A deer with a tree

What rallied the poor people around the oligarchs and officials? Why does the Russians excite foreign policy, and not the situation in their own country? Why did they get involved with such excitement with such an excitement for all kinds of "enemies"? "Mysterious Russian soul", "such a people", "Russians - and that is all said"? However, if you look at the situation through the prism of psychological theories, then many inexplicable, it would seem, phenomena will become much more understandable.

Group identification. Identifying himself with the group, a person evaluates it uncritically positively, with the help of high judgments, raising both the status of the group and his own self -esteem. Patriotism (national, state, local) is a group identification. Each of us identifies ourselves with various groups - national, ideological, class, sports, professional or cultural, one of which often has priority.

Identification with a powerful country gives a compensating sense of imaginary superiority. Even the most insignificant person receives the right to be proud of belonging to a nation, supposedly superior to others. It was according to this identification that Russia missed the post -Soviet years, which the Kremlin ideologists took advantage of. Empty-winged hurra-patriotic rhetoric and rejection of anti-corruption investigations; aggressive militaristic slogans and at the same time excited hype due to any positive review of Russia in the foreign press; joy because of world sports championships passing in the country and indifference about the closure of schools, hospitals and libraries; pride in "their" Russian nouveau riche who bought half the European Europe, and contempt for "strangers" scientists, writers and philosophers; The belief in the strong and honest Putin and the disbelief that his clan leads billions from the country - all this is the essence of the manifestation of group identification, a passionate desire to be part of a prosperous, dominant group. The crisis, unemployment, poverty, bondage of loans, in which tens of millions of Russians were, will not tear pink glasses from them. It is useless to give documents, facts, statistical indicators. No sound reasoning will be heard. It is a shame to recognize himself as a resident of a poor, looted country with a barely living economy, usurped resources and destroyed by the social sphere. And it's not about imperial ambitions, but in personal self -esteem.

Activated activity. The term is proposed by ethologist Nicholas Tinbergen , who discovered that sometimes animal behavior does not correspond to the situation in which they find themselves. For example, a bird hatching eggs when an enemy appears suddenly begins to clean feathers. And the deer, behind the lack of an opponent, fights the first tree that fall. From the outside, this behavior looks meaningless: animals evade solving the problem, shifting energy in favor of instinct that is not related to the situation. Thus, they reduce the voltage level. Only in appearance it seems meaningless when a person who is left without work and means of existence is immersed in political discussions in social networks. When a resident of the depressed town, taking up a weapon, goes to restore order in the Donbass or in Syria, instead of restoring order in his own house. And opposition activists, instead of the fight against the authorities, produce steam in the fight against geopolitical "Russophobes". Perhaps, “displaced activity” can also explain the love of many Russians to talk about politics. For centuries, people have been deprived of participation in political decisions, take their souls in political disputes. We are all in a sense of deer, fighting with a tree.

We are all in a sense of deer fighting with a tree

Internal and behavioral conformism. Any, even free, society forms both behavior and the opinion of its members. The more unanimous, the more difficult it is to disagree to have their own position. The basis of conformal behavior is always fear: from the fears of "being not like everyone else" to horror before the repression of the state. Conformism is influenced by factors such as self -esteem, status, level of culture and education, national stereotypes, anxiety and suggestibility. It is not surprising that in modern Russia, conformity is great: there is a historical memory in which there is almost no struggle for its rights, and the fall of the level of culture and education, and emigration of the most active part of the population, and the dictatorship of official propaganda. Planting universal unanimity, the media not only form a worldview, but also dictate what and how to say for one or another specific reason. The conversation of two people often resembles a conversation of TVs turned to each other screens.

Rational conformity suggests that a person is guided by judgments and his own benefit. An example is declarative patriotism, which has become an almost indispensable condition for any activity in Russia. A demonstration of loyalty is required for politicians, permitted oppositionists, public figures, cultural workers, directors of state institutions, candidates for leading posts and ambitious careerists of all stripes. Irrational conformity - the desire to go in service and swim with the flow, just in case, without leaning out once again, is based on intuition and instincts. It is based on the desire to be like everyone else (“group identification”), and doubt about the correctness of judgments that differ from the generally accepted (“halo effect”), and fear, being in an ideological minority, end up on the sidelines of society.

The theory of "Spiral of Silence", proposed by Elizabeth Noel-Namiman , explains why people do not express and even hide their position if it diverges from the generally accepted, and to what it leads to. The essence of the theory is that people who do not share the opinions of the majority prefer to conceal their beliefs out of fear of staying in isolation. The situation in which some express their opinion (“generally accepted”), while others (thinking against the “generally accepted”) hide their opinion, leads to an increase in the spiral process that ends that the “generally accepted” opinion becomes dominant and the only true. How the “spiral of silence” was twisted in Russia, we observed over the past five years. Very quickly the path was traveled from silent hostility, but also the unwillingness to speak out against the authorities, to the unanimous approval of everything that the authorities are doing. Where did the disagreements disappear? Someone hid, preferring to keep his opinion to himself, the rest, acting according to the laws of irrational conformity, "saw", moving to the majority camp.

St. George ribbons on cars and bags - now this is not so much a tribute to the victory as the declaration: "Look, I'm the same as everyone!"

Now the country is at the stage when everything, produced by official propaganda, becomes "public opinion", and the fear of standing out of the crowd or just to fall under suspicion permeates almost all aspects of life. In each there is an internal gendarme, which is the more stricter than the one -widower and more aggressive society. Parents are afraid to buy clothes for children, which seems to them too “American”, office employees put national flags on the tables, many almost do not write on social networks about politics (among my completely apolitical acquaintances it was customary to remove accounts, “just in case”). Even St. George ribbons on cars and bags - now this is not so much a tribute to the victory as the declaration: "Look, I'm the same as everyone!"

Sadomasochism. Every year the behavior of the "top" is becoming more and more causing. From political decisions to budgetary fraud, from strict statements to power methods, from the puffy wealth, which is contrary to patriotic rhetoric, to the open seizure of power and resources, from the odious Kadyrov to a shameless cycle. Often you can hear indignation: "Are they mocking us?" That's exactly - they are mocking. Moreover, they enjoy it. What we called lawlessness is already more than chaos. The prevailing relationship between power and the nation can be called sadomasochistic according to Erich Fromm. The Golden Million openly demonstrates belonging to the Caste of the untouchables, defiantly and with excitement experiencing the patience of the nation for strength. And the nation suffers, finding psychological compensation for a complex of civic inferiority in aggressive patriotism, which is understood as intolerance to the "others" and the submission of the authorities.

Recognizing yourself as incompetent people of the second grade, oddly enough, psychologically comfortable. And how else to justify the egregious inequality and the shameless enrichment of the bureaucratic layer? How to explain why doctors, teachers and researchers became marginals, and charlatans, scammers and bandits - an elite? How to relate to a feast during an economic plague, when politicians and oligarchs, not embarrassed, flaunt their "sweet life"? The powerless indignation only corrodes the psyche, aggravating suffering. The protective reaction is the humble acceptance of the status quo and its "rational" rationale: "We are insignificant slaves, and the king-priest with ministers knows better how to rule us." It is amazing that since the time of great-great ... This "justification" has not changed.

But the masochists do not just humble themselves with their humiliated position, they idealize and sacred suffering, enjoying them. So religiosity blooms, turning into exalted piety. Cuts are planted by all kinds of concepts of national repentance, including a wonderful theory that what happened after 1991 is a reckoning for the godlessness of the Soviet regime. And the masochists, as well as the sadists, need an application of their inclinations, and the sadomasochist society is constantly required "beating boys", objects of aggression and humiliation, which become any minorities - political, sexy and national. Therefore, we are constantly discovered by more and more “enemies”, therefore, a degree of hysteria and paranoia increases.

Sadomasochist society pushes out of the disagreements, fleeing emigration, but ralves its embittered members. Despite economic and cultural crises, it becomes quite resistant to any political unrest. So neither the change of power, nor serious reforms threaten such a society. Unfortunately, it is the best prepared for authoritarian ideology, and for the nationalist revenge, and for the war.

Elizabeth Aleksandrov-Zorin-Moscow writer and publicist