Mentality of Russians as a factor of perception of legal ideology

Introduction: the author analyzes the conditions for the adoption of legal ideology by Russian citizens, associated with the peculiarities of their mentality. The importance of studying this issue is due to the underdeveloped prerequisites for ensuring the rule of law and, in particular, the insufficient level of development of legal consciousness in Russian society. In order to determine the predisposition of citizens to the adoption of constructive legal attitudes, the author analyzes the main models of the perception of law, characteristic of the civilian population of Russia. Materials and Methods: in the course of the research, the author relied on the works of foreign and domestic researchers. The main methodological approaches of the study included structural functionalism, social phenomenology, as well as general scientific methods of analysis, comparison, abstraction and deduction. Results: the natural and legal attitude as the basis of legal awareness determined the selective nature of the adoption of existing laws, as well as the admission of the possibility of their violation, provided there is sufficient justification for the illegal act, in connection with which the natural and legal attitude gives rise to the practice of violation by citizens of the law. The positive legal attitude does not contain the moment of evaluating the law, and therefore, at the level of worldview, it sets the prerequisite for adhering to all applicable legal norms. Russian society is characterized by the predominance of natural-legal attitudes, which generates significant risks associated with the existence of mechanisms for justifying offenses and their admission at the level of the worldview of citizens. Discussions and Conclusions: the final assessment of the types of legal worldview based on natural-legal and positive-legal attitudes is proposed for discussion. The question is raised that within the framework of natural-legal and positive-legal paradigms, various models of justification of law are implemented, which should be taken into account in the framework of the impact on the socio-legal worldview of citizens.