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The article analyzes the notions of marginality in socio-psychological and cultural dimensions. Today, two opposing epistemological tendencies have emerged: first, marginality is assessed positively as a synonym for the notion of creative renewal. The second tendency emphasizes the destructive role of marginality for the individual and society. Primarily, these tendencies are formed due to not quite correct approximation, and even identification of two meanings: “liminality” – “marginality”, on the one hand, and “lumpen” – “marginal”, on the other. Therefore, the scope of the concept of “marginal” is so wide, and often includes phenomena with the opposite social function, which causes many researchers to doubt its scientific significance. The intention of the article is philosophical reflection over cognitive attitudes, which has created modern understanding of marginality. The goal is to find semantic constant in equally important but opposite semantic vectors of this concept. The key concept of the meta-language in relation to the theme of marginality is concept’s prehension category, which makes possible to talk about specifics of convergent meanings, and to consider ontological prerequisites underlying their identification. Further, modern understanding of social marginality is analyzed in the context of its original meaning: “marginalia” as a note on page side (margin). This helps to rethink the fundamental metaphor serving as the cognitive guide to the study of marginalization process. The author examines it in the context of P. Bourdieu’s theory of social fields, as well as the philosophy of the Other. The notion of the mythologeme “own/alien”, and “homo sacer” formula in solving the question of semantic constant of “marginality” suggests that marginality is related to the category of social norm, and the norm itself is apophatically determined by the phenomenon of marginality.

Keywords: marginal, marginality, liminality, lumpen, concept’s prehension, doxa, social norm.

The article examines varieties of the correlation of religion and morality in European and Russian social thought within the Christian paradigm. A diversity of definitions of religion in the research literature is observed; special attention is paid to so-called critical approach that questions the relevance of the very concept of religion due to its dependence on the particular historical-cultural context. The author analyzes some historical types of the interrelation of religion and morality, and draws the following conclusion: its nature is entirely determined by the historical-cultural context in general, and by specific form of Christianity in a given period, in particular. In observing discussion of the correlation of religion and morality in post-Soviet Russia, the author notes radical transformation of the attitude towards religion, and its role in the historical-cultural development of the country. In analyzing practical aspect of the relationship between religion and morality, the author indicates that the link between everyday moral choice and religious beliefs is far from being unambiguous, and illustrates this thesis by examples taken from domestic and foreign research literature.

Keywords: religion, morality, Christianity, secularization, Divine Command Theory, everyday life, context.

The article is devoted to the analysis of moral aspects of development of mediation as socio-legal institution. It is noted that the term “mediation” in various areas of research refers to different phenomena: in socio-legal research – to alternative trial procedure of settlement of disputes and conflicts; in cultural studies – to the logic of culture, which is focused on the synthesis of current opposition of meanings. It is proposed to synthesize different interpretations of the concept of “mediation” turning it into interdisciplinary one. It is argued that the development of socially legal institute of mediation depends on the formation of mediation as the logic of moral culture. The author defines the main objective of the study – the search for points of mediation’s growth as the logic of moral culture. Technology of the study involves methodology of ideal typing, comparative studies, and hermeneutics. The author distinguishes and analyzes three types of moral culture: traditional, utilitarian (elementary and advanced), and creative. The novelty of the study: it is established that the phenomenon of moral mediation begins in axiological space of advanced utilitarianism; prerequisites, catalysts, and mechanisms of its formation are explicated.
In conclusion, it is stated that the main cause of slowing up mediation practices in contemporary Russian society is “looping” its moral culture on elementary utilitarianism. The solution to this problem is the cultivation of harmony of private and public interests at all levels of Russian society.
Keywords: mediation, moral culture, traditionalism, elementary utilitarianism, developed utilitarianism, creativity.

The formation of the New – liberal-bourgeois – order in Spain lasted for almost one and a half century and experienced many «ups and downs». A milestone in this process is the Royal Statute written by an outstanding liberal conservative on the first half of the 19th century F. Martinez de la Rosa. In an effort to harmonize liberal Liberty and traditionalist Order, Martinez takes a position between left-wing liberals (progressists) and traditionalists. However, under the conditions of the liberal-bourgeois revolution and the first Carlist war, a stable political-ideological consensus between revolutionaries and conservative reactionaries was impossible. Trying to ensure the survival of the declared constitutional monarchy, Martinez was forced to make a tactical alliance with moderate traditionalists, which caused a flurry of criticism from the left. The imbalance of the political system led to the abolition of the Royal Statute and a new revolutionary cycle, in which Martinez occupies a definitely conservative position.
Keywords: Royal statute; liberal conservatism; Martinez de la Rosa; 19th century Spain.

In this article, the author examines the impact of administrative reform in the Russian Federation over corruption in general and in the sphere of the consumer market, in particular. The author bases on the analysis of the results of enforcement activities of the competent authorities, and comes to the conclusion about currently under-utilized potential of legal and administrative sanctions. Corruption in activities of officials of the state apparatus is often caused by the unclear legal requirements, unreasonable subjectivity in decision-making, and implementation of administrative procedures. On this basis, the author believes that comprehensive legal regulation of implementation of control and supervisory powers of state authorities in conjunction with the objectives and tasks of administrative reform in the Russian Federation is required. The author focuses on the analysis of norms of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation concerning the regulation of public relations in the field of entrepreneurship and the consumer market. In the study, the author pays attention to the issues of improvement of administrative legislation in this sphere, and the efficiency of control and supervisory activities of Federal Executive bodies, primarily the Federal Antimonopoly Service, andFederal Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-Being. The author gives specific recommendations for improving the legislation of the Russian Federation on counteraction of corruption in the sphere of consumer market.
Keywords: administrative reform; corruption; sphere of consumer market; administrative procedures; rights of citizens; control and supervision.

Constitutional and legal fictions as a phenomenon of modern legal reality are investigated in the article. Legal fiction is a phenomenon, in which fictitious position is declared as an existing one; it acquires binding character due to its reflection in the norms of law, or vice versa, the actual situation is recognized as non-existent. Sectorial features of the constitutional and legal fictions mean that they have a vast sphere of action and affect priority areas of life; in their majority, they differ in a pronounced political and ideological orientation, and are observed in special cases. Such cases include abstract legal concepts, terms, understanding and interpretation of which are ambiguous; situations when constitutional and legal norms do not receive proper specification and development in other normative legal acts; “transformation” of the norms of the Constitution by current legislation or decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, by which the author understands change (sometimes significant) of meaning of its individual provisions without formal invasion into constitutional text. Special attention is paid to the classifications and specific manifestations of fictions in the constitutional law of the Russian Federation. Depending on the level of legal force, fictions can be subdivided into constitutional and sub-constitutional; depending on the content – into material, procedural and mixed; depending on the duration of the existence – into static and dynamic; depending on expression form – into open and hidden (latent); depending on the attitude towards actual circumstances – into positive and negative; depending on institutions of the constitutional law of Russia – into fictions in foundations of the constitutional system, rights and freedoms of human being and citizen, federal structure, institution of the president, parliamentary law, legislative process, and local self-government. As a result, constitutional and legal fictions are defined as normative provisions contained in the Constitution of the Russian Federation and other sources of the constitutional law that recognize condition, which does not exist as existing, and vice versa, and also have industry features. The author underlines the ambiguous role of fictions in the constitutional and legal regulation of social relations, and the need to optimize their use.

Keywords: constitutional fiction; reality of constitutional provisions; fictitiousness of constitutional provisions; legal life; transformation of the Constitution.