Social mood of Russian society as a marker of socio-political changes in conditions of uncertainty

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Abstract

Based on the analysis of monitoring research data, the article proposes a view of social mood as a marker of socio-political changes, including a socio-psychological mechanism of adaptation to a traumatic period of uncertainty. Based on the data of the Institute of Socio-Political Problems of the Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences and in comparison with the results of studies by leading analytical centers of the country, the psychological state of Russian society is characterized, in particular, the dynamics of social mood over the past three years through the prism of emotional and rational indicators: an assessment of the current situation in the country, the dynamics of social expectations, the direction of social optimism, the spectrum of the problem field of Russians, an assessment of the perception of power, political loyalty and political alienation, political participation. The mobility and variability of social mood is presented in the values of its intensity and the vector of changes. The interdependence of the tonal and subject socio-political orientation of social mood is revealed. A conclusion is made about the positive tonality and restrained right-center political orientation of the social mood of Russian society. At the same time, the accumulation in social memory of the result of reflexive orientation toward social changes forms in the mass consciousness a potential source of both obstacles and opportunities for the transformation of social memory. The question is raised about the direction of such transformation, about the possible mutual influence of social mood, socio-political practices, changes in the structure of social memory depending on the socio-political context and time.

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About the authors

Natalia P. Sashchenko

Institute of Socio-Political Research of the Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ISPR FCTAS RAS)

Author for correspondence.
Email: nsaschenko@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-0632-9937
SPIN-code: 4861-9229

Cand. Sci. (Psychol.), Associate Professor; leading researcher

Russian Federation, Moscow

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2. Fig. 1. Social assessment index. Answers to the question “How do you generally assess the situation in the country?”, 2022–2024, index in points. Source: ВЦИОМ-Спутник. URL: https://wciom.ru/ratings/indeksy-socialnykh-ocenok (data of accesses: 09.07.2024)

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3. Fig. 2. Optimism index. Answers to the question “There are different points of view regarding the economic crisis in our country. Do you think that we are currently experiencing the hardest times, or are they behind us, or are they still ahead?”, closed question, one answer, % of respondents. Source: ВЦИОМ. Новости. Индекс социальных ожиданий. URL: https://wciom.ru/ratings/indeks-socialnykh-ozhidanii (data of accesses: 10.07.2024)

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