Social choice: between the past and the future

Abstract

This study focuses on the procedural specifics of social choice as a significant characteristic of socio-historical transformations, allowing us to trace the dynamics and formation of value orientations from the past to the future. The aim of the study is to identify the ideological and spiritual foundations of social choice in the context of societal transformation, taking into account the interconnection between historical memory, the design of the future, and the institutional mechanisms of social self-determination. In this regard, the research objective is to understand the role of social choice through the lens of the functional role of historical memory in structuring public decisions and to analyze the institutional mechanisms that ensure its implementation in the context of technological transformations in society. The article reveals the value characteristics of social choice, examines the theoretical and methodological approaches to the analysis of social choice, and the role of social choice in the processes of social development. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the revelation of the ambivalence of social choice as a universal socio-cultural phenomenon that serves as a measure of value-based activity in the process of development from the past to the future. As an attribute of social practice, social choice allows for finding a balance not only in favorable conditions, but also for accumulating optimal solutions in conflict situations. The theoretical basis of the study was formed by the elements of the foresight approach (A. Razumov), related to the construction of the future and the axiological approach of I.V. Makaryev. It has been established that the worldview principles of comprehension in the context of “past-present-future” influence the successful social reproduction of values, where social choice through the prism of tradition and innovation, the synthesis of historical experience.