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Russians’ Perceptions of the Relationship between the Individual and State Interests:
an Empirical Analysis of Dynamics

Tikhonova N.E.,

Institute of Sociology of the Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, netichon@rambler.ru

elibrary_id: 71905 | ORCID: 0000-0002-5826-4418 | RESEARCHER_ID: G-8413-2015

DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2021.06.11

Rubric: Russia Today

For citation:

Tikhonova N.E. Russians’ Perceptions of the Relationship between the Individual and State Interests: an Empirical Analysis of Dynamics. – Polis. Political Studies. 2021. No. 6. https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2021.06.11

The study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (project No. 20-18-00505).

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a rapid increase in the number of supporters of the priority of human rights due to the reduction in the number of supporters of the priority of the state interests in Russia. The conflict between the views of these groups is, however, not a value conflict, but the result of a different vision of the ways to achieve the desired future of Russia according to their representatives. The difference in the views of these groups on the relationship between the interests of the state and individual rights is primarily related to their socio-psychological characteristics (non-conformism, frustration due to the inability to achieve basic life goals etc.), and not with their objective position or ideological views, although the corresponding features are also seen among them. The group of supporters of the priority of the state interests has two cores (one is spontaneously patriarchal, the second has a conscious conservative ideology). As for the supporters of the human rights priority, the heterogeneity of this group is very high and continues to increase, since its expansion occurs primarily due to the residents of small and medium-sized cities, as well as older Russians. Currently, there is not a single age cohort where the number of supporters of the state interests’ priority is higher than those of the human rights. Supporters of the priority of human rights are worried not so much about the values of democracy as about such socio-economic problems as deep inequalities, a cumbersome bureaucracy, uncertainty about the future etc. The composition, specificity of the views and electoral preferences of supporters of the human rights priority indicate that they cannot act as a social basis for either systemic or non-systemic opposition, although they are characterized by an increased readiness for street protests. Representatives of the groups that form the social basis for the Russian middle class are more likely to be found among the supporters of the state interests’ priority. 

Keywords

human rights, political modernization, norms, values, value systems, electoral base of parties, public consciousness.

 Full Text 

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