Numerous studies and actual practice of the life and work show that for man to live and develop positively, conditions should be created under which he would feel comfortable and safe. One of the most urgent life’s challenges and professional problems existing to date has been the problem of social safety of individuals and communities. The article highlights the social risk factors; the concept of social safety of the person as a psychological category. It is shown that social safety is determined by the environment and human behavior.
One of the most urgent life’s challenges and professional problems existing to date has been the problem of social safety of individuals and communities. Under the conditions of radical social changes, all the basic elements of society functioning are changed, both at the state level and at the level of a particular person. Multi-aspect approach to security enables to consider security as a condition, which provides fundamental securitization of personality and makes it possible to consider personality security condition as a social and normative ideal [1, 3, 6, 7].
Social safety of the person as a social and psychological category has outer and inner determination and is influenced by psychological factors that are responsible for the achievement of its high level development.
There are external psychological factors of formation personality, such as functioning of the social institutions, the quality of the environment, the conditions provided by the society for the implementation of human capabilities.
The major premises for the emergence of social threats are the following:
– the increase in social tension caused by the economic and financial crisis, an increasing number of stressful situations and psychogenic disorders;
– influence of criminogenic factors;
– social unrooting of children and teenagers, the lack of psychological support provided by adults;
– the lack of legal culture and the necessary knowledge about psychology on the part of some authorities and the general public.
– the destruction or lack of effective methods of the creation of spiritual, moral, social and economical foundations needed for uniting the society;
– a decline in the general culture, discontinuity of social, cultural and national traditions;
– weakening of social control over unlawful conduct;
– a reduction in the opportunities for children’s and teenagers’ creative activities conforming to the relevant moral and ethical standards, which results in crime and anti-social behavior (from vandalism to delinquency and extremism);
– aggressiveness of infomedia, violence scenes on TV, in mass media, in the Internet.
Environmental psychology shows that the personality development occurs in a dialectical mutual transitions “subject – environment”: environment influences on human feelings and behavior, and the same feelings and behavior affect the same environment [4, 5]. The surrounding social environment which tries to provide safety, can and must provide working out of adaptive forms of human behaviour in the society, provide possibilities and models of safe behaviour based on the experience of relations [2].
The ability to protect oneself from possible personal threats and capability of creating secure environment (secure relationship with environment) bear evidence of ideal level of cooperation of a human with social environment. The social environment of a human, which aims to guarantee safety, can and should promote the working out the adaptive behavioral forms of a human in the society, provide an opportunity and safe behavior pattern that is based on the experience of teaching of relations.
The relations between humans can be based on the mutual tolerance and collaboration, operation superiority, suppression, submission or care and support. For all these cases a personality is in different social environment with different degree of his/her social-psychological safety, and the process of personality’s development will be different.
All the above mentioned that it’s necessary to form and develop the personal social safety. We understand the development of person’ social safety as active working aimed at creating safe environment and social institution with the purpose of protection from social risk factors and promoting the conscious attitude to personal safety of others, spiritual and moral qualities: skills of revealing, preventing, weakening and eliminating social dangers and threats that arise in the individual, group, social and cultural environment.
Acknowledgment. The publication was prepared within the framework of a research project supported by the Russian State Humanitarian Fund № 16-36-01088.