External influence on social processes in Chechen society in the second half of the 19th century
Authors:   Pyatigorsk State University, Denilkhanov I. S. 
Published: October 2024

Introduction. The article examines and analyzes the influence of external aspects on the development of social processes in Chechen society in the second half of the 19th century. According to the author, the main and leading role in the galvanization of the changes that took place in Chechen societies was played by the Russian Empire, which, having come to the North Caucasus and offered the local peoples its own development paradigm, contributed to the acceleration of intra-system transformations that had roots in the distant past. The traditional patriarchal way of life began to be tested due to the impact of socio-cultural and socio-economic innovations associated with the capitalist relations introduced in the region. Materials and Methods. The study is based on an analytical comprehension of the works of famous domestic historians of the Caucasus, ethnographers and political economists devoted to the socio-political conditions of the development of the North Caucasus in the 17th – second half of the 19th centuries and was based on the principles of historicism, scientific objectivity and reliability. The appeal to the scientific work of specific researchers was determined by both the depth and comprehensiveness of their penetration into the essence of the problem under consideration, the integral and panoramic vision of the historical processes under study, and, in part, by the proximity of their ethno-national origin to the ethno-cultural world of the Chechen people. Analysis. According to M.A. Mamakaev’s point of view, the role that the taip played in Chechen societies for a long historical time is beyond doubt. This consanguineous structure had great plasticity and was able to effectively respond to the demands of local societies, to respond to internal and external challenges. Based on the opinions shared by M.O. Kosvena, K.S. A.-K. Kokurkhaeva, A.I. Robakidze and R.L. Kharadze, the author came to the conclusion that the strength of the taip organization of the social life of the mountain Chechens was due to the age-old experience of the struggle for survival. It forced them to adhere to intra-ethnic solidarity, which to a large extent leveled the social class stratification inevitable in new historical circumstances. It is the external factor (Russia) that seems to have contributed to the preservation of traditional patriarchal norms for regulating life among the Chechens. Results. With account of the results of the study and V.I. Lenin’s point of view on the unfolding socio-economic processes in the region after the arrival of Russia, along with which the meanings and practices of capitalism began to penetrate the North Caucasus, it canbe stated that the traditional socio-cultural and economic structure of local life underwent a significant reformatting and was tied to the same processes that took place within the Russian Empire itself. They largely contributed to the pace and depth of renovationism after the elimination of competition from the mountain statehood – the imamate.