The Possibility of Cultural Recession in Russia since 2010: Reflections on Values Research

Abstract

Since the second part of 2010th the data on national values research has given rise to doubts among specialists concerning the successful cultural modernization of the Russian society. According to the results of the World Value Survey (WVS), Russian society values have been surprisingly stable for a quarter of century constituting the combination of materialistic and post materialistic values with prevalence of the first group. The real macrocommunicative complexes are revealed in the framework of communication theories of society (N. Luhmann, M. McLuhan) and empirical data on value content in TV and magazine ads in this exploratory research on macrocommunication structures in consumer society. The mentioned complexes are connected with value orientations, financial position and age of the respondents. The authors argue that for the period of relative stability of the Russian society (2000-2014) consumer values appear to have been thoroughly adopted and have grown into an integral part of values system. Consequently, even in the situation of economic recession in the second part of 2010th, the Russian society cannot be threatened by the cultural recession. The majority of young people consider typical values of consumer society being significant: jobs, family, success, entertainment and relaxing. Youngsters demonstrate higher value and life-style differentiation in comparison with the older generation. Age gap appears to be more substantial than the standard of living.