The Cynical Strategy of Behavior as a Social Technology

This article examines various aspects and foundations of the formation of a cynical subject and cynical lebenswelt as a result of the transition from a “disciplinary society” to a “society of control”. The authors proceed from the thesis that strategies of behavior as conditions and methods of manipulating public consciousness depend on a meaningful understanding of the nature of social reality. Dynamic ways of explaining the nature of social reality contribute to a humanistic understanding of the creative and intellectual capabilities of a person as a social actor-subject. Based on the typology of “social action” by Max Weber, strategies of behavior are actualized in the field of motivational problems. Enriching the understanding of models of behavior with the ideas of Michel Foucault’s “social technologization” and actor-network theory, two main social technologies characteristic of a “disciplinary society” are distinguished: technologies of authority and technologies of the self. Technologies of authority are based on the principles of dominance, influence and determination of individual behavior. However, in modern society, these technologies are not productive, without technologies of the self, without social actors, to effectively express themselves in the dynamic conditions of the social ethos. The interaction of technologies of authority and technologies of the self contributes to the transition to a “society of control” characteristic of the second half of the 20th century. The “society of control” led to the formation of formalized models of social behavior, to desacralization and deontologization of the meanings of social reality. As a result, the authors deduce an assumption about the development of modern social technologies as representations of cynical strategies of behavior. A cynical strategy of behavior is understood as a value-rational social action aimed at avoiding a holistic reality, slipping into superficially evaluative models of behavior, leading to procrastinatory algorithms for the interaction of the actor-subject with society. A “cynical lebenswelt” is formed, paralyzing the political and social will of people, giving rise to the phenomenon of an all-consuming mass-cultural referral. The cynical strategy of behavior as a refusal to search for one’s self and for veridiction of truth and as satisfaction with formal ritualized practices is a marker trend in the development of modern society. The research uses the following methods: social typology by Weber, the concept of social technologization by Foucault, the ideas of the actor-network theory.

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