Moral aspect of young people's subjective competitiveness

At the end of 2017, the President of the Russian Federation signed a decree1 that prioritized the development of competition in Russia. However, competition in it is treated exclusively from an economic point of view, while its implementation is possible only due to the high level of human capital development in the country, as well as in a specific industry, at the enterprise. Competition is carried out by people who are competitive on a personal level. Investment of resources in the development of individual competitiveness becomes a strategically important task that is solved comprehensively, involving social institutions such as family, education (at all its levels, including informal and selfeducation), economy, culture, etc. Human capital development not only generates multiple economic profit (which can be calculated), but also contributes to a significant socio-cultural return (almost immeasurable)2.

Competitive relations are manifested in all spheres of life without exception, from biological and social to economic. Competition acquires a special content in each of them, while its key aspect, the struggle for leadership in the possession of limited resources, remains unchanged. In the social aspect, competition is under-stood as “a contest between one and other agencies – whether people, institutions or nations – for individual advantage” [1, p. 176].

There are many definitions of the term “competition” and its derivatives. The analysis of the terminology pool was carried out in early publications of our research team [2]. In the process of competitive interactions, individuals enter into social relationships, its effectiveness (along with the availability of knowledge, skills and professional competences) is influenced by past experience of such relationships. The competitiveness of a modern specialist becomes non-linear and “implies non-standard thinking and actions, avoiding patterns in solving problems, searching for new algorithms in a crisis situation, etc.”3.

In the framework of this research, competitiveness is interpreted as “a complex property inherent in a person and consisting of psychophysical resources (health, age, appearance, level of intelligence) and moral aspects (value orientations and their hierarchy, beliefs and their system, personal prohibitions and restrictions). The basis of this property is high professionalism, individual’s psychological readiness to compete for one’s existence and his or her social characteristics” [3].

Effective functioning of social institutions and social structures depends on the compliance with a set of value norms and rules. Each social community, trying to be equal to the norms and values accepted in a particular society, transforms them in accordance with the peculiarity of its activity, then transmits them to the current generation, which in turn transmits them to the next ones. The relevance of compliance with a set of moral norms in social life is associated with the synchronization of social behavior in a particular society, the definition of acceptable (socially approved) strategies and unacceptable (reprehensible) actions.