Discourse of corruption in the Russian society

Objective: to study the socio-cultural and legal nature of the corruption phenomenon in a discursive and communicative context.

Methods: the methodological basis of the article is the synthesis of the discursive and communicative theory of J. Habermas and W. Krawietz’s integrative theory of legal reality, focusing on the interdisciplinary study of corruption as an interdisciplinary category, taking into account not only objective, but also subjective components. This determined the choice of research methods (comparative, hermeneutic, and discursive methods).

Results: corruption as a phenomenon and the interdisciplinary category reflecting it is determined by social, cultural and psychological factors of the legal reality development. Acting as a complex legal archetype, it defines the value attitudes of consciousness and behavior of the legal communication participants, orienting them to carry out actions aimed at satisfying individual (less often group and social) interests, even if they contradict the law. Corrupt behavior is perceived by a large part of the Russian society as a model of hierarchical interaction of the legal communication subjects, the purpose of which, according to the addressee, is to increase the effectiveness of the addressee’s activities. In addition, corruption is becoming an informal means of “liberation” from the legal requirements, rigid and unfair, according to some representatives of the society. In these conditions, the success of the institutional fight against corruption can be achieved only if this fight involves not only improvement of anti-corruption legislation, but also countering shadow norms, creating a system of anti-incentives for corrupt behavior, including ideologically, through the formation of value attitudes of citizens to reject corrupt practices as unpatriotic and harmful to the rule of law and the legal culture of the society as a whole.

Scientific novelty: for the first time in Russian jurisprudence, a study of the category of corruption in the communicative and discursive aspect was conducted.

Practical significance: the main provisions and conclusions of the article can be used in scientific and pedagogical activities when considering the issues of the essence and content of the Russian legal reality, in the anti-corruption activities of state and municipal bodies, as well as in anti-corruption education.

1. Chagdurova, E. D. (2014). "Transitivity" as an object of philosophical reflection, The Buryat State University Bulletin, 6 (1), 24–28 (in Russ.).

2. Akimova, N. V. (2009). Corruption in Russia: history and modernity, Vestnik Akademii ekonomicheskoi bezopasnosti MVD Rossii, 2, 36–38 (in Russ.).

3. Astanin, V. V. (2016). Anti-corruption expertise in matters of doctrine and practice. Rossiiskaya yustitsiya, 8, 5–9 (in Russ.).

4. Bikeev, I. I. et al. (2014). Everything about corruption and counteraction against it: terminological dictionary, 2. Kazan, Izd-vo “Poznanie” IEUP (in Russ.).

5. Gilinskii, Ya. I. (2011). Corruption as a social construct, In Constructing deviancy, monograph. Saint Petersburg, DEAN, 161–169 (in Russ.).

6. Kabanov, P. A. (2016). Anti-corruption awareness: concept, content, conditions of formation. NB: Administrative Law and Administration Practice, 2, 38–54 (in Russ.). https://doi.org/10.7256/2306-9945.2016.2.18846

7. Kudryavtsev, V. N. Organized crime and corruption in Russia (1997–1999) (chapters by V. N. Kudryavtsev). Мoscow, Yur. norma, Infra-M, Znanium.com. https://znanium.com/read?id=204943 (access date: 10.09.2021) (in Russ.).

8. Kurakin, A. V., Sukharenko, A. N. (2021). Countering corruption in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. Rossiiskaya yustitsiya, 1, 58–60 (in Russ.).

9. Luneev, V. V. (2000). Corruption: political, economic, organizational and legal problems. State and Law, 4, 99–111 (in Russ.).

10. Naumov, A. V. Corruption crime. In A. V. Naumov. Selected works. On the reform of the Russian Criminal Code (publications of 2009–2019). Мoscow, Un-t prokuratury Ros. Federatsii, 2019, 103–117 (in Russ.).

11. Nomokonov, V. A., Gilevskaya, M. A. (2009). Corruption in Russia and prospects of struggle against it. Actual Problems of Economics and Law, 1, 181–186 (in Russ.).

12. Tikhomirov, Yu. A., Trikoz, Ye. N. (2007). Law against corruption, Journal of Russian Law, 5 (125), 39–52 (in Russ.).

13. Truntsevskiy, Yu. V. (2020). Reasons for petty (commonplace) corruption. State power and local self-government, 6, 50–56 (in Russ.). https://doi.org/10.18572/1813-1247-2020-6-50-56

14. Dimant, Eu., Krieger, T., Redlin, M. (2014). A Crook is a Crook… But is He Still a Crook Abroad? On the Effect of Immigration on Destination-Country Corruption. German Economic Review, 16 (4), 464–489.

15. Kroeze, R. (2018). Lockheed (1977) and Flick (1981–1986): Anticorruption as a Pragmatic Practice in the Netherlands and Germany. In R. Kroeze, A. Vitória, G. Geltner (eds.). Anticorruption in History: From Antiquity to the Modern Era. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 274–291.

16. Johnston, M. (1982). Political Corruption and Public Policy in America. Monterey, Brooks Cole Publishing Co.

17. Palifka, B. J., Rose-Ackerman, S. (2016). Corruption and Government: causes, consequences, and reform. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

18. Tirole, J. (1996). A Theory of collective reputations (with Applications to the Persistence of Corruption and to Firm Quality). The Review of Economic Studies, 63 (1), 1–22.

19. Torsello, D., Venard, B. (2016). The Anthropology of Corruption. Journal of Management Inquiry, 25 (1), 34–54.

20. Heidenheimer, A., Johnston, M. (eds.) (2007). Political Corruption: Concept and Context. 3th ed. New Brunswick, L., Transaction Publishers.

21. Jong-Sung, You. (2015). Democracy, Inequality and Corruption: Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines Compared. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

22. Habermas, J. (2004). The Theory of Communicative Action. Vol. 1: Reason and the Rationalization of Society. Cambridge, Polity Press.

23. Krawietz, W. (2008). Juridische Kommunikation im modernen Rechtssystem in rechtstheoretischer Perspektive. In W. Brugger, U. Neumann, S. Kirste (eds.). Rechtsphilosophie im 21. Jahrhundert. Frankfurt-am-Main, Suhrkamp, 181–206.

24. Polyakov, A. V. (2014). Communicative legal consciousness: Selected works. Saint Petersburg, Alef-Press (in Russ.).

25. Chestnov, I. L. (2012). Postclassical theory of law: momograph. Saint Petersburg, Alef-Press (in Russ.).

26. Konovalova, M. V. (2008). Types of coherence of juridical discourse. Bulletin of Chelyabinsk State University, 21, 83–86 (in Russ.).

27. Skorobogatov, A. V., Krasnov, A. V., Skorobogatova, A. I. (2018). Corruption as a social-legal phenomenon: anthropological analysis. In Dialectics of corruption counteraction: works of the 8th All-Russian scientific-practical conference with international participation, November 23, 2018. Kazan, Tatarskii tsentr obrazovaniya “Taglimat”; Izd-vo “Poznanie” Kazanskogo innovatsionnogo universiteta, 199–203 (in Russ.).

28. Skorobogatov, A. V. (2019). Valuable Determination of Legal Discourse. The Legal Culture, 2 (37), 30–38 (in Russ.).

29. Krasnov, A. V. (2019). Legitimacy of law: axiological aspect. Vestnik ekonomiki, prava i sotsiologii, 1, 87–90 (in Russ.).

30. Petryanin, A. V. (2020). Corruption as a threat to national security and an indispensible element of the modern world: issues of criminal-legal and criminological counteraction. Rossiiskii pravovoi zhurnal, 1, 63 (in Russ.).

31. Glazkova, L. V. (2016). A state official: history of corruption in Russia: monograph. Мoscow, Prospekt (in Russ.).

32. Yung, K. G. (1991). On archetypes of the collective unconscious. In Archetype and symbol. Мoscow, Renessans (in Russ.).

33. Skorobogatov, A. V., Krasnov, A. V. (2015). Russian legal archetype: essence and contents. Russian Journal of Legal Studies, 2 (4), 28–33 (in Russ.).

34. Mukhamedyarova, L. V., Gazizova, O. V. (2014). Main determinants of corrupt behavior and the formation of anti-corruption stability. BSU Bulletin, 14-2, 90–96 (in Russ.).

35. Skorobogatskii, V. V. (2001). Corruption as a means of power legitimization. Chinovnik, 1. http://chinovnik.uapa.ru/ru/ issue/2001/01/13 (access date: 02.09.2021) (in Russ.).

36. Skorobogatov, A. V., Yusupov, A. A. (2018). An Informal Right in the Framework of Legal Behavior. History of State and Law, 8, 9–14 (in Russ.).

37. Beidina, T. E. et al. (2014). Corruption in the Russian Federation: genesis, forms, technologies, counteraction: monograph. Ekaterinburg, Izd-vo Ural. un-ta (in Russ.).

38. Soto E. de. (1995). Another way: Invisible revolution in the third world. Мoscow, Catallaxy (in Russ.).

39. Syutkina, E. N., Kandybovich, S. L. (2016). Archetype as a socio-cultural phenomenon: philosophical and cultural foundations. Chelovecheskij Kapital, 7 (91), 6–15 (in Russ.).

40. Valerov, A. V. (2012). Exchange and distribution in the system of social interaction of primitive and archaic societies. St. Petersburg University Journal of Economic Studies, 3, 41–59 (in Russ.).

41. Gafarova, G. R. (2012). Legal status of the participants of financial legal relations in the sphere of price formation. Finansovoe pravo, 9, 2–5 (in Russ.).

42. Skorobogatov, A. V., Krasnov, A. V. (2016). Corruption behavior as a legal maxima of the Russian society. In Dialectics of corruption counteraction: works of the 6th All-Russian scientific-practical conference with international participation, December 16, 2016. Kazan, Izd-vo “Poznanie” KIU, 151–154 (in Russ.).

43. Sissener, T. K. (2007). Phenomenon of corruption in anthropological perspective. In I. B. Olimpieva, O. V. Pachenko (Eds.). Fighting a losing battle? Socio-anthropological approach to studying corruption. Saint Petersburg, Aleteiya, 56–82 (in Russ.).

44. Nee, C., Button, M., Shepherd, D., Blackbourn, D., Leal, S. (2019). The psychology of the corrupt: some preliminary findings. Journal of Financial Crime, 26 (2), 488–495.

45. Zhuravlev, A. L., Yorevich, A. V. (2014). Psychological factors of corruption. Sociological Studies, 7, 63–71 (in Russ.).

46. Alekhin, E. V., Yurasov, I. A. (2015). Corruption: the perception of citizens of the Russian Federation, Modern problems of science and education, 1–1, 1512 (in Russ.).

47. Illyustrov, I. I. (2011). Juridical sayings and proverbs of the Russian people. Мoscow, KRASAND (in Russ.).

48. Tymoschuk, A., Trofimova, N. (2020). Corruption in the cultural dynamics of society. Issues of Cultural Studies, 4, 61–66 (in Russ.). https://doi.org/10.33920/nik-01-2004-07

49. Kabanov, P. A. (2014). Anti-corruption education as a means of corruption counteraction: notion and content, Actual Problems of Economics and Law, 4 (32), 42–51 (in Russ.).