The problem of identity formation through the prism of postmodern paradigm
The article discusses the problem of national identity formation and its alternatives in modern society. The actualization of postmodern paradigm in studying the problems of identity is justified and theoretical and methodological foundations of investigating identification and its outcomes in postmodern society in the context of non-linear development are revealed. Identity formation in postmodern society becomes very changeable, this process is implemented in various identity patterns. Post-modernity is characterized by lack of structural properties, decentration and plurality; identity is thus viewed within the framework of the contemporary socio-philosophical discourse in the light of singularity principles. Singularity, as viewed by J. Deleuze, is a dot meaning-producing event. The individual everyday life space is expanded, a single center of this space is lost, causing diffuseness and de-localization. These characteristics of contemporary man life space become particularly prominent in the circumstances of migration, which is becoming global and determining formation of transidentities. The process of identification in postmodern society is losing its former regularities. The birth of new identities is undergoing in the circumstances of constructive chaos and is characterized by fragmentation and contextuality. The problem of preserving national identity and forming transidentities in the conditions of transmigration is discussed by the author on the basis of materials of sociological survey, conducted by the author in April - May 2017, using qualitative approach and methods of deep interview, as well as a series of formalized interviews. Major informants were emigrants, which moved from Russia to the US, Western Europe, Israel, Canada and Australia in the post-Soviet period. The analysis of the data obtained made it possible to identify a number of tendencies, including weakening of national identity, its delocalization, the growth of importance of ethnic identity, the emergence of plurality of the concepts of Motherland, non-linear character and plurality of life scenarios. The implementation of these scenarios is based on singularity principles, objectified in biographical scenarios of transemigrants and the formation of new mentality.