Archetypes and imagination in the formation of rural neo-societies: conclusions for the state policy of rural development

Abstract

The article contains the results of a study on modelling new communities in rural areas of Ukraine. Modelling considers both the possibility of modernization of archetypes and archaization of the individual imaginary. The research methodology is based on the theoretical work of G. Durand on the structures of the imaginary, used in the study of the transformation of rural communities. The the applied value of the research is determined by the possibility of using the obtained results in the development of state policy of rural development. The initial hypothesis of the study was the assumption that the stratification of modern rural society is based on archetypes (images, myths or schemes), which subconsciously create an idea, crystallize the imaginary and form thinking. Social processes in rural areas were eclectic, mixed with “modern” and “archaic”. It is noted that old archetypes and ideas showed a high ability to survive and adapt to new conditions, demonstrating incredible configurations of a combination of tradition and innovation. Attention is drawn to the fallacy of the dominant notion that market transformations of the economy will contribute to forming an exclusive class of owners. The reality has become the antagonism of relations between owners and non-owners, who have become employees with poorly protected rights. G. Durand attributes a “dramatic myth” to the “night mode” of the structure of representation. It is noted that social gaps, violating the integrity of rural communities, also affected the perception of the individual’s place in the local social environment and his behaviour within the community, based on which 10 social groups of rural communities were modelled. It is concluded that the formation of imaginary and archetypes in rural communities occurs in an environment where the number of strangers is increasing. The polarization of the rural population and the confrontation of relations indicate the destructiveness of social processes in rural areas. Society must create artificial social institutions that will regulate human life, and this seems to be a super difficult task in the context of a variety of archetypes of rural life.