MOSCOW, March 26. /TASS/. Most recent sociological research shows the presence of a unified Russian identity, researchers from the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences say in a report titled ‘Russian Society and the Challenges of Our Times’.
Its presentation to the media was held on Thursday at TASS headquarters.
"More than 70% respondents say ‘We love Russia and feel proud of it’," Dr. Leocadia Drobizheva, the director of the institute’s Center for Research of Inter-Ethnic relations said.
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"Standing behind our shared common Russian identity is the notion of a unified state," she said. "Our research shows that people of Russian ethnicity and members of other ethnic groups don’t have any major differences in what concerns the values they espouse."
"There are objective grounds to hope that our society will be united," Dr. Drobizheva said.
"Statehood occupies the position of a super-value in the Russians’ conscience, while European mentality treats the state as a service function of some kind," believes Dr. Vladimir Petukhov, the head of the Center for Comprehensive Social Research.
Opinion researchers also point out the Russians’ reserved reaction to the economic crisis. "In spite of devaluation of the ruble and an increase of prices, society remains quiet by and large because the vast majority of Russians are seeking satisfactory living standards, not lavish affluence," Dr. Petukhov said.
"Social problems have higher rankings than the personal economic ones in the minds of our fellow-countrymen," he said.
The Russians embraced by the research sized up this country’s involvement in a dragged-out conflict in Ukraine as the biggest threat for the state and for society.
Simultaneously, their ranking of threats gave the second place to the worsening healthcare services and general education system and the third position to the cultural and moral sagging of society.
Worsening of the financial standing appeared to be the smallest concern of all, as it occupied the fourth - and the last - position on the list.