Gopniks and their concepts. Who are “gopniks” and how to behave with them What are gopniks or local gopota

In the 1990s it seemed that “ Gopniks" will soon take over, if not the whole world, then at least one sixth of the land. "Gopniks" ruled the roost in all 11 time zones of Russia. Gopniks - or Russian men who adopted the Gopnik style - surged into all spheres of life, from "business", where they played the role of sixes, to politics, where they formed the nucleus of resistance to Western influence ...

Gopnik(gop. ras. normal guy; goper, gopar, gop, gopota, punks, gopson; in post-revolutionary Petrograd - a resident of the City Dormitory of the Proletariat (the current Oktyabrskaya Hotel), according to contemporaries, everyone wore red socks and were identified by them, and it came from there) - the lowest multicellular, a bastard from the criminal world, but in fact - a punk, a petty street criminal and a redneck larva, an example of one of the types of street animals (cats, dogs, gopniks, etc), whose main hobby is doing push-ups with passers-by and cell phones, well and of course, fuck up emo and others. In the West, gopniks call themselves hooligans.

The appearance of Gopniks is not difficult for our readers: these are Russian guys of the “don’t put your finger in your mouth” type with pimply skin and dull faces, which reflect only one thought: “I’ll give it to you!”

"These guys are more comfortable squatting than standing. But, most importantly, they are the last males on planet Earth who can wear leather gangster caps from the 1920s with style - everyone else in such caps looks like only fagots from drama school rehearsing some musical,” the newspaper writes.

Gopniks are cool because there is no place for self-irony in their world. They are very "authentic". Proof of this is their fantastically adventurous tastes: a mixture of bad taste, menace and garish Third World chic.

Even the fact that Gopniks like to blast techno at full blast, sing shitty karaoke songs in cheap cafes with color music, or wear cheap pointy leather boots to match their 1920s ragtime-style pillbox caps cannot take away their status as the most dangerous. scum in the world.

History of the word, Gopnik culture

About the word: there are few terms that one hundred percent correspond to the designated object. "Gop" sounds angry, stupid and funny, but not so funny that you dare to laugh in the face of a gopnik. The word "Gopnik" is based on the abbreviation: "State hostel of the proletariat." Add to "G.O.P." the suffix “nick” - and the new biological species is ready.

Gopniks appeared after the revolution. The first gopniks came to Petrograd in the 1920s in search of work. By origin, they were peasants or completely landless scum.

The species "common gopnik" even had its own specific habitat - Ligovsky Prospekt, building 10. Actually, this is a hotel, now called "Oktyabrskaya", and the gopniks, in their own way, turned it into a collectivist gangster club, the publication writes.

Since they were outsiders in their villages, often children from single-parent families, and many already had petty crimes on their record, if not something worse, the indigenous population of Petrograd, and then Leningrad, treated the gopniks with disgust.

They went down in legends as thugs and lucky ones, whom even the Soviet system could not break. They had their own code of honor, they lived by their own rules, they had their own tattoos on their fingers, their own fashions. They represented something like a caste of “thieves in law” in the world of delinquent “hooligans”.

Later, the meaning of the word changed, and the expression “gopnik” meant any dubious type with a shaved head, wearing a thick leather jacket, stupid leather boots and a pillbox cap.

1990s - the rise of Gopniks

In the 1990s, it seemed that Gopniks would soon take over, if not the whole world, then at least one-sixth of the land. "Gopniks ruled the roost in all 11 time zones of Russia. "Gopniks - or Russian men who adopted the Gopnik style - surged into all spheres of life, from "business", where they played the role of sixes, to politics, where, as deputies from the LDPR, they formed the core of resistance to Western influence"

Some gopniks exchanged leather jackets and sweatshirts for brown blazers from Hugo Boss, but could not resist complementing this splendor with shiny mules: gold chains on their hands and necks, fancy watches and so on. The Gopnik culture in the 90s was accompanied by techno music. However, the 1990s turned out to be not so much the rise of the Gopnik Nation as the Beginning of its End.

Have Gopniks survived to this day?

To explore the culture of modern Gopniks, the newspaper's correspondents went to Lyubertsy, a city that in the 1990s was known as the capital of Gopniks. Criminality was as common there as tracksuits and sunflower seeds.

Imagine the surprise of the journalists when they could not find any gopniks there. Then the representatives of the newspaper decided to go to one of the most sinister areas of Moscow, Brateevo, but they didn’t find any gopniks there either.

What happened to the Gopniks? Most sources agree that two factors contributed to their extinction. First: in the 1980s and 1990s, hard drugs and weapons suddenly became widely available.

Their introduction into such a fearless and primitive culture as the Gopnik culture meant that in one decade almost half of the individuals left for another world.

"The second reason has more to do with changes in the environment. The advent of Western bourgeois values ​​and cultural preferences, as well as the beginning of a period of external stability, growth and sobriety under Putin, means that Gopnik's 70-year reign as the king of the world of rebels has suddenly come to an end: Russians of all social classes layers quickly hated the dork aesthetics of Gopniks"

Nothing speaks more eloquently about the tragic disappearance of Gopnik from the face of the earth than the fact that Shnur from the Leningrad group, a big fan of Gopnik culture, is going to open a “Gopnik Museum” in his native St. Petersburg.

Shnur's group romanticizes the Gopniks to a middle-class audience that has finally come to appreciate them, albeit in a semi-ironic spirit that would not have been possible if the Gopniks had not disappeared. Even the original cradle of Gopniks - house 10 on Ligovsky Prospekt - today is nothing more than a three-star hotel.

Anatomy of a Gopnik

A pillbox cap is a key element of a Gopnik's outfit. Leather ones are for serious murders, stripes are for all sorts of trifles like rape in the country.

Ears - usually protrude more than those of ordinary homo sapiens, thanks to fights, as well as the indispensable haircut to zero.

Shashlik - Gopniks (like all Russians) believe that meat tastes best when it is roasted on a stick over a fire.

Sweatpants still remain the most ergodynamic for squatting.

Shoes - Gopniks prefer a) pointed leather boots or b) slippers, but as they assimilate culturally, they sometimes wear sneakers.

Glass - everyone knows that vodka tastes best when it is served warm in plastic cups. It is very important that several midges float on its surface.

Jacket - if he had a bumper sticker, it would say "Don't think I have a leather jacket."

Forehead - convex frontal lobes are inherited from distant ancestors - humans.

How to avoid becoming a victim of gopniks - instructions

“Once there was an incident at about 7 pm... My friend and I took a bottle of tonic and were standing around drinking civilly near the store, then suddenly one of the locals came up and extended his hand to say hello (like everyone else usually does).

There were the usual questions: who are you, where are you from, on what occasion are you drinking, then more people from eight different age groups joined in, everyone started asking questions about who was good at what, some about money, some about cell phones, some about concepts (some about life) ..."

Something similar has happened to almost everyone at least once. They take a person in pincers and begin to trick him - first for a conversation, then for a cigarette, then for a “call”, and in the end – for money. For many, this causes fear and confusion. What to do in such situations? How to behave when meeting with “gopniks”?

Their weapon is our fear

Our fear is that we do not know the rules by which “that” world operates. But we certainly respect them. Because these are the rules of the strong - concepts. We obviously accept them, but we do not know their principles and norms. This is where the dog is buried. We accept the rules of the game without knowing them.

Naturally, a more or less “blamed” freak, even with a measly income, knowing a couple of “tricks”, will beat you in no time. Because you agreed to play by his rules. And a person who voluntarily agreed to play by rules that he does not know is called a sucker.

Who are Gopniks

The word probably comes from the famous "gop-stop" - which in Fen means robbery or robbery.
Gopniks are not exactly criminals. They walk a fine line - first they “run into” the victim with a “bazaar” and probe. Moreover, this is done without a direct threat of violence - from the outside it will seem that the gopnik is all politeness, and you, on the contrary, are a nervous, unbalanced, or even completely aggressive type.

As a result of such a hit, the victim, as a rule, gives up his property himself - usually small money, mobile phones, watches.
Everything is often on the verge of a “joke”, a conversation “in terms of concepts”, so then during a showdown you can always say - he gave it to me himself. This is often confirmed by the victim herself.

If you are in the “cop”, then the officer begins to get nervous, or even go berserk, and, in the end, tries to get rid of you. There are no legal grounds. If there is a showdown among the lads, then you get the status of a sucker. And getting it from a sucker is a sacred thing for a gopnik. He's a kid, you're a sucker. Conceptually, he is right. The conversation is over.

How to answer questions like: “Hey, come here!”

This is a test for the Sucker suit. The sucker will certainly look back and hasten to approach.

Let's say you made a mistake, i.e. stopped and turned around, in a word, expressed some interest. But they didn’t come.
- Hey, come here, I said!
Answers like “come here yourself” are not suitable unless you are a boxing champion.
You're standing.
They come up to you. Scary.
- Don’t you hear? (frostbitten, swollen...)
Don't pay attention, freeze, like, further:

We're not suckers

Let’s say your “conversation” did not begin with a direct provocation like the one described above. In this case, usually the gopnik will extend his hand to you when he meets you and greet you like a boy. This obliges you to be moderately polite and answer the first questions. Which is what he is trying to achieve.

This is one of the main tricks of a gopnik - after such a gesture of “good will,” he gets the right to “fairly” be indignant that you, for example, do not want to communicate with him. Plus, he immediately creates an alibi for himself - “I approached him like a boy, they shook him with his claws. Was it like that!?” - “Well, yes...” - “And people over there saw it. And then he started to show off for me...” Ten points in favor of the gop.

We break it off at the very beginning. It is very difficult to withstand - the look and the hand extended to you. The stencils of politeness are driven deep into us. The hand reaches out on its own. Let's hold on. Let's look it in the face. We smile.

Who are you?

The most common question asked to candidates for suckers. You don’t need to answer it, otherwise you’ll get hooked.
Important! If you are the wrong guy, that is, a sucker, then you will certainly shake the gop’s hand without even knowing who is in front of you. In prison they don’t shake hands, for example, but prison rules are sacred to a Gopnik.

Remember that during the conversation you will be asked questions in such a way that it is impossible to answer them. “Why are you walking here?”, “Why are you smiling?”

Your main task as a true sucker is NOT to stay within HIS rules, NOT to break off the gopnik using his own methods. Better try to appeal to universal morality and quote the Constitution, and then you are guaranteed to return home with a broken nose and emptied pockets.

If this option does not suit you, and you want to know how to emerge victorious from the game, then read on.

Hitting the market

If they obviously didn’t come to beat you, then what follows is part two – “a hit at the market.” In any case, if you are not yet lying on the asphalt and people are talking to you, then everything is in order.
- Who are you?
-Who are you? Where are you from?
- Let me see your phone number (do you have money? On what occasion are we drinking?)
- I do not know you.
Go (stand) further.
If this doesn't work (most likely it doesn't) and the questions continue, you need to go on the offensive:

The best defense is attack

The universal answer is that it always works:
- For what purpose are you interested?

It is important to understand and remember the main thing - in order to attack you, you need a reason. Aggression without a reason is lawlessness. They are waiting for a reason from you. As long as you don't give it, you're safe.

Under no circumstances make the slightest concession - do not answer anything. NOT ONE QUESTION, even a completely innocent one.

As soon as you answer something, even the most neutral one, and want to interrupt the conversation later, the aggressor has the “moral right” to accuse you of disrespecting himself. You “supported” the conversation, and then refuse to continue. Ugly.

Of course, you won't get a direct answer to your question. Lots of options for further development:
- What, a bastard with the boys? (Are you being rude? Don't you respect me? I don't understand...)

Don't "go to the market"

You can't go off topic. Under no circumstances answer questions like “I respect you, but...”, “I’m not being rude, but...”. Your “but” will be immediately regarded as weakness; only suckers respond that way. This will be followed by the phrase “What are you making excuses for? Do you feel what?

This is 100% a trick - it doesn’t matter what you answer or just remain silent, everything will be turned as an attempt to either make excuses or be rude.

“I’m not making excuses,” look at yourself from the outside, you understand that it just sounds stupid.
- Justify it.
- Why should I justify?
- Because you are making excuses.
- Yes, I’m not making excuses!
- What are you doing now?
- I... well... fuck you! I do not want to talk to you.
- Oh, you're also a rude...

Let's break the situation

What, it's a waste of time to splurge with normal boys? is a likely response to your counterattack. Remember - no “no”, “no”, and especially “but”.
-You didn't answer my question.
- And you are on mine.
— Are you going to run into chaos?
-Are you accusing me of something?
- Answer my question. Do I have the right to ask?

Please note - just “inquire”. “Ask” has a double meaning on a hairdryer - they ask someone for something that will immediately be regarded as an assault - “I have the right to ask.” - "What? Ask me? For what? Justify." That's it, it's a dead end again, you're in a bag.

— I’m interested for myself.
“I’m interested for myself” is a stock phrase-answer to the question “for what purpose are you interested?” Everything is fine. As soon as you heard something like that, the enemy wavered - you forced the “right guy” to justify himself. Now the main thing is not to go too far.

- I do not know you.
Under no circumstances should you continue this phrase: “and I’m not going to talk to you,” “why should I answer you,” “it’s none of your business.” Only stupidly neutral phrases. As long as you haven't given a formal casus belli, you're in a better position.

Hold position

The cycle can be repeated in different variations. You simply hold on to your position, the meaning of which is that whoever started the conversation must justify the reason.

In fact, there is ONE reason, and you must remember it - to provoke you and gain the moral right to attack, insult, humiliate, hit, rob. But, naturally, the “right guy” will never voice it, because then he himself admits to being a lawless person.

And this is no longer common sense - the right guys don’t cause chaos. Those. you are asking a question that he cannot answer, but, according to his own rules, he is obliged to. In chess, this is called a “fork” - we attack two pieces with one piece. The only choice the opponent has is which piece to lose.

Let's not bend

Do not comply with minor requests under any circumstances - by any standards, you can demand to state the reason first or qualify this as a direct attack. What you should say directly.

-Give me a glass.
We are silent, we smile. We are waiting for accusations...

- Are you screwed, or what?
and go on a counterattack.
- Do you want to run into me?
“I’m asking you like a normal guy.”
You earned a point, it pays off. And in front of everyone he calls you a “normal kid.” One more point.
- Ahh. I'm sorry, i do not understand. On the.

A draw on a foreign field is a victory

If you don’t want to be defeated, then the gopu has only one thing left:

1. or start beating you, which puts him in the category of offenders from the point of view of the law or into the category of lawless people from the point of view of concepts. He doesn’t need this, because the gop just wants to rise at the expense of your humiliation.

2. or “admit” that the goal was different - to get to know each other, communicate, spend time together. That is, to avoid defeat. That's what was required. A draw on a foreign field suits us quite well.

“Fork” - he already chooses only between which option of defeat to accept. Most likely he is not a fool.
- Don't know me? Well, let's get acquainted.
You can shake paws.

Don't get carried away with winning

If you feel a fracture, then you may well give him the opportunity to rehabilitate himself in your eyes and the eyes of the boys. This is what needs to be done - otherwise the feeling of defeat will most likely lead to a new wave of aggression, which cannot be stopped by the market.

How to become a victim

The normal desire of every normal person is to avoid street collisions. Although in some cases they are inevitable, more often than not people become victims of bullshit due to ignorance of the basic rules of “that” world.

So, what do you need to do to ensure that you are definitely beaten: Or, at worst, you are simply cheated out of money. Let's list the main mistakes:

Make excuses.
Anwser the questions.
Break into “high” tones.
Don't demand an answer to your question.
Mutter something inarticulate.
Exceed the permissible collision dose.
Fulfill requests: “let me light a cigarette (call, look at the phone number)”

Verification passed

If you don’t make a mistake, and your “opponent” doesn’t leave the battlefield himself, then you may well find new friends, or even better kents.

And if a turning point has already occurred, then maybe you shouldn’t give up on further developments - it’s quite likely that you will be offered to drink beer together and have some fun.

This often happens - if you pass the “toddler” test, you become not only an equal, but also a respected equal. In crowds of gopniks there are usually one or two “real” boys, the rest are sticky. The leader always knows this and, in general, he is not interested in them - they are his own pathetic copies.

Therefore, quite honestly and sincerely, they may want you as a friend. The choice is yours. If not, then no. They patted each other on the shoulder, and even hugged each other like brothers. The market is over, it's over.

The last and most important rule

The last and most important rule is not to turn around. Either don’t start at all, or, once you start, don’t give up.

Remember Russian fairy tales - don’t turn around. Whoever turns around loses.

Of course, this is just an outline; your creativity will always be needed. Fear will make its own adjustments, but, nevertheless, it is possible to remember this.

Gopniks(Also gopy, gopari, collectively - bastard , hopoten, gopyo- a slang word in the Russian language, denoting representatives of the urban stratum of low social status, poorly educated and lacking moral values, aggressive youth (teenagers), possessing criminal behavioral traits (less often close to the criminal world), often coming from dysfunctional families, and united by characteristics counterculture (informal subculture). The term is widely used in Russia and the countries of the former USSR (since the end of the twentieth century).

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Characteristic

Socially, representatives of the subculture mainly come from the outskirts of industrial cities. Most Gopniks came from dysfunctional, poor families. Such moral values ​​as honesty, devotion, respect, politeness, and hard work are alien to them. They are, as a rule, cunning and mercantile, roguish, prone to meanness, betrayal, ingratiation, hypocrisy and dirty tricks. The image and behavior of a typical gopnik are a parody of representatives of the criminal world of the 1990s in Russia and other CIS countries. The black leather jacket and tracksuit were also adopted by the teenagers from them. Gopniks were engaged in petty theft, extortion of money, robberies and beatings of random passers-by (especially at night).

They do not call themselves “gopniks” and are usually characterized by the self-name “normal boys”, “real boys” or “correct boys”. The word "gopnik" is considered derogatory when applied to oneself. Gopniks oppose themselves to the so-called. “suckers”, however, among Gopniks there is no clear definition of “sucker”. In this regard, the name “sucker” is used by gopniks depending on whether it is beneficial to the gopnik or not, and can even be used in relation to other gopniks. In addition, representatives of the Gopnik stratum are distinguished by pronounced aggression against members of society who have a higher social status compared to Gopniks, as well as against other representatives of society, whose worldview is focused on a progressive lifestyle, intelligence, etc. “Western values” (for example, against Western culture-oriented “informals”, “oppositionists”).

The word became widespread in the late 1980s in relation to those representatives of young people for whom theft of property on the street was, as Saratov researcher Elena Bessonova notes, “part of the image, a means of entertainment and a way to maintain authority”. According to the researcher, in the 1990s, “gops” appeared, for whom everything characteristic of the life of their “ancestors,” to whom the author includes criminals, became “a kind of philosophy of life, worldview, way of positioning oneself in society”. However, Bessonova notes that, unlike criminals, “ For a modern gop, it is more important to try to scare and humiliate a person, to try to test his power over him, and then to appropriate his money". The proximity to the criminal world predetermined the use of thieves' jargon and profanity.

Unlike most informal youth associations (for example, hippies, punks, rockers), Gopniks did not assign any names to the rest of the population and did not identify themselves as a group separate from the rest of the population, which means that they did not recognize themselves as a subculture.

Researcher Elena Bessonova notes that at the beginning of Perestroika, Gopniks were the only youth subcultures who were not interested in any music. Later, representatives of the subculture became prone to criminal music, Russian chanson (Mikhail Krug, Butyrka group, Sergei Nagovitsyn). Also, many prefer “pop” (pop music), “pump” (pumping house) and “boyish rap”.

As Candidate of Sociological Sciences Ramil Khanipov notes, “The City Center for the Prevention of Neglect and Drug Addiction of Minors of St. Petersburg designates gopniks as “informal associations” and includes them in the “aggressive” section. Discussions on Internet forums speak about the level of development of these informal associations as follows: “... from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok, gopniks are to this day the most common form of youth associations,” and all the sources used emphasize the pronounced criminal and group nature of this subculture: “These are mostly fights , robberies, raids aimed at obtaining money..., alcohol and cigarettes." .

Doctor of Sociological Sciences, director of the “New Generation” project of the “Public Opinion” Foundation Larisa Pautova in 2009 believed that “gopota” is at least 25 percent of modern youth. A sociologist means by this word people who do not strive for anything, without any moral values, who find themselves among the masses of their own kind.

The head of the Moscow branch of the LDPR, O. Lavrov, stated that Gopniks constitute a certain part of his party’s electoral base:

Character traits

At the end of the 19th century, in the premises of the modern Oktyabrskaya Hotel, located on Ligovsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg, the State Prize Society (GOP) was organized, where street children and teenagers who were involved in petty robbery and hooliganism were taken. After the October Revolution of 1917, the State Hostel of the Proletariat was organized in this building for the same purposes. The number of juvenile delinquents in the area has increased several times. Among the city residents, the word “Gopnik” appeared, which was used to describe the residents of the GOP from Ligovka. The expression “the number of gopniks is measured in leagues” appeared, and among the residents of Petrograd, then Leningrad, it was customary to ask ill-mannered people: “Do you live on Ligovka?” .

1. aggressive teenager
2. primitive, uneducated young man
3. student of class "G" (in the jargon of schoolchildren)

Philologist E.N. Kalugina agrees with her, noting that the word “Gopnik” can be used to refer to “ a primitive, poorly educated young man". Sociologist Albina Garifzyanova characterizes Gopniks as “uneducated people, culturally backward, absolutely intolerant.” Russian sociologists V.I. Dobrenkov and A.I. Kravchenko noted that the word “Gopnik” is derived from the word hon.- a slang word for beggars who had absorbed elements of criminal culture, and meant “staying in a shelter.”

A. A. Sidorov notes that the word “Gopnik” is also used to refer to “beggars, tramps, homeless people.” According to Sidorov, this meaning arose even before the revolution of 1917, when in Russia there were “orders of public charity” - provincial committees in charge of caring for the “poor, crippled, sick, orphans, etc.,” who were kept in special charity homes at the expense of zemstvo funds. In this meaning, the word “Gopnik” comes from the word GOP, which stands for "Urban Ghost Society" (from the word ghost- care, care). Due to the fact that the funds allocated to help the poor and homeless were not enough, the inhabitants of the charity houses were engaged in vagrancy, begging, and petty theft. Therefore, the word “gopnik” soon began to be used to describe “tramps, ragamuffins and beggars.” This meaning remained after the October Revolution of 1917. According to the publication “Big explanatory dictionary of the Russian language” (editor-in-chief S.A. Kuznetsov) Gopnik - “ a person from the lower social classes; tramp". Philologist T. F. Efremova, the word “Gopnik” means “ a degenerate person, a tramp» .

Concepts similar in meaning: urla, hooligans, punks, street gangs, lumpen. [ ]

The word “Gopnik” has an analogue in English: “chav” (English - chav) is a widely used derogatory slang word for a young man of low social status who usually wears “branded” sportswear, which is also typical of gopniks in the post-Soviet space.

In addition, there is a version that the word “Gopniks” was taken from the cult fantasy story “Journey to Black Uhura” for samizdat, which describes the “planet of Gopniks” as the personification of world evil. The popularizer of this word at the end of the 20th century was Mike Naumenko in one of interview he directly said that he took this word from the work of A. Startsev and A. Dideikin. [ ]

Use of the word as a political cliché

Since the end of the first decade of the 21st century, a new ideological cliché “jubilant gopota” began to be heard in the media in the speeches of Russian journalists, writers, as well as opposition politicians. Using this epithet, they characterized members of various youth mass organizations that support the political course of the authorities. It first appeared on January 29, 2008 in the Kommersant newspaper in an article about the Nashi movement.

On February 2, 2008, writer and television and radio host Viktor Shenderovich, in his author’s radio program “Processed Cheese,” plays on a new epithet in an ironic way:

The phrase was later actively used by the media, politicians and bloggers, and if initially it was used only in a negative way in relation to the “Nashi” movement, then it began to be used more widely.

On September 19, 2009, in an article by columnist Pavel Svyatenkov, “jubilant gopota” refers to “a reactionary force standing in the way of a coup.”

On October 10, 2009, an article appeared on a number of regional portals devoted to the conflict between the editors of a Kaliningrad information site and the former head of the local branch of the youth movement “Walking Together” and participant in the Seliger 2009 forum Konstantin Minich, which was entitled “Control over Kaliningrad. Ru" is trying to get a "jubilant gopota".

Reflection in popular culture

In movie

• "The Boys" - 1983 film.
• "American" - 1997 film.
• “My Name is Harlequin” - 1988 film.
• "Odyssey 1989" is a 2003 film.
• “Boomer. The second film, 2006.
• “Boys of Steel” is a Russian TV series from 2004.
• "Racketeer" - 2007 film.
• “Alien” - 2010 film.
• “Real boys” is a Russian television series from 2010. This series causes a lot of controversy regarding whether it was filmed for Gopniks or is a satire on their lives. The creators of the series took a neutral position, saying that “real boys” are “real” because they “live according to real, not fictitious, life scenarios.”
• “Give me youth! " - Russian sketch show (characters Bashka and Rzhavy).
• “Gop-Stop” - 2010 film.
• "Univer. New dorm" - 2011 series (characters Ivanych (Maxim Ivanov) and Kisel (Alexey Kiselyov)).
• "Winterreise" - 2013 film.
• “The Law of the Concrete Jungle” is a 2015 Russian crime television series.
• “Everything and at once” - film 2014.
• A documentary film from the series “The investigation was carried out...” entitled “Death Wish”, dedicated to a fighter who killed hooligans and gopniks.

In literature

• “Gopniks” is a book (a novella and 6 short stories) by the Belarusian writer Vladimir Kozlov.

In music

Many pieces of music are dedicated to Gopniks. One of the first mentions of gopniks was noted in Leonid Utesov’s song “Gop with a bow” from his repertoire of 1929-1933.

The song “Gopniki” by Mike Naumenko and the group “Zoo” () became widely known. One of the verses of the song describes the behavior of Gopniks:

Among the songs telling about Gopniks:

"Gopota" is the name of a musical group from St. Petersburg.

Foreign analogues

• Chav - in the UK
• Dresiary - in Poland
• Azzi (short for antisocial) - in Germany
• Neckers - in Ireland
• Bogans - in Australia
• Cani - in Spain
• Niero - in Colombia
• Rakai - in France
• Yankee - in Japan
• Arsy - in Israel

see also

Notes

1. , Gopota, -y, zh., collected. Aggressive teenagers, p. 55.
2. , Gopnik, -a, m. 1. often plural. Aggressive teenager. 2. A primitive, uneducated young man. 3. Shk. Student of class “G”, p. 55.
3. , With. 114.
4. Elena Bessonova. Don’t say “gop” until you jump over him... // www.rasklad.ru
5. Pavel Kanygin. Gopniks // Novaya Gazeta, No. 33, May 12, 2008
6. Khanipov R. A.“Gopniks” - the meaning of the concept, and elements of the representation of the “Gopniks” subculture in Russia // “Social Identities in Transforming Societies”
7. Modern youth // Moscow speaks, October 16, 2009
8. Mark Ames and Yasha Levin.

Who the Gopniks are is no secret to anyone today. People are afraid of them and are afraid of meeting them, since fame is far ahead. These people live by their own standards, trade in petty thefts and specialize in robbery.

However, Gopniks are distinguished by the nature of their actions: as a rule, they influence the victim psychologically. They do not need weapons, since their main tool of influence is verbal assault and intimidation. Basically, people who fall into the hands of these ignorant people give them valuables voluntarily, because they are afraid of further assault. But there are also those who manage to escape from the representatives of gop culture unharmed and with money. What's the secret? In the right line of behavior.

So, if suddenly an unkempt-looking outcast turns to you with the words “Hey, you...”, then consider that a meeting cannot be avoided. The Gopniks have already set a goal for themselves, and it’s you, which means it’s time to gather your courage. You will need strength, self-control and endurance. Don't twitch, don't make sudden attacks. If the goofy guys notice you, you shouldn’t try to fuss. As soon as they approach, try not to say too much or move around. Say hello without shaking hands, while smiling sweetly. It is the smile that always confuses the gops. Even if there is a crowd of his supporters and like-minded people around your offender, firmly ask who he is and what he wants. By NOT offering your hand, you are tacitly pointing the gopika to his place, since this is what crime bosses do in prison. In places that are not so remote, strangers do not shake hands. By appealing to prison rules, you will confuse the gopata.

Moreover, in the Gopnik’s terms, you are the subject of the fight. If you give even the slightest reason, rest assured, a fight is guaranteed. Therefore, ignore the gopnik’s questions and ask your own. This is what will help seize the initiative and show who is in charge.

Feel free to interpret any request or appeal from Gopnik as an assault. If you tell him directly that you don’t understand the essence of the attack, he will begin to justify and explain his actions. This is the psychology of street boys, since it is very important for them to be understood. If you point out to a street scammer his “low quality,” there is a chance that he will back down. Even if you couldn’t avoid an abusive exchange, stick to your strength and mental superiority until the end. Only such behavior can confuse the gopnik.

The article was written specifically for the sports blog - sport-kosa.ru

Gopniks (also gopi, gopari, collectively - gopota, gopoten, gopyo - a slang word in the Russian language, denoting representatives of the urban stratum of low social status, poorly educated and lacking moral values, aggressive youth (teenagers) with criminal behavioral traits (less often close to criminal world), often coming from dysfunctional families, and united along the lines of counterculture (informal subculture).The term is widely used in Russia and the countries of the former USSR (since the end of the twentieth century).

Origin of the word

There are several versions of the origin of the word “Gopnik”

1. According to one, it comes from slang for a robber. Dahl's dictionary mentions the word "Gop" expresses a jump, jump or blow; | interjection knock, splash. Tell the lad when you jump! not before. Gop, jump, gallop, jump; stomp, jump or hit. -sya, flop, fall. Hop or gopki! will command jump, jump. Since street robbers used to suddenly attack (“jump, pounce”) on their victim, often hitting him in order to stun him and deprive him of the opportunity to escape/resist, their crime began to be called gop, gopstop or gop-jump in the criminal environment , and themselves - gopniks or gopstopniks. It is not surprising that over time this began to be called representatives of the criminalized part of the Soviet and then post-Soviet youth, for whom gop-stop, i.e. sudden attacks on random passers-by for the purpose of robbery were common practice.
2. There is another version. Back in the 19th century in Russia there were “City Prize Societies” (GOP), i.e. care, care, in which there were shelters for the homeless, cripples, orphans, etc. Those who were kept in these shelters began to be called gopniks. The contingent of GOPs was prone to committing crimes, incl. the words “gop” and “gopnik” quickly acquired a negative connotation. Gopniks began to be called flophouses or being in a flophouse, and by gopniks they meant degraded people from the lower social classes, prone to vagrancy and committing crimes. Among those held in the GOPs there were many teenagers and young people. It is not surprising that the word gopnik gradually became associated with the criminal part of young people.
3. Version three. Linguists who study thieves' traditions are sure that a “gopnik” is a person who makes a “gop-stop.” What it is? This is what the “hairdryer” calls a lightning-fast street robbery, when the victim is “taken out of fear.” Hence the “thieves” idiom – “take it to the gop-stop.” It is interesting that “gop-stop” was called “gop with a stop” back in the 19th century. “Gop” means a jump, an unexpected blow, and “smyk” comes from the verb “smyknut” (“shmygnut”) - “to move quickly.” In other words, the “gopnik” tactic consists of an unexpected raid on the victim and a quick escape.
4. Another option is a degenerate drunkard or bootlegger. However, there are facts that in some communities of thieves back in the 20-30s of the last century, gopniks were not called street robbers at all, but degenerate drunkards. Supporters of this version claim that the word “Gopnik” comes from the word “Gop”, which imitates a snap on the neck. Every Russian knows this gesture - it means “put it by the collar.” Interestingly, this gesture was used by speculators in alcoholic beverages during the “prohibition” that Nicholas II established in the Russian Empire in 1914. A number of linguists are sure that initially they were called “gopniks”, and then the word spread to their “clients”.

Where did you come from?

It’s not too difficult to understand - just remember that a significant percentage of Russian residents have at least once visited places not so remote. Now think for yourself what a “wonderful” upbringing the children of these people receive. In combination with the atmosphere of the outskirts of cities, the soil is created for more and more generations of hereditary punks and criminals. When the economy and the system of social values ​​began to rapidly collapse in the late 80s, this resulted in an increase in crime, including street crime. Until the mid-90s, in the ex-USSR there was an intensive redistribution of property and power, including through organized crime groups, which carried their “culture” to the masses and trained personnel, many of whom managed to undergo internships in prisons and colonies. A significant part of these bandits, scammers and their protégés subsequently became businessmen, government officials, and deputies, which led to high corruption in Russia and the criminalization of entrepreneurship. Having undergone socialization, received administrative resources and wanting to preserve their “honestly acquired” and reduce the population of competitors, former scammers further contributed to the suppression of crime, especially small-scale and young crime, which led to its decline by the end of the 90s. Television, which shows “The Brigade” and other “Sonka-Golden Hands”, also contributes a lot to the increase in rabble-rousing. In particular, in one of Pimanov’s programs they showed how in the early 90s in the Agievskaya organized crime group the film “The Godfather” was used to train personnel.

Characteristics of the subculture

Researcher of the “Gopnik” subculture - employee of the Department of Sociology, Political Science and Management of Kazan State Technical University. A. N. Tupolev notes:“The City Center for the Prevention of Neglect and Drug Addiction of Minors of St. Petersburg designates gopniks as “informal associations” and includes them in the “aggressive” section. Discussions on Internet forums speak about the level of development of these informal associations as follows: “... from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok, gopniks are to this day the most common form of youth associations,” and all the sources used emphasize the pronounced criminal and group nature of this subculture: “These are mainly fights, robberies, and assaults , who are aimed at making money..., alcohol and cigarettes.’” Unlike most informal youth associations (for example, hippies, punks, role-players), gopniks did not assign any names to the rest of the population and did not identify themselves as a separate group relative to the entire population, from which it follows that they did not recognize themselves as a subculture. Most youth subcultures are characterized by aversion to gopniks, reaching the point of extreme antagonism.

Stereotypical appearance

Thus, the following features are noted:

• A tracksuit is the most common clothing in the summer, and includes pants and a jacket made of synthetic material. As he notes, most often these are counterfeits of well-known brands purchased on the clothing market (for example, Adidas or Puma). Less commonly, classic black trousers, often a little larger than necessary;
• A short jacket made of leather, leatherette or fabric, or a vest made of the same materials over a tracksuit. The collar is often set in a stand-up manner, and it is also often tucked into the pants;
• Among the headdresses, preference is given to a “tablet” cap (an “eight-piece cap” or a baseball cap). The following peculiarity is noted: the hat is not removed indoors, but is worn on the top of the head in such a way that it rests on the back of the ears and does not cover them.
• A typical haircut is “bald” or very short, sometimes with bangs (“half-box”). · Wearing a “borset” is also typical. Often, representatives of the subculture are associated with a bag of seeds, rosary beads and a balisong knife.

Other distinctive features

Many pieces of music are dedicated to Gopniks. One of the first mentions of Gopniks was recorded in Leonid Utesov’s song “Gop with a bow” from his repertoire 1929–1933. The most widely known song is “Gopniki” by Mike Naumenko and the group “Zoo” (1984). One of the verses of the song characterizes the behavior of Gopniks:

Who drinks port wine in the heat, who doesn’t warm beer in winter, who spits like a camel, who laughs like a whippoorwill? Who shits in our front doors, who vomits in subway cars, Who is always ready to black out our eyes and stab a feather in your side? These are gopniks! They interfere with our lives! »

Subsequently, several cover versions of the “Zoo” song were recorded by a variety of performers: “DDT”, “Last Tanks in Paris”, “Different People”, “Az”, “FRONT” and others.

Among the songs of famous performers telling about Gopniks:

• "Children of Satan" by Bad Balance
• “Go to the swing” by the group “Lumen”
• “Street Fight” and “To the Last Drop of Blood” by the group “Nothing Good”
• “Dogs from the city outskirts” by the group “Chaif” (the name of the song is often used as a common noun to refer to youth street crime)
• "Gop-stop" group "Gas Attack Sector"
• "Gopnik" by Ben Gunn
• “Down with Gopota” by the group “Brigade Podryad” and a cover version of this song recorded by the lead singer of the group “King and the Jester” Mikhail Gorshenev (album “I am an Alcoholic Anarchist”). On the other hand, in the genre of thieves' songs, gopniks and their activities are described with sympathy. Among such songs one can highlight “Gop-stop” (known by Alexander Rosenbaum) and “Gop with a bow” (known by Andrei Makarevich and Alexei Kozlov).

In the 2000s, artists appeared whose entire work was devoted to parodying typical devils and their hooligan behavior in the style of so-called “boy rap”: the groups “Gopota”, “Gopnik” (Ukraine), “Black GUN Dons”, “a.b.i.b.a.s”, “Night Dogs”, as well as rapper Syava. David Brown dedicated the new album of the Brazzaville group “Teenage Summer Days” to the Russian Gopniks.

Why do Gopniks sit on their haunches?

The “squatting” pose, like many other attributes of the gop style, comes from prison customs and has been known since the times of pre-revolutionary Russia. When transporting prisoners, the guards, in order to prevent unwanted actions on the part of the prisoners, traditionally commanded: “Hands up the hill! Everyone hunker down!” It is easier to predict the intentions of a person squatting, but this position gives prisoners the opportunity to rest, since during the short minutes of a cigarette break it is more comfortable to squat than to sit on the frozen ground or in the mud.

In a crowded pre-trial detention center cell, it can also be difficult to find a seat, so the prisoner has no choice but to spend his time squatting. Very soon this position becomes so firmly a habit that it can be difficult to get rid of it even in freedom. Former housemates often recognize each other from afar precisely by their habit of squatting.

Gopniks(also - gopy, gopari, collectively - gopota, gopoten, also self-name - boys) - a slang word in the Russian language, a derogatory designation for representatives of the urban, close to the criminal world or with criminal behavioral traits, layer of Russian youth, as well as youth of the countries of the former USSR ( since the end of the twentieth century), often poorly educated, coming from disadvantaged families

Origin and meaning of the word "Gopnik"

Russian writer A. A. Sidorov, writing under the pseudonym Fima Zhiganets, analyzing the origin of the word gopnik, refers to Vladimir Dahl, in whose dictionary the word gop “expresses a jump, jump or blow..., gopnut, jump or hit.” According to A. A. Sidorov, the word “gopnik” (or “gopstopnik”) refers to a street robber. The same follows from a brief dictionary of criminal jargon compiled by Yu. K. Aleksandrov, where the word “gopnik” refers to a robber. According to the help service of the Russian “Reference and information portal Gramota.ru”, the word “Gopnik” refers to slang words in the Russian language and means “a fraudster, a raider; pogromist, hooligan."

A. A. Sidorov notes that the word “gopnik” is also used to designate “beggars, tramps, homeless people.” According to Sidorov, this meaning arose even before the revolution of 1917, when in Russia there were “orders of public charity” - provincial committees in charge of caring for the “poor, crippled, sick, orphans, etc.,” who were kept in special charity homes at the expense of zemstvo funds. In this meaning, the word “gopnik” comes from the word GOP, which stands for “City Charity Society” (from the word prizor - care, care). Due to the fact that there were not enough funds allocated to help the poor and homeless, residents of charity homes were engaged in vagrancy, begging, and petty theft. Therefore, the word “gopnik” soon began to be used to describe “tramps, ragamuffins and beggars.” This meaning remained after the October Revolution of 1917. According to the publication “Big Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language” (editor-in-chief S. A. Kuznetsov), a gopnik is “a person from the lower social classes; tramp". According to the explanatory and word-formative dictionary of the Russian language, candidate of philological sciences T. F. Efremova, the word “gopnik” means “a degraded person, a tramp.”

At the end of the 19th century, in the premises of the modern Oktyabrskaya Hotel, located on Ligovsky Prospekt, the State Charity Society was organized, where street children and teenagers who were involved in petty robbery and hooliganism were taken. After the October Revolution of 1917, the State Dormitory of the Proletariat was organized in this building for the same purposes. The number of juvenile criminals operating in this area has increased several times. Among the city residents, the word “Gopnik” appeared, which was used to describe the residents of the GOP from Ligovka. The expression “the number of gopniks is measured in leagues” appeared, and among residents of Petrograd and then Leningrad it was customary to ask ill-mannered people: “Do you live on Ligovka?”

A. A. Sidorov notes that in the late 1920s, the “tramp brethren” used the word “gop” to call dosshouses, and their inhabitants - “gopniks” or “gopa”. Russian sociologists V.I. Dobrenkov and A.I. Kravchenko noted that the word “gopnik” is derived from the word gop - a slang word for beggars who absorbed elements of criminal culture, and meant “staying in a flophouse.”

Sidorov draws attention to the plot of the story “Republic of SHKID” by L. Panteleev and G. G. Belykh, in which the teacher, wanting to threaten the students, shouts at them: “You will only be a nuisance to me. I’ll tell you... Gopa Kanavskaya! Talking about the wanderings of one of the heroes of the story, the authors write: “Korolev spent the whole summer “getting into trouble”, traveling along the railways with soldier trains heading to the front.”

Analyzing the origin of the word, Sidorov also draws attention to the widespread and associated with the word “Gopnik” expression gop-company, which means “a cheerful gathering of people who are not too serious and reliable, on whom it is better not to rely in a responsible matter.”

According to E. N. Kalugina (Stavropol State Agrarian University), the word “gopnik” can be used to describe “a primitive, poorly educated young man.” Sociologist Albina Garifzyanova understands gopniks as “uneducated people, culturally backward, absolutely intolerant.”

Concepts that are similar in meaning: hooligans, punks, street kids, street gangs, lumpen.

The word "gopnik" has an equivalent in English: "chav" is a widely used derogatory slang word for a young man of low social status who usually wears "branded" sportswear, which is also typical for gopniks.
Characteristics of representatives

As a stable expression, the word appeared in the late 1980s in relation to representatives of young people, for whom theft of property on the street was not so much a professional trade, but, as Saratov researcher Elena Bessonova notes, “part of the image of a criminalized community, a means of entertainment and a way of maintaining authority " According to the researcher, in the 1990s, “gops” appeared, for whom everything characteristic of the life of their “ancestors,” to whom the author includes criminals, became “a kind of philosophy of life, a worldview, a way to position themselves in society.” Bessonova notes that “for a modern gop, it is primarily more important to frighten and humiliate a person, to test his power over him, and then to appropriate his money.” The proximity to the criminal world predetermined the use of thieves' jargon and profanity.

Socially, representatives of the subculture mainly come from the outskirts of industrial cities. Most Gopniks came from poor, dysfunctional families.

The image and behavior of a typical gopnik are a parody of representatives of the criminal world of the 1990s in Russia and other CIS countries. The black leather jacket and tights were adopted by teenagers directly from them. Gopniks were engaged in petty theft and extortion of money.

Representatives of the Gopnik stratum are distinguished by pronounced aggression against members of society oriented towards Western values ​​(as a rule, against “informals” oriented towards Western culture), and also disdainfully treat the so-called. suckers - everyone who does not comply with “boyish concepts” - the unspoken rules of behavior that have developed in the criminal environment.

As Ramil Khanipov (Kazan State Technical University named after A.N. Tupolev) notes, “The City Center for the Prevention of Neglect and Drug Addiction of Minors in St. Petersburg designates gopniks as “informal associations” and includes them in the “aggressive” section. Discussions on Internet forums speak about the level of development of these informal associations as follows: “... from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok, gopniks are to this day the most common form of youth associations,” and all the sources used emphasize the pronounced criminal and group nature of this subculture: “These are mostly fights , robberies, raids aimed at obtaining money..., alcohol and cigarettes."

The head of the Moscow branch of the LDPR, O. Lavrov, stated that Gopniks constitute a certain part of his party’s electoral base: We believe that Gopniks are the most powerful political force in Russia. People laugh at us, call us a party of marginalized people: gopniks, thieves, tramps and drunkards. But, you see, these are all people whose interests no one else represents. We set up our stations at railway stations and at one time we had a million members. When we nominated Malyshkin as a presidential candidate in the 2004 elections, people were shocked. Well, yes, he is, of course, not an intellectual, but the gopniks will vote for him.

Doctor of Sociological Sciences, director of the New Generation project of the Public Opinion Foundation, Larisa Pautova, believed in 2009 that at least 25 percent of modern youth are “gopota”. The sociologist means by this word young people who do not strive for anything, who find themselves among the masses of their own kind.

Unlike most informal youth associations (for example, hippies, punks, role-players), gopniks did not assign any names to the rest of the population and did not identify themselves as a separate group relative to the entire population, which means that they did not recognize themselves as a subculture.

Most youth subcultures are characterized by a hostile attitude towards gopniks, reaching the point of extreme antagonism.

Researcher Elena Bessonova notes that at the beginning of Perestroika, Gopniks were the only young people who were not interested in any music. Later, representatives of the subculture were inclined towards thieves' music, Russian chanson (Mikhail Krug, Butyrka group). Also, many prefer pop (pop music) and “boyish” rap.