In the modern world, sanctions are increasingly used as a foreign policy tool used to put pressure on individual states. Sanctions have an ambiguous impact on society. On the one hand, sanctions consolidate society and unite it against outer interference. On the other hand, sanctions might be a negative factor because of their harmful effects on socio-economic indicators, the deprivation of access to certain goods and the formation of a negative image of the country.
The article is intended to present the theoretical basis for the influence of sanctions on the solidarity of society using the examples of Russia and Iran. Theoretical materials touch upon such aspects as solidarity, the phenomena of resentment, relative deprivation, division along the “friend or foe” line and the “rally around the flag” effect.
As a conclusion, it is noted that there are some theoretical grounds for both the negative and positive impact of the sanctions policy on the solidarization of society. However, modern science remains unexplored exactly what impact the new round of sanction pressure has on the process of solidarization, which social groups are more or less susceptible to that impact and how significant sanctions-related restrictions are for the process of solidarization. Thus, the article leads to the formulation of the problem that lies in the need for an empirical study of the impact of sanctions policy on the solidarization of society in the era of global transformations.
sanctions policy, solidarization, Russia, Iran, Western sanctions, identity