The main part of the Russian population does not think about their rights and freedoms, does not know how to behave in a particular situation, in what documents their responsibilities are written and what laws generally matter. Legal literacy in our country is at an extremely low level. If a person does not know about his rights, we can say with confidence that he does not have them. If necessary, he will not be able to exercise his right simply because he does not know about its existence. That is why the issues of increasing the legal and economic literacy of students in schools and students in universities are more relevant than ever. However, this question also applies to adults.
Why should a person be legally literate?
Everyone should know about their rights in order to accurately understand what they can count on in a particular situation. Having a low level of legal literacy, a citizen is not able to delve into the content of laws, and therefore remains unaware of his rights and obligations. In the event of difficult life circumstances, many Russians are at a standstill.
It is worth noting that in the entire history of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and modern Russia, insufficient attention has been paid to the study of the basics of law and increasing the level of legal literacy of the population. Of paramount importance were the patriarchal customs, their strict observance. In various periods of development and formation of Russia, the population trusted their fate to the tsar, without thinking about the value of their own lives and interests. The reason for this phenomenon is a critically low level of civil justice. Since ancient times in Russian society, the authorities ignored the need to respect human rights, which left a deep mark on the consciousness of modern citizens.
In general, we can say that the Russians do not know the laws, do not want and do not seek to adhere to them. Non-observance of the rights and freedoms of man and citizen over time leads to the rooting of misconceptions about legal liability and violations of the law. To increase the level of legal culture and legal awareness of citizens, a number of measures for legal education are required. Enhancing legal literacy of citizens should be one of the priority areas in the work of state bodies.
How did the legal consciousness of a person develop?
To answer this question, you should turn to history. For example, in the East in ancient times, there was no question of any legal consciousness of society. The basis of the state system was the division of society into slaves and rich. Moreover, the slave was not guaranteed even an elementary right to life.
Today, human life is the most important value for the state. Everyone has the inalienable right to life. Modern legislation determines the impossibility of arbitrary deprivation of life of another person. For comparison, you should pay attention to the code of laws of the XII tables in ancient Rome.
If you break a bone with a hand or a stick to a free person, let him pay 300 aces, if a slave - 150 aces. If the perpetrator was killed on the spot, then let his killing be considered lawful.
Based on this example, it is easy to notice how the attitude towards the value of human life and the rights of citizens has changed. Improving legal and economic literacy is the only way to protect yourself from arbitrariness. However, it is impossible to force people to raise their level of legal awareness. In addition, you need to start with the development of legal culture in general.
The main problems in this area
The low level of modern legal awareness is directly proportional to the level of the legal culture, to increase which various legal propaganda tools are used in the media, access to legislation is provided, and effective forms of involving citizens are developed and implemented not only in law enforcement, but also for solving law enforcement and law-making tasks.
The main element in the process of formation of the rule of law is a comprehensively developed and educated population. Moreover, in the first place, the basis of legal literacy among Russians should be the filling of gaps in the legal culture. Indeed, the legal illiteracy of people living in the territory of our country, conflicts in laws and regulations, their inconsistency with the real needs and interests of society are the result of legal nihilism and neglect of moral principles.
What really hinders the development of legal culture in modern society? The list of urgent problems should include:
- a drop in the moral level of the predominant part of the population;
- stratification of society by the level of financial and material well-being;
- increased competition and tightening consumer requirements;
- lack of reliable and accessible sources of legal knowledge;
- inconsistency of the existing legislative framework with the conditions of real life of the population.
To eliminate these problems requires a radical change in the political course of the state and the interest of the authorities in improving legal literacy. In Salavat (Republic of Bashkortostan), for example, a social movement has been created to increase the level of legal culture of society in various spheres of the state’s life. The tasks set here are solved by showing films that awaken legal awareness, promoting legal literacy through the media, the Internet, and fiction.
The importance of law and laws in public life
Improving the legal and economic literacy of students in secondary and higher educational institutions is a key condition for achieving this goal. The formation of a legal culture, where laws are the main value, should proceed in parallel with the scientific, technical and social development of modern society. On the basis of laws, regulatory legal acts are issued, new, previously unknown legal institutions appear, which testifies to the strengthening of legal awareness. Laws allow you to establish a model of exemplary behavior in society, legal relations that meet the standards of international law, government bodies are formed that carry the legal culture to the masses.
One cannot but recall such an aspect as maintaining public law and order in the country. For example, recent case studies have shown depressing results. As it turned out, only a third of the representatives of modern youth are ready to provide assistance to law enforcement agencies. Most of the able-bodied population believes that the law enforcement system in Russia is not able to protect the interests of citizens.
Crime as a consequence of legal illiteracy
According to some reports, over the past few years there has been a surge in the number of offenses of varying severity. If in Soviet times, for example, for every 100 thousand people there were four intentional murders, today today 2-3 times more people die from criminal acts. At the moment, the state is making many attempts to eradicate the criminal worldview of Russians, but so far the country is witnessing a sluggish process of combating crime, which is rooted in the problem of low legal literacy.
How to deal with legal ignorance of citizens?
Raising the level of legal literacy in Salavat and other Russian cities is one of the proofs that modern Russian society has long realized the need to change the model of legal awareness and legal culture. At the same time, the main tool here is legal education as a complex influence on the worldview and behavior in society.
Today, many mechanisms are used to increase the legal literacy of the population. For example, lawyers, lawyers, representatives of government regularly advise citizens, educate the public about their rights and obligations through the media, lectures in schools and universities. In order to increase the legal and economic literacy of students, the practice of organizing law clinics at universities and public organizations has become widespread.
Legal awareness and legal education is an integral indicator of the upbringing and general cultural values of a citizen. In the process of forming the correct model of the legal culture of every citizen, it influences:
- the prevalence and accessibility to the perception and use of legal information;
- the quality of education and training at school, which ideally should develop the foundations of legal awareness among students;
- parents' abusive behavior;
- moral and psychological climate in the family.
Legal literacy is a guarantee that law enforcement actions will not become an obstacle to achieving personal goals, but rather will contribute to solving a number of tasks and problems.
Fundamentals of the Russian policy in the field of legal education of the population
A few years ago, the President of Russia announced a new course for the country to overcome the legal illiteracy of citizens, identifying the main principles and directions in resolving this issue. The essence of measures aimed at creating a decent level of legal culture of the population was to instill in citizens, starting in childhood, respect for the law and order. Conscientiousness should be a paramount feature of proper social behavior. On the whole, the regulatory act calls the legal nihilism in society the main factor hindering the development of Russia as a modern civilized state and calls for opposing it.
Another reason for the low level of legal and economic literacy is the declarative nature of Russian laws. And although on paper the authorities regularly report on activities aimed at improving the education of the population in legal matters, in fact, no real and effective actions have been taken. The thing is that the government has no interest in educating people. It is much easier to rule a people who do not want to think and be responsible for themselves. In simple words, it’s easier to manage legally illiterate people.
In addition, society itself is not yet ready to accept legal information in the form in which it exists on paper. The reason for this is a lot of social troubles that need to be taken immediately. The most acute and painful problems include pronounced stratification of the population, unemployment, the shadow economy, and isolation of Russia in the international community.
The lack of hope for the younger generation is not comforting, since the domestic education system does not provide for legal education. Pupils in the lessons of law receive a meager amount of knowledge, which is not enough to hone their skills to defend even basic rights and freedoms. Thus, the education system gives children knowledge, but how to put them into practice does not teach.
Is it worth getting a legal education at all
It is possible to increase the level of legal and financial literacy only if each member of modern society begins to engage in self-education, and then transfers his knowledge to children. The problem of incompetence of students and graduates of law schools is constantly talked about. Particularly dissatisfied with the level of training of young specialists are company executives hiring graduates, as well as citizens who decided to turn to such newly-made "lawyers" for help. The consequences of unskilled services provided by an incompetent specialist are often dire.
But why is this happening? What is the main reason for the illiteracy of graduates of law schools? Why, after passing several years of training in the specialty "Jurisprudence", a person is not ready to work as a lawyer? The thing is that entrants and universities have different tasks. Entering the university, a potential student hopes to get a prestigious profession, and the university - to issue a diploma and improve statistics.
So why then should a person spend 5-6 years of his life receiving an education that does not make him legally literate? It turns out that the idea of giving your time and money to the institute in exchange for a document on education is initially meaningless, because you can learn the legislation a bit, but at the same time not be able to apply its norms in practice. Today in the public domain you can find a lot of useful and free legal information that will be useful to everyone in self-study.
The role of legal literacy in business
The ignorance of entrepreneurs in such matters is a serious damage to a developing business. Even if there is an experienced lawyer or attorney on staff, financial opportunities to apply to specialized legal literacy centers, there are no guarantees that things will go up. If the entrepreneur does not keep personal statistics of business projects and is not able to analyze his legal errors:
- fines and penalties;
- financial penalties in labor and commercial disputes;
- unreasonable debts;
- meaningless and costly litigation.
The legal adviser or lawyer is not able to think like a businessman, so it is unreasonable to count on his help in calculating business schemes. An entrepreneur should rely only on his own strengths and on the level of his personal legal education.
Conclusion
In modern realities, increasing the level of legal literacy should be the main factor in the formation of personality, the formation of stable positions of society and democratic modern Russia. Citizens of the Russian Federation must live in comfortable social and legal conditions with each other and support the state’s desire to reduce the level of legal illiteracy, provide assistance to state authorities in solving the most important problems, propagandize and explain the need to comply with the duties and rules of hostel in Russia. Respect for the rights and legitimate interests of others, regardless of race, religion and nationality, gender, language and political views, is one of the main principles in implementing measures to eliminate legal illiteracy.