Dynamics of Russians’ perception of the situation in various spheres of life: from assessments to requests for social policy

The article analyzes the dynamics and specifics of Russians’ assessments of the ongoing changes in various spheres of life. Based on the data of studies conducted by the Institute of Sociology of FCTAS RAS in different years, it is shown that the most significant improvements have occurred over the past almost two decades in terms of the level and quality of life of the population, as well as education and health care. In particular, the share of positive perception of the situation with unemployment and expansion of opportunities for earning, with the availability of housing and pre-school institutions is growing. “Cautious” positivity is noted with regard to the situation with social justice, living standards, as well as secondary and higher education. However, the dominance of positive assessments is not recorded in any of the spheres. This signals the persistence of separate problems in them, relevant for different groups of the population. Assessments of the situation in the spheres related to collective security deserve special attention, in respect of which a sharp increase in negative assessments is recorded. The groups with relatively homogeneous views on the dynamics of the situation in different spheres of life in society were considered. Among them, Russians with pessimistic and moderately optimistic views of the ongoing changes are approximately equal in number. It has been noted that the key differences between these groups, and, accordingly, their requests for changes in certain spheres, are formed under the influence of factors mainly of a subjective nature. They are related to the perception of their own well-being, the number and nature of problems experienced in the last year, as well as some “we-identities”. In particular, it is shown that the request for qualitative changes for pessimists is formed largely spontaneously and under the effect of the cumulative negative impact of many factors on their lives. Requests for further improvements in key areas of life are more differentiated among moderate optimists and “stability-oriented” part of society.

Russian society, social policy, social well-being, welfare attitudes, group identities, public consciousness, social contract