Two Russias and the world around

Can Russia be considered an open country or isolated from the entire outside world? What can sociologists who regularly conduct public opinion polls say about this? This is an article by Levada Center researcher Denis Volkov .

The modern world is changing. People are increasingly looking beyond the nation-state in an attempt to identify themselves. This is facilitated by population migration, trips outside one’s own country for work, study and leisure, i.e. real contacts with other countries. The Internet allows you to communicate with friends, colleagues, people in any other part of the globe, as if distances no longer exist. New technologies make it possible to monitor major events around the world in real time. Moreover, they allow everyone who has access to the Internet to choose between various sources of information and even themselves (using a phone, YouTube, a blog) to inform the world about what is happening around them - if they wish. Russia, as shown by long-term surveys by the Levada Center [1], falls out of global processes: the majority of the population has neither interest in other countries nor a sufficient set of tools for understanding what is happening outside their homeland.

Real contacts between Russians and the outside world (except for the countries of the former Soviet Union) are rather scarce. About 7% of the population have relatives in Western European countries, in the USA - 4%. 6-9% regularly go on holiday abroad (mostly people with high incomes and Muscovites), including about 2-3% to Western countries. In July 2008 of the “pre-crisis” year, 82% of Russians answered that they had never vacationed abroad.

Direct contacts with Western culture are typical primarily for Muscovites and, to a lesser extent, for residents of large cities - business activity is concentrated here and there is better access to various sources of information. More often than the national average, Muscovites have relatives abroad (in the USA - 13%, in Western European countries - 11%), respondents with higher education (in the USA - 10%, in Europe - 13%) and people with high incomes (2-3 times more often than in low-income strata). In our country, contacts with other countries are still a luxury that only a few can afford.

At the same time, the vast majority of citizens are not very interested in strengthening ties with the outside world. 80% believe that Russia is already sufficiently or even excessively “open to other countries.” A third of the population (36%) would like Russia to “let other countries into its own life less.” Almost half (45%) believe that it is worth trying to limit the influx of visitors. 60% say that the country should follow its own path, different from both the experience of the former USSR and “the European civilization common to the modern world.” Although, according to the average Russian, Western countries have a high standard of living (much higher than in Russia), citizens can control the actions of government bodies (unlike our country, where about 70% admit they are powerless), inability to change anything in one's own country, getting significantly closer to developed countries in terms of income and quality of life causes irritation and dissatisfaction. These negative feelings are then transferred to their neighbors, which turns Russians even more into themselves.

The desire to go abroad is an extreme degree of readiness to accept foreign rules, norms, and culture. Judging by public opinion polls, about 13% would like to leave “for permanent residence outside the former USSR” (in April 2009, as in April 1992), and only 1-2% are taking any action in this regard direction. The decision to emigrate is influenced by a person’s needs (whether he wants more or is ready to adapt to local conditions), the planning horizon (whether he sees his life in any long term), and how much he evaluates his employment opportunities in the new environment. Thus, the desire to leave for permanent residence is stronger among young, wealthy city residents. They know foreign languages, often have already been abroad or have relatives there. The level of education does not influence the decision, which rather indicates different “destinations” - some are going to build, for example, a scientific or educational career, others see themselves in the service sector. However, in an adapting society, where the majority have never traveled outside their country (and often their region), where the number of those who could plan their lives more than one year in advance is extremely small, these questions are insignificant - 80% never even were thinking about leaving.

Most Russians thus learn about what is happening outside the country indirectly - through the media, books, education. More than 80% of Russians turn to television every day. First of all - to 3-4 state channels. No more than a quarter have access to a variety of cable television. Two-fifths of Russians (42%) listen to the radio. Every fifth person (19%) reads newspapers [2] It is more difficult to assess the use of the Internet. The share of Russians who regularly go online is small - about 14-16% in the country as a whole. It turns out that the average Russian citizen is not aimed at independently searching for information that interests him (or her), but at passively consuming what the mainstream media gives out, including ready-made, consistent images of the outside world.

Individual socio-demographic groups, however, use the available channels for obtaining information differently. For example, 43% of Muscovites, 37% of people with higher education and 34% of young people aged 18-24 say that they regularly use the Internet (“daily, several times a week”) (the national average is 15%).

A March survey by the Levada Center made it possible to more accurately determine which media Muscovites turn to. The daily audience of TV channels in the city as a whole is 87%, newspapers and magazines - 23%, the Internet - 26%. In the younger age group of metropolitan residents (18-24 years old), the ratio is completely different: 67% watch TV daily, 15% read the press, 48% go online. Among the youth of a big city, the Internet is much more popular than newspapers and is beginning to compete with television. This group is most open to the influence of the outside world, if not through news sites [3] and television channels, then through mass (Western) culture.

One gets the impression that there are two Russias within the borders of one country. Inert, unfriendly to foreigners, fenced off from the outside world with a TV screen versus young, open, building a career, wealthy. The first, although absolutely predominant, has long ago acknowledged its own powerlessness to influence the course of events. The second feels like the master of her destiny, but more often chooses another citizenship or disconnects from reality by going online.

Note

1. Until 2003, the team of the Levada Center was VTsIOM, which he left in order to continue working in an independent non-state company. More information about the history of the Levada Center can be found on the website www.levada.ru .

2. For more details, see B. Dubin, N. Zorkaya. Reading and society in Russia in the 2000s // “Bulletin of Public Opinion”. 2008. No. 6(98). pp. 30-52.

3. According to research by the American Pew Research Center, the expansion of the Internet audience (about three-quarters of the US population accesses the Internet every day) and, consequently, easier access to various sources of information, have not made Americans more informed. In contrast, the share of young Americans aged 18-24 who have not accessed news at all in the past 24 hours has increased over the past ten years from 25% to 34%. (“Tossed by a gale.” Economist, 2009, May 14). With a high degree of probability, something similar can be expected in Russia.