Window on Eurasia

Younger Russians More Skeptical Than Elders About Country’s Direction

 

Paul Goble

Vienna, August 25, 2006 – Over the last six years, younger Russians have
become increasingly skeptical about the direction the Russian Federation
is heading in, while those slightly older have become somewhat more
optimistic about that trend, according to the results of polling
released this week.

On the one hand, the Levada Center’s A. Golov said, these shifts took
place on the background of a general increase in skepticism and
incredulity about a variety of phenomena such as the predictive quality
of dreams, astrology, and the existence of life after death.

But on the other, this general pattern “expresses one way or another
a harsher approach in thinking or even disappointment in life.” And it
is thus possible to say that “people characterized by high and
growing skepticism are ‘a risk group’” for the larger society
[http://www.levada.ru/press/2006082202.html].

These conclusions flow from a comparison of the results of two polls,
one conducted in December 1999-January 2000 and a seccond conducted in
February of this year. In each case, the Levada Center pollsters
questioned 1600 adults from around the country.

This comparison suggests, Golov wrote, that “over the last six years,
the inclination to believe has declined [among Russians] with the
number of people inclined to believe in all or almost everything [such as
extraterrestrials, astrologers, or politicians] becoming smaller and
the number of skeptics who do not believe in anything increasing.”

In summary form, in 2000, there were roughly two skeptics for every
believer, while now, there are three inclined to be skeptical for every
one Russian who is inclined to believe in various phenomena.

But the specific features of the two polls suggest some more intriguing
conclusions. In the first poll, the percentage of skeptics increased in
older age groups -- from 25 percent among those between 18 to 24 to 35
percent among those 40 to 54, and 42 percent among those 55 and above.

But in the second poll, “the picture was qualitatively different.
While skepticism among older age groups grew by 8 or 9 percent,
skepticism among the youngest age cohort increased 50 to 100 percent, a
development that means many of the youngest Russians are now less
inclined to believe in things than are their elders.

On questions like the existence of extraterrestrials, this trend may
not be of immediate political moment, but on issues like the direction the
country is taking, it could have some serious consequences.

In the first poll, 56 percent of the men in the youngest age group
considred that the country was headed in the correct direction, with 30
percent texpressing the opposite view. But in the second poll, the
corresponding numbers were 46 percent and 42 percent, statistically
significant changes that could have political consequences.

Among men aged 25 to 39, however, the trend was very different. In
2000, 49 percent of them said the country was headed in the wrong direction,
but six years later only 34 percent said the same. The corresponding
positive assessments in the two polls for this group were 36 percent
and 55 percent.

 

Latest Window on Eurasia stories | Religion Archive | Islam in Russia and CIS Archive | Orthodox Church in Russia and CIS Archive | All Window on Eurasia Stories Archive |