Worldview of the Russian People Group
 07 Dec 2007

Characteristics

  1.   Fatalism vs. personal control of destiny:
    *Chris: I get up each day with an optimistic viewpoint: what good things will I learn today?
    *Elvira (language teacher): I get up each day & think, "What will happen to me today?"
    *Russian youth: some have a confident view of their own future while having a fatalistic view of their country’s future.
    *two questions sum up Russian reaction when problems confront them: what to do? & who is at fault?
  2. Collective/communal type thinking ("What’s best for the group") vs. rising individualism
  3. Older generation has tremendous problem with drive for success intrinsic to capitalism/free market thinking
    -no one has the right to make a profit off of someone else; everyone should be equal (communism); the one who has more should share with the one who has less (this is fine in theory but never found equal application among the elite of Communist leadership, thus revealing a tremendous hypocrisy within Communism)     .
  4. Mistrust of outsiders, especially from the West; Russia has been abused by political leaders both from within/without.  
  5. New idea that money will solve our problems (yet there is still tremendous corruption, bribery, lying, cheating in order to "survive and thrive").
  6. Yearning for a strong leader who will make Russia great once again.
  7. Commitment to the Motherland in spite of all her flaws .
  8. Sense of despair and disappointment that the Communist government misled the population into believing they were the most powerful and rich nation on earth during the Soviet era.
  9. The drive to have some type of "control" within Russian society (police screaming in traffic at extremely minor issue, customs officials poring over every single page of your passport to remind you of who is in charge).
  10. Fairy tales (more often than not) end with gruesome and sad consequences).
  11. Lack or even disrespect for human life.
  12. A trend toward nihilism especially among Russian youth.
  13. Existence of a generation of youth that appears more and more to be devoid of a conscience, unable to choose between right and wrong, and confused (rather than challenged) by the plethora of influences flooding their lives.
  14. Delinquent behavior may well be in part a mimicking of society’s lawlessness and corruption in general.
  15. A long history of distrust; throughout history Russian lands have been invaded many times; hence the distrust of outsiders.
  16. Russia is like a child looking to find it’s way in the world.
  17. Tendency to deny blame or acceptance of responsibility.
  18. A people of deep feelings who rarely show it on the street but normally among close friends and family.
  19. Traditionalism: a marked trait of Russian identity (very difficult for many Russians to change jobs).
  20. Long tradition of orientation to the past; the very essence of Orthodoxy is to look towards the church fathers & to the tradition and history of the church in order to understand the present day.
  21. The army as the symbol of strength of the country.
  22. The moral qualities of its population.
  23. The ruler as the guarantor of a worthy life embedded in a holy connection to the Russian people.
  24. The spirituality of the Russian people because of their self-sacrifice, chastity, cultural superiority, & orthodoxy.
  25. Proverb: "The Russian won’t budge until the roasted rooster pecks him in the rear" (i.e., it is a given that all Russia’s endeavors are doomed to founder in some congenital Russian inertia).
  26. Trauma deaths (accidents, suicides, murders, military casualties, poisonings, etc) continue to rise each year.
  27. Many Russians wonder whether in fact they are forever doomed to cycles of lurches and stagnation.
  28. A sense of shame among some older Russians that their children are going into business in order to work for "money".
  29. Russia has historically allowed "reformers" to pump up the muscle of the state until it can impose its will on the recalcitrant nation and drive it forward.
  30. In its struggle to match the outside world in might, Russia has always ended up at war with its own society, repressing its creative forces and distorting its social and economic development.
  31. Proverb during Brezhnev years: "you pretend you pay, I pretend I work".
  32. The tradition of a strong leader/state accumulating powers as vital to overcoming resistance. 
  33. Russia’s Generation X: searching for an identity, a name, a purpose, and a future; most have repudiated key features of the Communist worldview and now feel caught in between Marxism-Leninism and an unknown future: they are profoundly skeptical of political revolution and economic experimentation.
  34. Disillusionment among the young: because of the economic uncertainties of the ‘90’s and increased communication & travel, they now know how far behind the Soviet Union actually was and how far the Russian Federation is now.
  35. Lethargic, apathetic, uninterested, complaining about situation, blaming other people for their problems.

Beliefs

  1. That Russia should be a great world power as it once was (idea of 3rd Rome).
  2. To be Russian is to be Russian Orthodox; indigenous religious beliefs have been around for 1000 years; there is no need for "foreign religions" because they are inferior and relatively young compared to the Russian Orthodox Church.
  3. 2/3 of the people living in the Russian Federation believe that the nation is threatened by physical extinction (Oct 1995).
  4. Religion is seen as an inseparable part of Russian civilization rather than individual belief.
  5. Russian Orthodoxy is seen as spiritually superior to differing civilizations.
  6. Russians are stronger than anyone else in the world because of their survivalist and endurance mentality.
  7. Russia is often portrayed (especially in Russian movies) as civilized, wealthy, great, self-sacrificing, impulsive, & chaste.
  8. Religion is an almost genetic trait, inseparable from national identity (Russia is historically an Orthodox country); Russians have to repeat the traditional history & remain untouched by the rest of the world in order to preserve their autonomy, spiritual health, & national greatness; in such a worldview religious minorities of course can’t be accepted as positive .
  9. Russia is superior in civilization and spiritual values compared to inferior Western civilization.
  10. That its people, wealth of countryside, & importance of history are great, with tradition wrapped in religious terms like "holy" and "sacred".
  11. The church’s role is to enlighten people about their great history, that it is more than an institution for the saving of souls.
  12. New religious movements are neither really Christian nor really indigenous and therefore cross boundaries.
  13. Only when people have enough to eat will they really embrace democracy. 
  14. Widespread conviction that they are different, that they stand apart from Europe or Asia, with a destiny of their own.
  15. The notion that "Holy Russia" runs deep in the hearts of Russians as a people endowed with a unique spirituality & mission.
  16. The way of the West is not for Russia; Russia must follow its own course, taking into account its collectivist traditions & spiritual values.
  17. The idea that Russia’s chronic chaos is both its burden and its strength; that few nations could have endured what Russia has gone through in the last decade without a total breakdown.

Values

  1. Security-both politically and economically.
  2. Close relationships are rare and deeply valued among Russians; once you’ve made a Russian friend, they’re a friend for life (Bashkorts: did you come by just for some coal?).
  3. Great lovers of the arts, especially ballet and symphony music and poetry.
  4. Voracious readers; education is very important especially to today’s youth although it is not guaranteeing them job advancement or even placement upon graduation.
  5. The Russian soldier: brave, strong, patient, and therefore unbeatable.
  6. Many Russians view kiosks as humiliating reminders of eroding values and growing poverty.

Chris & Eileen Carr

Revised April 13, 2002

February 14, 2001