Chronotopos Deformation by Sociocultural Acceleration

Abstract

There is an influence of sociocultural acceleration upon identification processes discussed in
this work. There is a hypothesis offered about that the speed of sociocultural and technological
changes is not a single-pole scale but a continuum with adaptation field in the mean zone. At the
one pole there is a “standstill” zone. At the other one there is a sensation of unstability, state of
chaos, incomprehensibility and danger of a changing environment. This involves the modification
of the mechanism and structure of self-identity under the conditions of rapid changes since
the conditions of steady identification get broken (the availability of the minimum time for identification
model adoption and the relative steadiness of the model itself). There are three variants
of gap described that does not allow of realization of the usual transmission of experience and
preservation of the unified continuous substance of culture and civilization: “a vertical gap” in
between generations, “a horizontal gap” concerned with the irregularity of speeding-up at the
territorially different areas and “a structural gap” where speed lag tends to an uninterrupted accumulation
making these gaps irreversible.