The Russian Electorate : Ten Years of Evolution

The "Orthodox revival," the "second Christianization" of post-Soviet Russia, and other clichés in our media require empirical verification, of course. The findings of representative surveys regularly conducted by VTsIOM [the Russian Center for Public Opinion Research] since 1989 enable us to analyze the quantitative aspect of the problem (fluctuation in the number of believers over several years, frequency of church attendance, observance of basic rituals), as well as to trace the connection between Russians' stated religious beliefs, on the one hand, and their value orientations on other levels (ethnic stereotypes, ideas about the past, political attitudes), on the other. At issue is the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC): the number of believers in the regular VTsIOM surveys who belong to other Christian denominations and to non-Christian faiths falls within the limits of statistical reliability, that is, statistically permissible error; Islam has the highest number of believers (about 4 percent), while the others do not reach even 1 percent. Hence other faiths will be excluded from what follows, and the terms "believers" and "Orthodox" will be used provisionally as synonyms.¹     

Education and the Orthodox Religion

The Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church discusses the role of the church in Russian society and politics, and argues against giving other religions a place in the school curriculum.     

Religion in the System of State Power

The author analyzes the tripartite relationship among the state, the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) and other "traditional" religions, and "nontraditional" faiths, contrasting actual practice with the constitutional and legal norms of the Russian Federation as a formally secular state.     

Social and Professional Status and Political Values in Russia,Germany, and the United States

A comparison of political values in Russia, Germany, and the United States shows that while there are similarities, Russian respondents are much more in favor of government providing for people's needs than is the case in Germany and the United States. In all three countries, values vary from stratum to stratum.     

Economic Behavior and the Influence of Religious Traditions

Survey data from the Kursk region show that investment activity in Russia is linked with religious tradition. The data also show the influence of economic doctrines of Orthodox Christianity, Protestantism, and Islam on the mass investor's tendency to take risks, pursue profit, and take initiative in the stock market and in entrepreneurship.     

Myths about Russia

This article provides an interdisciplinary theoretical analysis of contemporary social mythology and summarizes the results of an empirical study. The main groups of mythologized images of Russia in the consciousness of modern youth include: mythologized images of Russian domain and the historical perspective of Russia; symbolic and metaphorical images of Russia; and the types of social world views that young people have. The aspects of the constructive and destructive impacts of myths about Russia described in this article may be used to analyze and interpret individual and group images of Russia among young people and to develop recommendations for preventing the destructive impact of the mythologization of Russia's image on the social processes and consciousness of modern youth.     

Russian Population Dynamics and Its Components in 2001-25

Data on population trends in Russia show that despite fluctuations, the long-term trend is a continued decline in the size of the Russian population. The government's pro-fertility policies may not be able to stem this trend, and the potential for in-migration of people of Russian descent is almost exhausted.     

Landmarks

The collection Landmarks [Vekhi], published in the spring of 1909, was destined to have an amazing fate. Devoted to the Russian intelligentsia, the book was the subject of almost unanimous criticism that often degenerated into defamation and abuse. For several months, the entire periodical press of Russia, both newspapers and magazines, published responses to Landmarks on their pages; the number soon exceeded a hundred, but the reviews in which an attempt was made to penetrate the authors' arguments and come up with a substantive criticism of them were a negligible minority. Articles by E.N. Trubetskoi, V.V. Rozanov, and A. Belyi were among the positive responses.     

简论东正教文化对俄语语言的影响

东正教统治俄罗斯千余年,对俄语语言的影响广泛而深远。从成语看,大量来自东正教的成语已成为俄语标准语,无旧词的痕迹,宗教色彩淡化或消失,已获得新义或转义。从谚语看,含有上帝等词的谚语众多,已成为农谚、民谚的来源,语义发生极大变化。从词汇看,加快了俄语对外来词的吸收进程,丰富了俄语词汇的语义系统,赋予俄语全民用词以新的内涵。通过分析东正教文化对俄语成语、谚语、词汇三个方面的影响,可以帮助我们深入了解俄罗斯国情与文化,为跨文化交际服务。     

The Ecological Situation Through the Eyes of Russians

Survey data on comparisons between teachers in Russia and other countries show that the average Russian schoolteacher places a very high value on security and a very low value on the opportunity to enjoy life and have pleasure. Russia's schoolteachers are more often ahead of other Europeans when it comes to the importance of personal success, wealth, and power, as well as obedience and conformity to traditions, and, in contrast, they tend to lag behind when it comes to their adherence to the values of independence, equality, tolerance, helping people around them, and the protection of the environment. The authors see these orientations as cultural barriers to the successful functioning and development of Russian society.     

Chechnya

The roots of the conflict between Moscow and Grozny lie in the history of Chechnya's relations with the Russian state. When Russia conquered Chechnya in the second half of the last century, the Chechens were, in terms of civilizational development, in a pretraditional stage characterized by the absence in practice of a stable state form capable of subordinating clan and tribal relationships to itself. The expansion of the Russian Empire was directed at regulating local conflicts among various clan and tribal groups and individual princes; however, this "civilizing mission" contained an incipient conflict between the center of the empire and these peoples. The Russian Empire's policy of annexation, implemented in a highly traditional country, predetermined the rise of conflict, manifested in the Caucasian war between Chechnya and Russia in the nineteenth century and the state of oppression that followed, in which Chechnya has now lived for more than a century and a half. Along with conflictual relations, a certain collaboration also developed and groups neutral to the conflict began to appear. This, in turn, stirred up conflict among the Chechens themselves.     

The Middle Class in Russia

Analyses of Russian society often refer to the emergence of a new middle class in Russia, but attempts to establish its existence, size, characteristics, and behaviors are contradictory and inconclusive. In surveying this debate, Samson and Krasil'nikova argue that this is no longer a useful concept, and that a population's ability to adapt to global economic forces should be the basis for distinguishing strata.     

Traces of Defeat

The state monopoly over television, turning it into a vehicle of total propaganda, has over the course of time changed the structure of public and information space in Russia. Although television undoubtedly continues to occupy the dominant place in the structure of information sources, trust in the quality of broadcasts has declined sharply in recent years. As a result of the regime's efforts, the public sphere has been thoroughly sterilized. Opportunities for the representation of group interests and exchange of information have grown increasingly limited. The Russian public is once again subject to an institutional fear that goes back to Soviet times, a condition that is likely to have severe and prolonged consequences.     

Where Is Russia Going and Why?

Russia is in the throes of economic and social change.¹ The changes are being monitored by VTsIOM [the Russian Center for Public Opinion Research]. VTsIOM processes its data in time series, and some of these series are published in the VTsIOM bulletin.² VTsIOM's bulletin and sociological data bank are extremely valuable sources of information regarding the "historic scale" of the Russian model for change in the 1990s. This article makes secondary use of dynamic indices, both unpublished indices and those published in the VTsIOM bulletin, based on public opinion surveys reflecting economic and social changes since March 1993 in order to engage in multidimensional analysis of the factors involved in Russia's evolution and the developmental alternatives.     

Identity and Gender Roles of Orthodox Jewish Women

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine how ultra-Orthodox women's unique religious beliefs and values affect their gender roles and everyday life. The ultra-Orthodox community is one of several sub-groups within the Orthodox community that, overall, has a range of attitudes towards the women's roles. To date, little research has been conducted with this community. This study, therefore, aims to examine these women's roles as mothers, wives and community members, and to discuss the implications of those roles for clinical practice.     

Demographic Transition

Some forecasts based on possible trends in population in Russia suggest that it may be possible to achieve stabilization of the population. However, the actual demographic situation and the conditions in Russian society raise doubt about this, and about the possibility of sustaining and enhancing the quality of an aging and declining population. Russia's future and the possibilities for successful modernization of the economy and its transition to an innovative path of development depend on the quality and structure of the population.     

Problems of the Socialization of Today's Young People

Data from survey research on intergenerational cultural continuity in Russia shows that there is a growing gap between values and understanding of Russian ethnicity over time as links between generations become weaker.     

Popular Humor in the Post-Soviet Period

The question of the uniqueness [svoeobrazie] of Russian philosophy and its distinctive features has been around for more than a century. Since the 1840s, when Russian philosophers set about studying the history of philosophical thought in Russia, the question immediately arose as to whether one could speak of Russian philosophy as a distinctive [samobytnoe] and original phenomenon, or whether it would be more correct to speak of philosophy in Russia, i.e., the existence in Russia of philosophical ideas whose roots lay not in Russia but beyond its borders, while in Russia they are merely disseminated, but not born.     

俄罗斯提速远东开发战略探析

2012年亚太经合组织峰会于9月8日在远东城市符拉迪沃斯托克（海参崴）举行,这是俄罗斯首次承办该峰会,选在符拉迪沃斯托克举行会议就是要告诉世界俄开发远东的决心。以此为契机,俄开发远东全面加速。俄罗斯远东和西伯利亚虽然资源丰富,却是俄经济发展最落后的地区,与此同时,整个亚太地区的经济发展速度非常强劲。怎样提速远东的发展就成为俄罗斯实现整个国家复兴、实现与亚太地区战略对接的一个关键性问题。