Nekhaienko O. Political Correctness as a Process: Discourses and Practices

The dissertation is devoted to the study of political correctness as a process that functions as one of the regulators of interaction in modern society. Carrying out a deep sociological analysis of political correctness forms an understanding of what role political correctness plays today in the formation, support, reproduction and development of the liberal-democratic social order and the corresponding social order. The work actualizes the need to introduce political correctness into the problematic field of sociological analysis. On the other hand, the need for a sociological analysis of possible tools and mechanisms used by political correctness is emphasized: it is proven that politically correct vocabulary and constructions are characterized by the presence of a hidden meaning (which is realized through the use of euphemistic expressions) and are aimed at solving social contradictions, but in some cases can backfire and exacerbate existing divisions. The scientific novelty of the obtained results lies in the fact that the dissertation is the first scientific work in domestic sociological science that carries out a theoretical generalization of approaches to the study of political correctness in sociology and solves an important scientific task - researching the manifestations of political correctness in Ukrainian society. For the first time in domestic science, political correctness is conceptualized as a social process within the framework of the work. It is defined as a discursive cultural-behavioral process of spreading an ideological and normative attitude to overcome social conflicts and contradictions through the selection of specific language means of different levels. For the first time in domestic sociology, political correctness was systematically considered as a complete social process: essence, technological aspects and forms of manifestation in such social institutions as culture, education and politics. In addition, the role and place of political correctness in the process of macro-ideological production is determined: political correctness forms general social models and patterns of behavior through the definition and prescription of universal discursive standards and behavioral principles. It has been proven that political correctness implements strict control of compliance with established norms through the imposition of social and administrative sanctions; extends the ideological attitude not only to the individual, but also to the macro level of social consciousness. The work introduces a combined methodical approach to the sociological study of political correctness, which combines the concept of figuration by N. Elias and the concept of "invented traditions" by Hobsbawm-Ranger with critical discursive and case-narrative analysis: this provides a synthesis of the micro- and macro-levels of the study of the genesis and current state of political correctness ; by supplementing the approach with the ideas of P. Bourdieu, political correctness is characterized as the result of the interaction of the objective structures of the social space and the subjective dispositions of agents operating in the cultural and political fields. The dissertation also characterizes the internalization of politically correct attitudes and the prospects for the spread of political correctness in Ukrainian society: based on the data obtained in the course of empirical research, it was found that political correctness is perceived as an external directive norm that operates primarily in professional communications. In the perception of Ukrainians, political correctness is not organic to domestic socio-cultural standards, it is connected with external Western tendencies of liberalization of social relations, globalization and European integration processes.