Scientific journal The Pedagogical Process: Theory and Practice

The author reflects on the role of social optimism as an essential new factor of institutional culture, which function is to guarantee a systemic unity of modern institution and its competitiveness related to another subjects of social interaction. The article presents the results of empirical research on social optimism and its role in social life according to the view of native experts’ community (doctors and candidates of psychological sciences in the sphere of social psychology). The variety of «social optimism» notions, determined by experts, is demonstrated; it is mentioned that such diversity is a natural result in conditions of absence of a stable scientific view regarding to that phenomenon.

The list of content categories to define social optimism (such as system of knowledge, way of world-perceiving, faith, positive expectations, attitude, mechanism, copying-strategy etc.) is analyzed. The factors of institutional social optimism are classified: 1) optimistic corporative ideology and social support within the institution; 2) inclusion and a personal adaptive activity of the members of institution to organize individual and social existence; 3) positive expectations of the work itself, based on the previous positive experience and self-reflection; 4) correspondence of personal and common purposes of the members of institution. The article analyzed the factors of social optimism as those are represented by discourse of native experts’ community. The role of social optimism is outlined in the aspects of how it improves institutional environment and how it enhances institutional culture of modern organization and the ways of institution’s development.

Keywords:  expert’s estimation;  factors of social optimism;  institutional competitiveness;  institutional environment;  social optimism.

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