Social Ideal in the Postmodern Era: Views of Social Policy

The issues of social ideal, transformation of its nature during Postmodern epoch, changes of its interpretation in the methodology of postmodern period are considered and updated in the article. As for the modernism paradigm, the social ideal is interpreted as an integrative and regulative society subsystem, being one of its main development determinants and functioning as a social goal-setting, but there is a considerable change of its nature in the postmodern society. Ideal gets features of technicality, pluralism, pragmatism and simulacrum, and due to this it turns from the valuable social determinant into one of the form of everyday routine. Modification of the nature of social ideal is shown by example of problems and contradictions in the sphere of formation of strategy and values of social policy in modern Russia. Thus, self-contradictoriness and ambivalence are found today in forming ideals of social fairness; permanent situation of a social choice in the most vivid form appears in implementation of a constant choice of a model of social policy. Subsequently it is concluded that Russia is now beginning its attempt of overrunning the Postmodern epoch, which is manifested in finding new unifying principles, the special line and development model.