Genesis and psychological content of the scientific loyalty problem

The first researches of the loyalty phenomenon were made in the philosophical works of antiquity (Plato, Aristotle, Democritus, Thrasymachus), created during the period when state and civil identity in polises (states) was foming actively. These works raise issues of loyalty to society. "Crito" written by Plato can be considered the first work specifically devoted to the issue of loyalty. In "Crito" Plato does not use the term "loyalty", but the phenomenon itself is described with psychological authenticity. Ancient philosophers raised all the key issues of loyalty, topical at the moment, they wrote about the problems of affiliation to social groups self-identification with them, regulatory orders of the groups, conflict of identifications and roles, parity of public and individual interests of group members, understanding and acceptance of due, motives, psychological mechanisms of loyalty, etc. The term "loyalty" began to be used in the period of feudal relations. According to available documents, the term was already used at least in the 13th century. In the Middle Ages loyalty was considered as "virtue" of conformity to the social status. The term usually meant the execution by nobles of typical "legitimate" social norms of behavior, concerning their lords, vassals and others, and, occasionally, attitude and behavior, expected from another person with a certain social status. With the beginning of the Modern Age people got an increasing number of socially important characteristics and roles. Loyalty turns from a narrow estate to a mass characteristic. Loyalty was understood as a hybrid between a formal duty and a personal attitude of those who hold a certain status. Loyalty becomes a matter of public reflection and discussions. The discussions touched not only such issues as conformity to the status, but also a content of the norms of particular social groups and conflicts in these norms. Mass-type loyalties (national, religious, class loyalty) appeared. At the next stage of transformation of social attitudes, in the beginning of the 20th century, the level of science development enabled to put a scientific problem of loyalty in its modern form. The problem of loyalty in its present form was put by Josiah Royce in his work "The philosophy of loyalty" in 1908. Thus, each step in progress of knowledge of the phenomenon of loyalty was determined by social demand as the complication of social relations system and expansion of social identity choices for a person, the appearance of competitive identities, roles and ways of behavior. As a result, historical and psychological analysis of social and philosophical reflection of the loyalty problem showed that the problem of loyalty in its psychological essence is a problem of social identity and its influence on person's activity, loyalty is a psychological mechanism of social identity implementation, and, accordingly, the main goal of psychological research of loyalty is to disclose this mechanism.

Keywords

Authors

References