When talking about Russia or Russians you can often hear about the “mysterious Russian soul.” If you want to understand it better or plan to come to Russia, then you’ll probably be interested in the following article.
Levada Analytical Center, non-governmental research organization in Russia, published some interesting results – statistics on how moral constraints of Russian people were changing over the past two decades (since the collapse of the Soviet Union).
The surveys were about Russians’ attitude to:
- criticism of the government,
- adultery,
- white lie,
- crossing the street in the wrong place,
- theft at work,
- sex without love,
- evasion of taxes.
The latest survey was conducted on June 6-10, 2013, on a representative sample of the All-Russian urban and rural population of 1601 people aged 18 years and older in 130 localities from 45 regions of the country.
The distribution of answers is given as a percentage of the total number of respondents, together with data from previous surveys. The statistical error doesn’t exceed 3.4%.
Do you think it is permissible to punish children physically?
| Mar.92 | Jul.98 | Mar.07 | Jul.09 | Jun.13 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This is normal, permissible | 16 | 27 | 28 | 22 | 29% |
| This isn’t normal, not permissible | 58 | 63 | 65 | 73 | 63% |
| Hard to say | 26 | 10 | 7 | 6 | 8% |
Do you think it is permissible to cross the street in the wrong place?
| Mar.92 | Jul.98 | Jul.09 | Jun.13 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| This is normal, permissible | 22 | 29 | 25 | 24% |
| This isn’t normal, not permissible | 61 | 67 | 70 | 72% |
| Hard to say | 17 | 4 | 5 | 5% |
Do you think it is permissible to criticize the government?
| Mar.92 | Jul.98 | Jul.09 | Jun.13 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| This is normal, permissible | 76 | 85 | 81 | 80% |
| This isn’t normal, not permissible | 8 | 9 | 12 | 12% |
| Hard to say | 16 | 6 | 5 | 8% |
Do you think it is permissible to evade taxes?
| Mar.92 | Jul.98 | Jun.13 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| This is normal, permissible | 19 | 27 | 26% |
| This isn’t normal, not permissible | 46 | 59 | 60% |
| Hard to say | 35 | 13 | 14% |
Do you think it is permissible to live beyond one’s means?
| Apr.92 | Jul.98 | Jul.09 | Jun.13 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| This is normal, permissible | 24 | 27 | 22 | 32% |
| This isn’t normal, not permissible | 58 | 65 | 69 | 59% |
| Hard to say | 19 | 8 | 9 | 9% |
Do you think it is permissible to have sex before marriage?
| Mar.92 | Jul.98 | Jul.09 | Jun.13 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| This is normal, permissible | 42 | 52 | 53 | 58% |
| This isn’t normal, not permissible | 36 | 39 | 37 | 31% |
| Hard to say | 23 | 9 | 10 | 11% |
Do you think it is permissible to have lover/mistress in addition to husband/wife
| Mar.92 | Jul.98 | Jul.09 | Jun.13 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| This is normal, permissible | 26 | 34 | 36 | 34% |
| This isn’t normal, not permissible | 47 | 51 | 52 | 50% |
| Hard to say | 28 | 15 | 12 | 16% |
Do you think it is permissible to steal anything from job?
| Jul.09 | Jun.13 | |
|---|---|---|
| This is normal, permissible | 16 | 24% |
| This isn’t normal, not permissible | 77 | 64% |
| Hard to say | 7 | 12% |
Do you think it is permissible to have sex without love?
| Mar.92 | Jul.98 | Jul.09 | Jun.13 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| This is normal, permissible | 16 | 26 | 32 | 40% |
| This isn’t normal, not permissible | 57 | 59 | 51 | 43% |
| Hard to say | 27 | 15 | 18 | 18% |
Do you think white lie is permissible?
| Mar.92 | Jul.98 | Jul.09 | Jun.13 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| This is normal, permissible | 33 | 57 | 55 | 61% |
| This isn’t normal, not permissible | 36 | 32 | 34 | 26% |
| Hard to say | 31 | 11 | 11 | 14% |
Statistics by Levada Center
This Soviet poster says: “He drank, swore, broke the tree - he is ashamed now” “Shame on you!”
Does it reflect your reaction to these surveys, or maybe people around the world are somewhat similar, and this applies not only to Russians?
