Fan Irina
Abstract: The theme of this article is political and psychological, institutional (situational) and value (mental, subjective) factors, conditions and mechanisms of reproduction of corruption
in today’s Russia. The negative impact of corruption – the criminalization of the state and society, unfair redistribution of public goods, social polarization and social tensions, etc. – are described.
Sociological studies show that corruption in Russia has become an informal but stable social and political institute. Political psychology allows to combine theoretical and practical approaches of
the individual (e.g., psychoanalytical) and social psychology in the study of corruption as a phenomenon associated with public relations and public administration. The article investigates
the formation of formal and informal social norms in social groups and social stereotypes. The psychological conformity or pressure, of group norms over the individual, and the importance of
socialization in the family in order to distinguish between private and public life of the individual is observed. One of the social causes of corruption is the lack of values and trust agreement, the
fragmentation of the society into groups of “us” and “them” according to different criteria. This result is “double standard” assessment of similar actions based on membership in a particular
group. The conventionalism of mass perceptions of corruption among “owns” as a social norm is a matter of concern. The article provides general anti-corruption approaches.
Keywords: policy, corruption, conformity, social stereotype, social group, social norm, public sphere, privacy, psychoanalysis, political and legal culture.