What worries us and where do we seek protection? Numbers and comments.
With this publication, we open a joint project with the Yuri Levada Analytical Center. Based on opinion polls and expert opinions, we will try to draw a psychological portrait of our society, adding one feature every month.
Sociologists at the Levada Center have been regularly asking Russians about their main concerns since 1994. And the dynamics of the results is sometimes more eloquent than the numbers themselves. This is exactly what is happening now: against the background of the conflict with Ukraine and the confrontation with the Western world, we have become less afraid *. Compared to May 2013, we are noticeably less afraid of job loss (29% vs. 38%), poverty (46% vs. 52%). Surprisingly, we are no longer so afraid of arbitrariness (34% vs. 41%), a return to mass repressions (27% vs. 30%), and even our own death (33% vs. 41%)! “During the previous survey in May 2013, we recorded an increase in many fears,” explains sociologist Natalya Zorkaya. – It could be connected with a wave of civil protests, which at that moment had not yet subsided and was perceived by many in Russia as a threat to the stability of their world. From this point of view, the current decrease in fears (in a rather tense political situation) is quite understandable.
The state, which is now aggressively demonstrating its strength, is perceived by many as a powerful intercessorwhich, in case of danger, can protect against unemployment, and from poverty, and even from illness and death.
However, a slight decrease does not negate the fact that in absolute terms our fears remain stably high. Chief among them is the fear for children and loved ones. In one way or another, 73% of women and men experience it. It is followed by fear of a world war: it was named by 51% of survey participants (6% more than in 2013). Next come the fear of illness and suffering (47% of the respondents admitted it) and the fear of natural disasters (43%).
“The nature of fears shows that we do not have effective public institutions that we could rely on,” says Natalya Zorkaya. – The disease is especially terrible when there is no faith that doctors will cure, and a fire – when you know that after it no one will come to the rescue. Behind these numbers is a sense of insecurity and abandonment. In such a situation, the most important thing is what is closest – children, relatives and one’s own body. For them, and fear in the first place.
In addition, it is worth remembering that when speaking about fear for the fate and future of their children, adults, as a rule, express anxiety about their own future**.
* The survey was conducted on August 1–4, 2014 among 1600 people aged 18 and over in 134 settlements in 46 regions of the country. For more information see levada.ru
** For more on this, see “We Can Understand Our Fears”