Regional Identity as a Result of Social Engineering
The article analyzes the regional identity as the social, cultural and forming foundations of the region, which have the resource of increasing the “added value” of the symbolic capital of the region. And this, in turn, leads to an increase in the investment capital of the territory. Regional identity is considered in the context of the processes of “social engineering»: as conformist and “understanding”; traditional and innovative. Regional identity manifests itself as a derivative of the activities of political institutions and is associated with the borders of the subjects of the Russian Federation (Moscow, Tambov, Khabarovsk, etc.); as well as a structure based on civilizational (Europe, etc.), historical, geographical (South of Russia, Siberia, etc.), areal (Mining Urals, etc.) and other bases. The dialectic of the relationship between regional identity and the symbolic capital of the region through the processes of social engineering and social management is revealed The effectiveness of social engineering of regional identity depends on: locus values, methods of implementing identity policy (revolutionary or evolutionary); reliance on the public or lack of it (support or conϔlict); the degree of publicity and openness of identity policy; the political needs of the current authorities in legitimizing the course, etc. The symbolic resource of regional identity is used in various types of management, such as image-making of the region-creating a positive memorable image of the region; branding-forming stable associations and positive emotional connections among people with this image; public art-integrating contemporary art projects into the spatial environment of regional “localities”. The “social engineering” of regional identity gives the following results: the peculiarities of regional life are ordered; ambiguous interpretations and possible discrepancies between the idea and its symbolic embodiment are minimized; the region or country is rebooted in accordance with the new logic of symbols, etc. All this leads to a powerful modernization effect of the region from joint actions, support for the course of change.