Translated material
Status "Non -free"
A survey of sociologists about freedom. It turns out that for most it is important and they have it
Photo: Igor Evdokimov / Kommersant
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How free the inhabitants of Russia feel free? How important is freedom for them? The answers to these questions were searched for by the “Levada Center”* and the laboratory of the future “Novaya Gazeta”. Eight questions about freedom were asked along with many others during the next June survey.
The first question in this series was: it seems to you that for most people around you is freedom important or not important?
Result:
Those who thought that for Russians the word "freedom" means nothing is wrong. Three quarters of people replied that freedom for them is "very important."
This is the general installation. It remains to find out nuan differences. They are. Among the young people (younger than 40), almost 80%are noted the importance of freedom, among the elderly (55+) - less than 70%. For women, the question was more significant than for men. The reaction of managing employees is noteworthy. Among the bosses, it is significantly lower (66%) than among, for example, workers (77%), the share of recognizing the importance of freedom for other people, that is, for me and you.
But housewives most often others see in others respect for freedom (81%). Maybe the fact is that their environment is mainly family, relatives. And at home, people feel more free.
It was an introductory question. Further, people asked a series of seven questions about how free they are in making decisions on one or another life problem. Of the seven areas of life, one turned out to be the sphere of maximum freedom. This is leisure. No wonder its other name is free time. On average, 84% said that they were completely free in how to spend leisure time. But who is the freer of their free time at their disposal? It turns out that these are again guidelines (90%). (But here they answer to themselves, not about their environment.)
With the presentation of the elderly, it is customary to think that the young people are most having fun and in vain. But, comparing the answers of young people with the answers of other age groups, we see that young people feel at the disposal of leisure less free (78%) than those who are older (87%). And the student youth is even less (69%). So the question arises: to whom to believe more - banal (senile) ideas and everyday stereotypes or surveys? Everyone decides for himself.
A similar question about the choice of sources of information, knowledge, impressions. How free are you in making decisions about what to read, watch, listen to?
More than 80% replied that they are completely free in this choice. And most often such an answer was given by those who are in status pensioners, and by age the oldest (88%). We know that it is these people that are the most devoted audience of Russian TV, minimally distracted by any other information channels. And as fans of TV, they also most often say that they are free in choosing sources of information. They chose three channels of Russian TV freely, but they do not and do not have other media.
In recent years, the activity of a special kind of experts, who put the work of the work of cinema and literature, has been noticeable, because - in the opinion of these experts - they promote certain values alien to us. It is good or bad, but the activity of these prohibitions shows us a survey, did not attract the attention of our respondents. Well, yes, in the end, those who wish to read something or see at hand of the Internet. And in it, so far, if prohibitions appear, then the funds appear and bypass them.
The next question belonged to topics that are considered "delicate."
How free are you in making decisions on how to dispose of your funds?
But only one person for a hundred refused to answer. And three quarters (76%) of respondents assured that they were completely free in this. It would be possible to expect that people complaining that buying something outside of essential and food items is difficult for them, they will declare their problems. But their answers are only a little (by 2 pp) differ from the answers of those whom we can consider prosperous. They do not consider poverty as lack of freedom. The most poor, but the youngest complained about lack of freedom in this area. It is possible that the votes of those who have not yet gained complete independence from the parental family sounded here.
Almost the same number of people (74%) said that they were “completely free” in making decisions about which country they live.
From previously conducted studies, we know that part of the society, most often thinking about the question of which country to live, is young people. “Ponders”, whether to leave, many times more than “gathering”, but there are many more than actually moving to another country, but still young people prevail among the actually leaving Russia. According to the stories, they made up the main stream of those who left the Russian Federation in the spring, and then in the fall of 2022.
They say then they all chose themselves. However, judging by their answers in the current survey, they do not feel special freedom for this part. If on average three quarters say that they are free on the question of which country to live in, then there are only two -thirds among young people. Entrepreneurs feel even less confident. Probably, these answers reflected a not very affectionate entrepreneurial climate in present -day Russia and the worsening opportunities to start a case in another country. What the results of other social studies have been talking more than once.
Almost the same three quarters (73%) of respondents said that they were completely free to make decisions on how to arrange their personal life. Women, which is gratifying, turned out to be somewhat freer than men in this regard. But once again it has to be noted that the youngest smaller the freedom in this matter. (Probably, they are weighed down by the elders' attempts to continue to control their connections and contacts.) However, a jump (10 percentage points) is very noticeable when moving from a group of younger youth (18–24) to a group of the eldest (25–39). Between these two states, as a rule, are several important life changes. People from "students" are transferred to the status of "workers." From the status of lonely boys and girls or from “in relations”, they pass into the status of husbands and wives, or even fathers and mothers. And although family ties replace youth freedom, people in the answers to our question emphasize that they have taken on these family and labor obligations of their own free will.
Significantly lower than the level of consent of the respondents in the answer to the question is how free they are when making decisions about which profession and work to choose. It is interesting that almost the most free ones were declared by those who at the time of the survey were just (according to them) in search of work. And those who still have to make this choice, those who still study have spoke out much less definitely. As in the question of personal life, a sharp difference, gaining much greater freedom occurs with those who grow up, crosses the line of 35–40 years. The survey discovered the connection of this topic with property status. It is harder for the poor to find a job than rich.
During the survey, the researchers asked: how free are you in making decisions about what political views to express you publicly?
The answers to this question had many differences from the above. Firstly, the answer “completely free” chose much fewer people than in all cases considered (53%). Secondly, in contrast to other questions, where the answers that “not free” were given units of percent (and therefore we did not give them), here their share increased to 20%, and another 8% evaded the answer. That is, people are fully aware that not every opinion should be expressed publicly.
Even among the completely loyal citizens of the Russian Federation, those who consider Russia to be correct and the president approves, less than 60%give answers about freedom to publicly express political views. And among those who occupy opposite positions and giving negative answers about the course of the country (there are 17%of them), who believe that they are completely free to express (their own) political views, falls up to 34%. Another 16% chose the answer "mostly free." Total 50%. And the opposite opinion (“in many ways is not free” and “completely not free”) chose 23 and 22%, i.e. also 50%.
Recall that
Among those who most trust information from the TV, 9 out of 10 people believe that they are free in choosing a source of information. But the fact that they have complete freedom in the expression of political views, only six out of ten are confident in this group.
And if we take students, that is, those who, on the contrary, are minimally dependent on TV, but are based mainly on information from the Internet, then among them are those who are sure of their freedom to express any views, there are not four out of a dozen. (It turns out that among the students of those who are sure that he has freedom, what views to express, exactly two times less than confident in their freedom to choose in which country to live.)
We summarize. If you compare the answers to the first question (whether freedom is important for others) and the rest (how free you are), then we will see that there are two poles. On one - leadership workers. They, as they say, the least see the value of freedom in others, but they feel most of their own freedom. On the other, there are students of youth. On the contrary, they note most often the importance given by other people. But they smaller freedom for themselves.