I can't imagine the "average American"

I landed at the San Francisco airport at the end of April 1994, and that’s when my “discovery” of America began. Moreover, a discovery in the literal sense of the word, because I knew nothing. What is the town in which we began to live? Where are the nearest shops, post office, medical help? Where is the library, what do you need to get the right to use it? Where is the nearest bus stop, where do the buses go, how much and how to pay for them, how to tell the driver that you need to get off at the next stop?

I'm not even talking about the inability to speak English. I remember the doctor said that I needed to sign up for some kind of test. I approached the receptionist and somehow explained to her what I needed. In her answer, I heard the familiar word “call”, thought that she would call me, and left. But for several days no one called me, and then I realized: she asked me to wait a little so that she could call me soon and set up a testing time. When I first came to the nearby, then one-room library, I asked if I could take books home from them. They understood me, said “yes” and corrected me: to borrow, i.e. take with return, or lend. And so, in small steps, a recognition of the country took place, which will never end.

Moreover, I am not discovering America, but only a small space that is located south of San Francisco and is the Northern tip of Silicon Valley. Half an hour from me are the barns and garages where Hewlett-Packard was born in the late 30s, Apple in the late 70s, Google in the late 90s, and Facebook in the middle of this decade. Clearly, without all this there is no America. But there is much more in America that I don’t know. And I won't recognize it.

I didn't know what awaited me. I naively thought how I would get to work if I drove a car. I didn’t admit that in two months I would have a driver’s license, but for several years I would be unemployed, graduate from college, work as a security guard... And it’s good that I didn’t know any of this, otherwise there would have been a collapse of illusions, and maybe that or more dramatic. I arrived in America at the age of 53, having already been a doctor of science for ten years and holding the title of professor of sociology, I knew a number of leading American “Sovietologists” whom I met at Stanford a week after my arrival. But I quickly realized: they were not waiting for me, and it was simple and easy for me to meet with them, without asking them for anything.

Of course, in the early years there were moments when I asked myself: “Wouldn’t it be better to play everything back?” But this was a rhetorical question. I understood that there was no turning back. And, perhaps, it was not family circumstances that stopped my “soul-searching,” but the understanding that came about five or six years later that I myself must find the strength to cope with difficulties.

Life does not allow me to travel around America, meet and have detailed conversations with Americans. But if I were asked about their attitude towards Russia and Russians, I would note two circumstances.

First: every American has many more complex and urgent matters to deal with than thinking about Russian reality. They know very little about her. I met people who had no idea where Russia was located and were incredulous that the country could have 11 time zones.

Boris Zusmanovich Doktorov (born 1941), Russian-American sociologist, graduate of the Mathematical Department of St. Petersburg State University, Doctor of Philosophy, professor, author of over 400 publications, including books: Pioneers of the world of opinions: from Gallup to Grushin. M., 2005; Founding Fathers. History of public opinion research. M., 2006; Advertising and public opinion polls in the USA: The history of its origins. The fate of the creators. M., 2008; The appearance of Barack Obama. Sociological observations. M., 2011; George Gallup. Biography and fate. M., 2011.

Since the early 2000s, I began collecting information about the life and work of George Gallup. The name of the organization bearing his name appears almost daily in the press, radio and television reports. I found a photo of him, printed it out and showed it to different people. He told them that they knew the name of this person, perhaps even heard or read him today, and asked them to name him. One of my respondents, knowing that I came from Russia, looked at me slyly, figured something out in his mind and said and asked: “Lenin?”

Second: people who have been to Russia admire Moscow and St. Petersburg and believe that they know the country. However, many remember the years of the Cold War, when in schools they were taught to hide under their desks in the event of a signal that Russian planes were in the sky.

But it is difficult for me to say what the “average American” thinks about Russia, because I cannot imagine the “average American”. In my town, according to the 2010 census, there are 30,567 people. Of these: 45.5% are white and less than 2% are black, i.e. those who in Russia are traditionally classified as Americans. All the rest are from the Pacific region, China, India and Latin America. Being on the campus of the nearest college, you might think that you are in China; the population of many nearby towns is largely Spanish-speaking. Who is the average American?

Most notices posted on information boards in stores, libraries, hospitals and post offices are written in at least English and Spanish, but there are often translations in 3-4 other languages. My city library has several shelves of Russian books: Marshak and Chukovsky, Dostoevsky and Akhmatova, Pelevin and Brodsky. The city has two large stores with a huge selection of Chinese products, and in neighboring towns there are restaurants and cafes serving various types of national cuisine. Within a 20-30 minute drive there is an Orthodox church, three synagogues representing different movements of Judaism, Catholic and Protestant churches, Indian and Chinese houses of worship, and Baptist churches attended by black Americans. Where to look for the average American?

The strongest evidence of racial and ethnic tolerance in society is the election of African-American Barack Obama as president in 2008. Then I conducted daily monitoring of the election campaign throughout the year, the result of which was the book “The Phenomenon of Barack Obama,” published in Moscow this year.

In 2007, public opinion and most observers predicted that Hillary Clinton would win the next year's presidential election. The policies of Republican George W. Bush were extremely unpopular, and therefore victory was given to the Democrats by many. At the same time, it was difficult to imagine that any of the former first lady’s party members would be able to successfully fight her. The vast majority of voters knew her, while Barack, realizing that his name was difficult for many to remember, told people: “Call me Alabama.” However, he convinced the Americans that through joint efforts the country would overcome economic difficulties and find a better path into the 21st century. And 53% of the electorate voted for him.

Now I am also closely following the development of the struggle for the White House between Obama and a large group of Republicans. Among them are black politicians and whites, women and men, Protestants, evangelicals and Mormons. No one doubts that Americans are in principle ready to elect a woman president, but less likely - a Mormon, Mitt Romney. A significant portion of voters do not consider Mormons to be Christians.

Despite this, for several months now only 38-40% of Americans approve of Obama's activities, which is a rather low figure. However, most political scientists believe that the results of the 2012 elections are by no means predetermined and the victory of the Republican candidate is not so likely.

This is explained by the fact that the nature of voting in the US presidential election is not strictly determined by the level of unemployment, the cost of gasoline and the level of inflation in the country. In addition, Republican candidates are clearly mesmerized by the Tea Party, which proposes extremely conservative domestic and foreign policies. American society is very strongly stratified along party and ideological lines: Democratic voters (33% of the national electorate), as a rule, support Obama's proposals, Republicans (also 33%) reject them. Consequently, the outcome of the elections will largely be determined by the votes of independent voters (the same 33%). If they are influenced by conservatives, then Obama will lose the election. However, many understand that following the program proposals of the conservatives is a return to the past.

Of course, today I am no longer the confused and ignorant person who stood at the San Francisco airport 17 years ago. Life teaches you a lot. You have to not only constantly master new things, especially since much of this new stuff is born in Silicon Valley, but also constantly rethink the past. I cannot live only in American reality. There is something that does not exist in America and that exists only in Russia. And above all, it is Russia itself.

Boris Doktorov