On psychological factors in historical processes

One of the key driving forces behind history and the development of its subjects – peoples, social strata, and individual actors – is the functioning and evolution of their individual and collective mental systems. Psychological factors exert a profound influence on economic processes (whether the prevailing orientation is toward increasing or reducing consumption or armaments, the willingness to take risks, etc.), on the structuring of society, and so forth. Yet in historical research, and especially in Russian historical scholarship, this factor is generally given insufficient attention. The reason lies in the underdeveloped state of many problems in social psychology, as well as the limited familiarity of the academic community with this field. For several decades now, a scholarly direction known as psychohistory has been developing in Western countries, dedicated to studying the interplay between historical processes and the development of the individual and collective psyche. The article demonstrates the role of such factors as psychological attitudes and types, in particular the types of passionaries, innovators, and conservatives. It examines the capacity to concentrate and subordinate most of the states and functions of the psyche to a single center, a higher meaning-bearing principle, a dominant attitude – a capacity that lies at the foundation of religions and other ideological movements. The article explores the mutual influence of psychological attitudes and “general historical” systems (productive-technological, socio-economic, institutional, and moral) across the eras of Christianity, modernity, and the present day. The differences between Western and Russian civilizations are examined on the basis of the distinctive features of their respective psychological systems. Psychohistorical research has significance that goes beyond theory alone. It can and must become an important tool in the elaboration of strategic plans and forecasts in such areas as the socio-economic sphere, education, defense, and geopolitics.