INCEST PHENOMENON IN ACADEMIC COMMUNITY: REALITIES AND VISIONS

The article examines the genesis of incestuous connection and its expression in the academic community, focusing on the moral, psychosocial, and educational dimensions and meaning. These aspects recently are obviously deviated from the social standards. Anomaly is becoming more and more the norm. With reference to psychological patterns and personal experiences, it is analyzed and illustrated the real and projected impact of incest phenomenon on functioning of academic community: on quality of studies, on research activities, on psychosocial climate and on professional motivation of community members. The consequences of incest are revealed when formally in-groups are established or informally establishes themselves. In such groups typically group thinking is developed, which implies the occurrence of three essential conditions: the group friendship, unity: the relative group isolation from different-minded and the presence of directive leadership, which allows to understand what decisions are appreciated. In in-groups professional and personal intimacy is dominated, withdrawal in their own thoughts circle, rejection of any criticism, censorship and self-censorship, conformism and unconditional obedience to leaders, disregard to moral norms and other features are noticed. Negative impact of the incest phenomenon and its disposal options is set out in two scenarios: pessimistic and optimistic one. In pessimistic scenario a group thinking features and division of community into two hostile camps: us and them, are examined. In-groups are usually characterized by the phenomenon of internal favoritism, where inappropriate, ineffective actions and decisions of this group members are justified. The members of out-group are assessed uniformly and trite, i.e. not taking into consideration the individual personalities. They are usually assigned with negative „labels“. Dissidents instead are considered to be particularly enemies, who submit their own evaluations, opinions and criticisms, thus, different ways of their rejection or even exclusion from the community are searched. In optimistic scenario visions are concretized, thanks to which disappearance of incestuous relations and together the positive changes in everyday life of the academic community are likely expected.