Fetishization of social institutions

This article is devoted to the consideration of the processes of fetishization of social institutions. The relevance and significance of institutional topics for modern social philosophy is substantiated. The main approaches to the phenomenon of fetish and the processes of fetishization derived from it in social life are considered. The contribution of classics and modern researchers in the theorizing of fetishization in the economic sphere of public life is noted. A comprehensive analysis of the influence of market institution imports on various spheres of life has been carried out. The transformation of the activities of various power actors is traced, which now more and more resembles the work of managers to attract and retain investments in the national economic space. Based on the analysis of the experience of the Russian reality of the transitional post-Soviet period, the facts of the fetishization of advanced institutional models rooted in liberal democratic social ideas are considered. The impossibility of carrying out state development along a pure democratic path and, as a result, the formation of the so-called “hybrid democracy” in Russia. Questions regarding the need to take into account the unique national context and the specifics of the environment for future institutional transformations are considered in detail. The specificity of the triple transition of the post-communist countries, which led to the prompt intentions of power actors to establish effectively functioning institutions, is revealed. In line with the pragmatics of modern socio-philosophical works, one of the alternative ways of institutional building is shown. The experience of Eastern states in developing democratic ideas and remodeling their own institutions is critically analyzed. In conclusion, the main results of the study are summarized, serving as a starting point for future analysis of individual contextual realities in which imported social institutions are immersed.