Optics of Power: Social-philosophical Perspectives on Groups Representa-tion in Communities

Abstract

In the article, the recent social-philosophical discussions on authenticity and autonomy have been reviewed through the optics of power. The latter is understood as the regulation of the actors’ state of being marked or unmarked in the social-cultural space. Another dimension of the optics is the adjustment of the access to power and representation of the groups in media-related and legal discourses. The visibility asymmetry has been considered through the social representation of the groups, with attention paid to the concepts of recognition, exoticization and adaptation, power, and powerlessness. The immediate and terminated effect of visibility on social cohesion and integration processes in communities has been reviewed in this context. The distortions of visibility, such as invisibility and super-visibility, require estimation of the unmarked normalcy threshold for the communities; therefore, the Ukrainian perspective on the issue involved the analysis of the conflict-related massive protracted inner displacement in the country. Based on the situation descriptions and action plans suggested in the project on the Strategy of Integration of Internally Displaced Persons and Implementation of Long-Term Solutions to Internal Displacement until 2023, the distortions of visibility in the Ukrainian communities have been assessed. One of the suggested perspectives implies the possible impact evaluation of media-type visibility of the internally displaced persons and residents of the non-government-controlled areas in Ukraine on the scenarios of reintegration of the territories temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation and Russia-backed forces. The theoretical adjustment lies in finding the visibility theory gap and formulation of the further research question on the correlation between the group visibility and reconciliation being facilitated by the actors.