What is the sense of justice? Formation, basic elements and structure of public sense of justice

Law, considered as a phenomenon of spiritual life, refers to the sphere of individual and social consciousness. It is possible to consider such elements as normative acts, norms of law, law enforcement decisions and other legal phenomena as peculiar projections of culture (theoretical and practical). In this case, to designate the latter, science requires a special concept. They are the sense of justice of citizens, groups and society as a whole. That's what we'll talk about today.

What is the sense of justice

It is an active participant in the settlement of the diverse life processes in the state and society. Legal consciousness contributes to the consolidation of all social groups and citizens, to the strengthening and maintenance of the integrity of the society, to the order in it. The basis of the state fortress, the functioning of its legal and political systems with maximum efficiency is the healthy sense of justice of members of society, their respect for the law. Representations about the fairness of permissions and prohibitions, rights and duties of a person influence the formation of attitudes and motives of human behavior in the sphere of interest to us.

Speaking about such legal consciousness and legal activity of individuals, it should be noted that this is the basis of the rule of law in a civilized society. Their upbringing is an indispensable component of combating crime, preventing crime.

In science, issues such as concept, structure, essence, functions and types of legal conscience are considered. It is an ideal phenomenon, that is, one that is not directly observed. Answering the question about what is the sense of justice, it is necessary to remember that this is an area or sphere of consciousness in which the legal reality is reflected in the form of evaluation relations to implementation and theoretical aspects of law. It is also expressed in the form of legal knowledge, socio-legal attitudes and values that regulate the behavior of an individual in situations that are legally significant.

The following factors influence the formation of legal consciousness and its development: socio-political, cultural, and economic. It is interconnected with morality, political consciousness, religion, art, science, philosophy and interacts with them.

Specificity of legal consciousness

The specificity of the phenomenon that interests us is that it perceives and in the future reproduces certain vital realities through the prism of a free, righteous, just society. Different types of legal conscience require that in society the norms of behavior that are mandatory for all are established. They delineate the boundaries of the lawful and unlawful, and also require special legal measures designed to secure the right. This kind of consciousness, in contrast to other forms, is more categorical, definite and formalized. However, the concept of legal consciousness is focused mainly on creating the necessary conditions for the realization of the rights of a citizen and a person.

The meaning of the term we are interested in can be understood through its functions. Investigating the concept of sense of justice, scientists have established that its functions are as follows:

• Cognitive;
• Regulatory;
• Appraisal.

Let's briefly review each of them.

Cognitive function

It consists in the fact that through the perception and comprehension of various legal phenomena, in fact, the knowledge of life is realized. Both citizens and legislators are subjects of this knowledge. Both of them use ideas about the proper and existing law, participating in legal regulation.

Evaluation function

It consists in the fact that the sense of justice serves to assess certain life circumstances as legally significant. There is such a thing as a legal assessment. Its definition is the following: it is the activity of various subjects of law, both law enforcement and citizens, in establishing life circumstances, as well as their legal and social qualifications in accordance with their own views on due behavior, legality and law.

Regulatory function

Here we mean the regulation of the behavior of the individual. The sense of justice serves as a "mechanism for triggering" a given law in the mind of a person. This manifests itself in the actions and actions of the latter. This function is realized with the help of a system of value orientations, motives, legal attitudes (those that are specific regulators of human behavior). For example, information about legal norms leads to the emergence of a whole complex of psychological reactions in the subjects of law. These are experiences, emotions, feelings, which are associated with the appearance of some kind of inhibitory or motivating behavior. The sense of justice in this case serves as a motive for a certain type of behavior.

Thus, the phenomenon of interest to us is an organic unity of the setting, evaluation and cognitive elements. There is also such a concept as the structure of legal consciousness. This structure is characterized by the following two layers: legal psychology and legal ideology. Briefly tell about them.

Legal Psychology

It reflects mainly the contemplative element of cognition. Unsystematized, spontaneous layer of sense of justice is such a layer as legal psychology. It is expressed in the psychological reactions of a social group or individual to the state, legislation, law and other legal phenomena. In the field of legal psychology is the joy or grief that appears after the adoption of the law, satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the implementation of specific norms, an indifferent or intolerant attitude of a person to violations of the law.

This element of the structure of the sense of justice is its most common form. It is inherent to a certain extent all social relations, which appeared with the participation of a legal element. Leading definitions of the social essence of law, such as humanism, the formal equivalence of subjects, etc., are implemented precisely in this field.

Legal Ideology

This is the second important element of the structure of the concept of interest. The legal ideology is a scientific expression of the legal requirements, views, ideas of a social group or society. Its formation is carried out in the course of theoretical realization of the goals, interests and tasks of the society, individual, state. The legal ideology justifies the legal relations, presumed or established. In its development, both law scholars and politicians and workers of various legal institutions participate. The point is to form elements of legal awareness on a theoretical level.

Experts in the development of theoretical problems, ideas and methods of regulation rely on knowledge accumulated earlier. They summarize the experience of the legal life of the whole society, and also take into account the possible negative and positive consequences of legal acts that are planned to be adopted, structural changes in the legal bodies. At the same time, materials from sociological research are used, as well as statistical data on demographic and economic processes in society. In addition, the moods of social groups, public opinion, the picture and dynamics of various offenses are taken into account.

It should be noted that the legal ideology significantly exceeds the nature and degree of cognition of law, the first of the elements of the structure considered by us. Psychology usually captures the surface-sensual, in many ways the external aspect of phenomena, while ideology tries to reveal the social meaning and essence of the nature of law. It usually seeks to present it as a kind of finished dogma and a cultural-historical philosophy.

There are different levels of sense of justice. Consider the main ones.

Everyday sense of justice

The everyday sense of justice and the culture of behavior are determined by the mass representations, moods and emotions of people about the rule of law. These feelings appear under the influence of the immediate conditions of human life, its practical experience. As you know, everyday consciousness is limited. This is due to the narrowness of individual experience, which basically does not go beyond the immediate problems of everyday life. Consequently, legal consciousness can not remain within the ordinary ideas of a person about the social world surrounding him. In its development, it inevitably reaches a higher level. There are broad generalizations, various social patterns that act objectively are revealed.

Professional sense of justice

It includes beliefs, ideas, concepts and traditions that are formed among professional lawyers. As practice has shown, different groups of lawyers perceive the legal reality differently. For example, a judge refers to the legal reality a little differently than the prosecutor, and the latter evaluates it differently than the lawyer. The forensic expert and the teacher of the law faculty will give completely different assessments, despite the fact that both have higher legal education. Such a variety of points of view is due to the fact that the theoretical view is refracted through various activities, including law enforcement and legislative.

Scientific sense of justice

It includes views, concepts and ideas that express systematized mastery of law (theoretical). Scientific sense of justice in modern societies has a leading role in pointing out the ways in which legislation and law should develop. It is scientists who carry it.

Not only levels of sense of justice, but also its subjects can be the basis of its classification. Its species, distinguished by this feature, are individual and collective sense of justice. The latter, in turn, is divided into public, mass and group.

Public sense of justice

It includes theories, opinions, views and ideas that are prevalent in a particular society and reflect the typical features of its legal reality. The social conscience of the society is objectified in ideology, legal science or legal culture. It is also implemented in the legislation, since the latter is adopted by the state body representing the society. It is also objectified in mass representations, which are reflected, for example, in the press, as well as in all kinds of ideological institutions (religion, art, morals, politics, etc.).

Group and mass legal awareness

It is a collective consciousness of various social groups. Features of this type of sense of justice are explained by a number of factors. First of all, in any community, a specific subculture is formed, that is, normative values that affect the assessments of the existing legal system by the representatives of the group. Another factor is the differences in the interests of these or those socio-demographic groups that are associated with their unequal position in the social structure. The latter means that their attitude to power, the system of distribution and property is not the same. In a word, they evaluate the social order in different ways, as well as the norms that regulate it, consolidate and define it.

It should be noted that group sense of justice is different from the mass one. The latter is typical for temporary, unstable associations of citizens.

Individual sense of justice

The person's legal consciousness is the result of the process of his socialization, the assimilation of social and group sense of justice. Each person perceives a legal reality on the basis of personal experience. In addition, a certain role in this is played by collective forms of consciousness.

The definition of deformation of the sense of justice and its types

This phenomenon is a distortion of law, the destruction of its positive ideas. There are following types.

1. Legal fetishism. This deformation is a hypertrophied view of the role of legal means and law in solving political, socio-economic and other problems. For example, some citizens believe that it is possible to defeat crime in the event that the criminal law is toughened. In some cases, ruling elites are subject to this type of deformation. For example, Peter I believed that by establishing the "right" legislation it would be possible to solve many of the social and economic problems of our country.
2. Legal dilentalism. Such a deformation of the sense of justice is a free circulation of the person with the right, with those or other assessments of the legal situation. The reason for this is the careless attitude of an individual to legal values, and not his selfish goals.
3. Legal infantilism. This is an unformed, insufficient legal knowledge of a person with his personal confidence in his thorough legal preparation. Typically, this deformation refers to young people who have high self-esteem and do not know how to properly assess their level of knowledge.
4. "Rebirth" of sense of justice. This deformation of the sense of justice is the extreme degree of its distortion, which includes criminal intent. This attitude is inherent in criminal communities, as well as individuals who have embarked on a wrongful path.
5. Legal nihilism. This type of deformation is expressed in the devaluation of law and law, the deliberate ignoring of various requirements or underestimation of their regulatory function in society.

So, we have determined what is the sense of justice, what is its structure, identified the main elements. We hope that you have found the answers to all your questions. It is necessary to understand the meaning of such terms as law and sense of justice, especially if your professional activity is legal.

Legal education

The sense of justice in modern Russia is in crisis. This raises the need and the need to adopt and implement measures aimed at overcoming the nihilism of citizens, creating a legal culture of the individual and society. It is necessary that respect for the law be a personal conviction of all the inhabitants of our country.

A special place in the series of these measures should be allocated to legal education. This is one of the most effective ways to strengthen law and order and the rule of law, the purposeful formation of the interests and needs of the individual. This process aims to establish respect for the law, based on persistent legal assessments, views, beliefs, attitudes. Thus, it should be aimed at the overall legal development of the individual. Thanks to this, the society can prevent cases of violence and arbitrariness, manifestations of deviant behavior and backward views of its members. This, in turn, will lead to the strengthening of the rule of law and the rule of law on which a modern society must be founded.