact of punitive sanctions in ensuring lawful behavior is that they are not implemented, but act at the information level, informing the subject of possible adverse consequences that may arise in case of violation of the rule of behavior set out in the disposition of the norm.

Ensuring lawful behavior is possible through incentive sanctions that “inform” the subject about the benefits that he can receive if he acts lawfully and responsibly.

Fourth, lawful behavior is socially useful or acceptable behavior. This sign is closely related to the sign of compliance of behavior with the requirements of legal norms, but also has its own meaning. Thus, actions that comply with the requirements of legal norms do not always contradict public interests and goals and are consistent with the goals and interests of various segments of the population and individuals. Unfortunately, legal norms do not always meet the needs of society or are carefully thought out by the legislator, which allows subjects to use the granted powers not in the interests of society, although from the formal side such behavior will comply with the requirements of legal norms. For example, a bank's unilateral reduction of the interest rate on deposits is consistent with the powers granted to it, but it is unlikely to be useful for individual depositors who sought to obtain greater benefits. The activities of the Russian Government in the period before 1998 regarding internal and external loans corresponded to the powers granted to them, but ultimately led to another crisis and impoverishment of the country's population.

17.2. Composition of lawful behavior

Lawful behavior has its own composition - a set of objective and subjective characteristics that characterize this behavior as lawful from four sides (elements): object, objective side, subject and subjective side. The concept of the composition of lawful behavior largely plays an official role and allows us to better reveal the signs of lawful behavior, and also has practical significance, since it allows us to distinguish offenses from lawful actions.

The object of lawful behavior is that towards which specific behavior is directed, i.e. the target of this behavior. In the most general form, the object of lawful behavior is various forms of implementation of the law: its use, execution and compliance. Unlike the object of an offense, the object of lawful behavior does not suffer adverse effects. On the contrary, ordering and positive processes take place in it. For example, conscientious payment of taxes, as lawful behavior, is aimed at fulfilling the corresponding constitutional obligation (Article 57 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation). The implementation of the obligation to pay taxes contributes to the normal functioning of financial relations, the flow of funds into budgets of various levels and entails favorable changes in the system of social relations. The objects of lawful behavior can be legitimate interests, legal benefits, etc. Thus, the use of the right to education is aimed at achieving a goal useful for the subject and obtaining a legal benefit.

The objective side of lawful behavior is the external side of lawful behavior, characterized by action or inaction, favorable (or acceptable) consequences for society (or the individual), and a causal relationship between the act and the resulting consequences.

The objective side of lawful behavior can be expressed both in the form of action and in the form of action. In the first case, this is the fulfillment of a legal obligation (for example, testifying as a witness) and the use of granted rights (for example, the right to familiarize yourself with tax audit materials). In the second case, this is compliance with legal prohibitions, i.e. refraining from prohibited actions (for example, compliance by the bank with standards for reserving funds). The objective side of lawful behavior, on the one hand, can be characterized by inaction, expressed in non-commitment of an offense, and on the other hand, by action to fulfill duties.

Lawful behavior of an individual presupposes the achievement of a certain result and the occurrence of certain consequences. There are several types of consequences that occur as a result of human behavior:

active behavior - active result;
active behavior - passive result;
passive behavior - active result;
passive behavior - passive result (V.N. Kudryavtsev).

Active lawful behavior can lead to an active result. For example, as a result of the active actions of an employment center employee, ten unemployed people are provided with work, or as a result of the active actions of citizens, persons involved in the sale of narcotic drugs are identified.

An example of the second option would be the actions of a tax inspector who takes all necessary measures to uncover a tax offense, but as a result of his actions the offender is not exposed. Thus, active action can lead to passive results. The result can be considered passive in the sense that no real change in the external environment occurred.

An example of the third option would be the passive abstention of a witness from giving false testimony in court, as a result of which the perpetrator fails to avoid legal liability and is given a fair punishment - an active result.

The subject of lawful behavior is an individual or legal entity, and lawful behavior itself can be individual or group (collective). In the latter case, this is the behavior of a certain group of people, which is characterized by a high degree of social organization, common goals and unity of actions of its members. For example, this may be the lawful behavior of credit institutions, municipalities, stock exchanges, etc. A social organization must be registered in the prescribed manner; only then can it act as a subject of lawful behavior.

Not all individuals are capable of being subjects of lawful behavior. Lawful behavior is unthinkable if a person does not have the opportunity, is not able to realize the nature of the demands placed on him and develop a mental attitude towards these demands. Legal requirements must be perceived by the individual. Thus, the subject of lawful behavior must have the ability to understand the nature of his actions, their social significance and manage them. The law connects the emergence of such ability with the achievement of an age specified in regulatory legal acts. It is upon reaching the age established by law that behavior can be assessed as lawful or unlawful.

The subjective side of lawful behavior is its internal content, characterized by will, consciousness, mental attitude, motive, purpose and legal emotions.

Moreover, not only consciousness characterizes the subjective side of lawful behavior, but also the subjective perception of the surrounding world, assessment of one’s own life resources, motives, emotional attitude towards what should be done, will - all these signs, in our opinion, are included in the subjective content of lawful behavior. Lawful behavior is the result of the integration of all mental functions of the individual.

On the basis of volitional and intellectual processes in the structure of the subject’s consciousness, a mental attitude to social values is developed. Such dominant relationships can be: a person’s attitude towards other people, society as a whole, its values (including legal ones), ideals or (on the contrary, vices); attitude towards yourself, your needs, interests, habits, the meaning of your life; attitude towards specific objects of the external world and people.

The subjective content of lawful behavior is characterized by a mental attitude, but not to an offense, but to socially useful behavior. Unlike guilt, which is defined as a mental attitude towards the offense being committed, the mental attitude towards lawful behavior is not reproachful, vicious or negative. On the contrary, it is positive and creative. The mental attitude towards crime and lawful behavior is filled with various social contents. In the psychological literature, the concept of “attitude” is interpreted in two ways: on the one hand, it is an internal attitude, and on the other, an external one. Naturally, individuals may have different attitudes towards different objects. It can be respectful, negative, positive, indifferent, etc. In general, if a person commits a specific lawful act, then we can say that he has a positive attitude towards certain social benefits and other people, since in his activity the subject objectifies his attitude.

An important place in the structure of the subjective side is given to the motives of lawful behavior, i.e. those internal motivating reasons that guided the subject in the process of committing a lawful act. Motives for lawful behavior develop and are formed on the basis of a person’s needs, his value orientations, interests, and problem situations. Although motives develop on the basis of needs, at the same time they represent a relatively independent phenomenon. With the same needs, a person can be guided by different motives. For example, the motive of fear of punishment, awareness of the unprofitability of punishment, can deter a subject from committing an offense.

Psychologists note that the struggle of motives is a typical human condition. To form lawful behavior, it is necessary that a person realizes the disadvantage of illegal behavior, that the motive of fear or respect for the law is activated in him, or that the subject subordinates his actions to the behavior of others. Largely depending on the motives of lawful behavior, its classification is built into socially active, habitual, conformist and marginal, which will be discussed in the next paragraph.

The subjective side of lawful behavior is characterized by an emotional background in which other mental processes occur. Emotions themselves are not above will and consciousness, and consciousness is not above emotions. The truth is in the middle - both the emotional and the rational play an important role in human activity. The law does not regulate, and is incapable of regulating the inner world of a person, but the formation of a positive emotional background is important in preventing crime and increasing the conscious activity of citizens.

In some cases, the legislator declares in normative legal acts the feelings that subjects should be guided in their activities. For example, the oath of prosecutors and investigators states that they are obliged to “be sensitive and attentive to citizens’ proposals...”. In Art. 35 of the Regulations “On Service in the Internal Affairs Bodies” states that “the boss is obliged... to instill in his subordinates a sense of responsibility for the performance of official duties.” The declaration of feelings in some legal acts does not mean that the law is really capable of regulating the inner world of a person. Such declarations express guidelines for the future activities of the subject that are desirable for society, and the feelings themselves can be materialized in specific lawful behavior, which is assessed by the state.