The Hero Mythologem in the Structure of a Social Myth

The aim of the artide is to demonstrate the importanae and signif^^e of the hero mythologem for a sotial myth. The author, using a system method, gives a definition of sodal mythology as an axiologiGally loaded phenomenon that forms a system of myths about the processes of socia1 development, society in general, ^teh has a significant impact on pub1ic consciousness and leads to the intensification of the activities of individual socia1 groups and the whole society. Classifying contemporary socia1 myths, the author uses sections of phi1osophica1 knowledge, the concept of "object" and "subject" of socia1 myth, as well as the context of myth realization as c1assification criteria. "Global" myths, organica11y combining two levels of socia1 mythology - "archaic" and "Gonjund:ur-al" ("instrumental"), are singled out separately. There is a contradiction and uncertainty around the concepts of the "myth of the hero" and the "hero mythologem": some researchers identify them or one concept may indude the other. Mythologem, according to the author, is a strudural part of a socia1 myth, but, like a myth, is dual: it refers to the fundamental images and archetypes underlying human thinking, and at the same time it is a certain 1ogica11y measurable artificia1 construd. Mythologem can also be seen as a concomitant of the pr^ss of mythologizing that consists of several stages - from the emerge^e of a simple narrative to a chain of events of a storyline that appears in the form of a myth. Attention to the hero is determined by the fad that, in anient times, in modern times and today, society's attitude to the phenomenon of heroism demonstrates, first of all, its attitude to a socia1 myth. The hero is a mirror of socia1 mythology. The significance of the hero is that it is both one of the basic elements of everyday mythology of family memory and an essential charaderistic of the "global" socia1 myth. The author draws attention to the variability of the sca1e of the hero's adion: the hero is present both in family stories (the smallest sca1e of the hero's representation) and at the societa1 level, on the sca1e of the whole society (for example, the hero in the form of the proletariat by K. Marx occupies a Gentra1 ptee and refers to stable, "age old" hen^ mythologems). A striking example of the myth of the hero, allowing us to see the specifics of the development of the "global" social myth in modern Russian reality, is the myth of Stalin. The transformation of the mythology of Stalin's images in recent years allows us to speak about a number of trends in the development of the modern social myth: changes are found in the ontological, axiological and praxiological dimensions. An example of the myth of Stalin clearly shows that the "working" social myth is not complete without the inclusion in its content of the mythologem of the hero. The hero mythologem is the "business card" of the "global" social myth. The presence of the hero mythologem in the structure of a social myth makes such a myth practically invulnerable to the processes of demythologization. The conclusion is made about the principal non-eliminability of a "global" myth from the historical memory and culture in general.

Keywords

Authors

References