Distant Round Table Discussion

The «round table» initiated by the «Power» magazine is dedicated to the concept of Russian matrix (RM). Being highly relevant this concept rarely appears on the pages of political magazines. We believe that this issue is able to bring some new opportunities for understanding not only the specifics of the «Russian path», but also the nature of relations between the authorities and society here. The discussion opens with the article written by a famous expert in cultural studies, professor A.A. Pelipenko «The Curse of Russian matrix». RM as a kind of mental entity, is also a special system of organization of Russian society, which is naturally stratified throughout its history into imperious top and a huge disenfranchised majority. RM is ahistorical, antipersonified and inhuman. These features generate an archaic mechanism of social consciousness. The author considers that the modern split of the Russian society into two parts – European and Asian ones, is now becoming a critical and extremely dangerous factor for the existence of the Russian civilization as a whole edge. The participants of the «round table» rather strictly criticize these views from various positions: traditional, progressivist and functionalist ones. The society in Russia is normative; and it's time to stop looking at Russian historical path as a deviant one. The Russian tradition has developed the type of civilization, which is demonstrating its competitive ability in the modern society. Some believe that the concept of RM is generally inapplicable because Russia neither a nation-state, nor a Russian «matreshka», giving birth to new and new historically reduced copies. It’s a multinational and multireligious empire. There’s also an actual position that the RM should not be seen in the general cultural terms. The Asiatic features and unenlightenment of the majority of the population depend only on the position of the ruling class, which artificially preserves this cultural profile in Russia.