Ostalo
Ethnic Motives in Russian Mass Consciousness
Natalija Pliskevič
; Moskva, Rusija
Sažetak
The author examines certain finding on ethnic aspects of mass consciousness in the Russian Federation, as presented in the journal Monitoring public opinion: economic and social changes (rus. Мониторинг общественного мнения: экономические и социальные перемены), published by the All-Russian Centre for the Study of Public Opinion. The problems of national identity and ethnic tension in Russia increased after the collapse of the Soviet empire. Ethnic phobias, complexes and ambitions reached a peak in the period 1993–1995. However, by 1999–2000, according to the surveys, they returned to the 1989–1990 level. The increase until 1995 occurred during the break-down of former Soviet political and administrative relations. By 1994 negative attitudes, apart from a traditional aversion to immigrants from the Caucasus, were directed to peoples of the newly independent former Soviet republics (especially to those from the Baltic states), and to ethnic groups such as the Vietnamese, Gypsies, etc. On the other hand, the subsequent decrease in negative attitudes to other ethnic groups was not so much the result of greater tolerance or the development of civil society, but rather due to an imperial tradition of indifference to ethnic problems. According to L. Gudkov, ethnic views in 1994–1995 showed traces inherited from the Stalinist period. Gudkov found that passivity and a “victim“ complex had assumed a central position in the self-image of Russians. Such a complex serves to exonerate the subject from any feeling of personal blame or deficiency, but also leads to a nostalgic idealisation of the past and a negation of the present. The result is a social syndrome that denies action and an ethnosocial self-awareness that prevents universalisation and the development of a national identity based on the principles of civil society. The “victim“ complex fosters a feeling of threat to the nation, which fuels nationalism. Yet Russian nationalism has not yet assumed a massive level, although the mass awareness of Russians is marked by a form of traditionalism, which manifests itself not so much in adherence to traditions, as in preventing the penetration of universal (foreign) values. The author (N.P.) further summarised some results on the level of anti-Semitism in Russia. In this regard she presents the conclusions of the American researcher, R. Brim, who found that after the 1998 devaluation of the ruble attitudes towards Jews were divided, but with a preponderance of the negative stance. Brim concluded that political factors and leaders had the most effect on the fate of Jews in Russia. At more stable times, as Gudkov claimed, the Russian attitude towards Jews was either positive or neutral, no different then the relationship to other ethnic groups and less negative than the attitudes of non-Russians, especially in the autonomous entities, to minorities (including Jews). All in all, one researcher (Zdravomyslov) estimated that ethnic nationalism in Russian society effected no more than 10% of the population. The author (N.P.) also summarises the results of some comparative analyses between Russia and other former Soviet republics. First, the image of the CIS as a threat to Russia has fallen in recent years and the great majority of Russians favour peaceful methods in regard to protecting the rights of Russian minorities in the former Soviet republics (Sedov). Comparative research in the Russia, the Baltic states and the Ukraine, shows that Russians and Estonians have similar attitudes to state paternalism and a similarly divided opinion on reforms and socialism (however state paternalism has more support in Russia and reforms are slightly more favoured in Estonian public opinion). As to social fears, comparative study of public opinion in Lithuania, Russia and the Ukraine showed that respondents in Lithuania felt relatively the least social fears, while those in the Ukrainian felt the most. The situation in the Ukraine also indicated a tolerance towards ethnic minorities, although the political leadership had based its policy of social integration on the titular nation and not on the political nation.
Ključne riječi
Russia; the Russian Federation; public opinion; mass consciousness; ethnicity; nationalism; Estonia; Lithuania; the Ukraine
Hrčak ID:
108270
URI
Datum izdavanja:
29.12.2000.
Posjeta: 2.118 *