Russian mentality: how to work in Russia and how to fight it? Russian character and national mentality of Russia.

Unhealthy Lifestyle

As sad as it may be, the inhabitants of the country... Favorite phrase of Russians: “It will go away on its own!” It is not customary for us to trust doctors, but it is customary to use traditional medicine recipes. Some even treat cancer with herbs and magical devices.

This happens because for such a long period of the country’s existence, we have not focused on health. We are not educated in this area and misunderstand the meaning of the saying: “What does not kill us makes us stronger.” Love for an idle lifestyle leads Russian people to.

Fortunately, today the younger generation is beginning to take an interest in their health, are interested in sports, and go to the gym to gain a beautiful figure. But this is only the beginning of a long journey after the realization that Russia was sliding down.

Life "by connections"

Another established distinctive feature of the Russian people is bribery. 200 years ago in Russia it was customary to give officials a fee for services, but even when this right was abolished, the habit remained.

The officials had settled into such comfortable conditions that they never wanted to lose financial contributions from the people. Therefore, issues are still being resolved not according to the law, but “through pull.”

It is impossible to eradicate this trait at this historical stage in Russia, since there are other global problems, but the struggle has already begun and is bringing success.

Endurance

Historical events such as uprisings, wars, blockades and constant changes of rulers led to troubles for the Russian people. This made it possible to cultivate endurance, patience and the ability to withstand adversity in people.

Russian people are only recently getting used to comfort. Previously, we spent a lot of time in the fields to feed our family; there were often lean years, so we had to work without sleep or rest.

Weather conditions also influenced the formation of the Russian mentality. Foreigners are terribly afraid of the cold. For them, 0 degrees is already a reason to wear a sheepskin coat. The Russian people are accustomed to such temperatures and tolerate them well. One has only to remember the tradition of diving into an ice hole at Christmas. Some Russians actually practice winter swimming all winter.

Today Russia is emerging from the crisis, and the people are facing new challenges. Therefore, the mentality is gradually changing, acquiring new features. But some of them will forever remain in Russian souls and will help them remain invincible and undaunted in the face of dangerous enemies.

Russian mentality cannot be mechanically identified with the Russian people. There are many carriers of the Russian mentality among representatives of other nations. And the perception of the Russian character, as studies show, is practically not connected either with the type of civil self-identification, or with ideas about the desired model of the national-state structure, or with the choice of one or another definition of the concept “Russian”.

Mentality-forming constants are formed under the influence of three reasons:

1) geographical factors - characteristics of the territory: its size, climate, landscape, soil type, wealth of subsoil, flora and fauna, etc., collectively referred to below as nature;

2) genetic factors - features of the genetic mechanism of inheritance of psychophysiological traits typical of the population, acquired under the influence of nature in the process of natural selection;

3) social factors - objective features of the history of the emergence and existence of a people.

According With these three reasons, mentality-forming constants can be divided into three types: nature-formed, gene-formed and socially formed.

Towards Russian mentality-forming constants of natural origin (meaning historical Russia in the current framework) include the following: the huge size of the territory; the middle geographical location of Russia between East and West; colossal natural resources; the harsh climate of the main part of the territory with long winters and short summers; low-fertility soils of most of the territory (about 70% of the territory of Russia is in the permafrost zone). Natural mentality-forming constants played a primary role in the formation of the Russian mentality, as they contributed to the emergence of gene-formed and socially formed constants.

The Russian mentality-forming constant of genetic origin is high heterozygosity (a variety of variants of the same genes in the chromosomes), the richness of the gene pool and genotypes. High heterozygosity of the population arose as a consequence of the multinationality of Russia (about 150 peoples and nationalities) and the absence of prohibitions on interethnic marriages. In turn, the multinationality of Russia was a consequence of reasons of a geographical and historical nature (the diversity of natural conditions in different parts of the vast territory, giving rise to the national identity of the indigenous peoples living in these parts; the inclusion of these parts into Russia at different periods of its history).

The Russian mentality-forming constant of socio-historical origin is the centuries-old existence of the Russian people under conditions of centralized power and patronage of the state, personified in the form of a leader (prince, boyar, tsar, General Secretary, etc.). And again, centralized power and state patronage in relation to the population appeared as a consequence of the central geographical position of the Russian state, the protection of which from threats from both the East and the West required strong power. The government organized the protection of the population, the population supported the government. This mutual support strengthened as Russia's territory expanded.

All of the listed mentality-forming constants were formed, of course, not simultaneously, but gradually, in the process of the historical formation of the Russian state, accompanied by the formation of special features of both the Russian mentality and Russian civilization. In general, we can consider the emergence of the Russian mentality, state and civilization not an accident, but an objective pattern determined by the laws of nature.

The features of the Russian mentality, formed under the influence of natural mentality-forming constants, include the following.

1. Nervous system stability, ability to overcome difficulties, perseverance, patience. The mentality of the population is largely determined by the composition of the products they eat. In turn, the composition of products depends on the set of agricultural crops growing in the area where the population lives and giving a good harvest. For this reason, in conditions of infertile soils, harsh climate and short summers, central Russia is characterized by the cultivation of durum varieties of rye, from which black rye bread is baked. Black bread has long been the basis of nutrition for Russian people. This unique food product is rich in B vitamins, which have a positive effect on the formation of a stable nervous system of the population. Therefore, black rye bread, as a national Russian product, can be considered a nature-forming factor in the formation of such traits of the Russian mentality as perseverance and patience. History has shown the ability of Russian people to overcome a variety of difficulties due to these character traits.

2. Balance of temperament. The climate in which they live has a great influence on the mentality of the population. A harsh climate requires an economical expenditure of energy for survival, and, conversely, a comfortable climate relaxes people, promoting the spontaneous release of their internal energy. Native northerners are more restrained, cold-blooded, focused, and self-contained than southerners. This determines the balanced, calm temperament characteristic of Russian people.

3. The ability to mobilize internal forces. The influence of climate in the form of centuries-long alternation of relatively long winters and short summers with a high percentage of the rural population in Russia required a “pulse” regime of energy expenditure by the body - intensive expenditure in summer on agricultural work and low expenditure in winter. This impulse mode contributed to the formation of such a character trait as the ability to mobilize internal forces for a certain period of time. However, given the transition over several generations of the majority of the population from a rural lifestyle to an urban one, this feature of the national mentality may be gradually lost.

4. Peacefulness, hospitality and good nature. Obviously, the mentality of the crowded population of small countries and the sparse population living in the vastness of large countries is different. Large countries like Russia have never had the problem of expanding living space, they have had the problem of preserving it. The special geographical position of Russia, occupying the space between the West and the East, forced it at different times to wage mainly defensive wars against Western and Eastern aggressors. Russians have always been peace-loving (we don’t need someone else’s, we have plenty of our own!). From here follows the well-known hospitality, hospitality and good nature of the Russian people, tolerance towards other peoples (we have nothing to envy!)

5. Breadth of nature. The large size of the territory of Russia, endless forests and numerous rivers and lakes, rich in animals and fish, berries and mushrooms, created in the Russian people the idea of ​​​​the inexhaustibility of natural resources and the boundlessness of living space, gave rise to a feeling in the psychology of the Russian population of the greatness of a huge country, the boundlessness of its size and the diversity of its capabilities and, as a consequence, the breadth of nature.

The genetically determined features of the Russian mentality include the following:

1. Talent. Diversity of genetic composition of hereditary biological structures ( chromosomes) gives rise to a very wide range of physical, psychological and intellectual characteristics of individual people. Combined with the large population, this genetic property predetermines a high probability of the emergence of unusual, phenomenal types of people with original genotypes. It is among such people that talents and geniuses are most often found - people with outstanding or unique abilities for a certain type of activity. The peculiar combinations of gene variants in these genotypes explain the talent of the Russian people.

2. High adaptability. High heterozygosity determines the presence in every Russian person of a wide range of behavioral reactions. This results in a high adaptive capacity, the adaptability of the Russian population to changing living conditions. This same high adaptability can explain such features of the Russian mentality as unpretentiousness and tolerance to living conditions, since at an unconscious level there is a genetic mechanism for adapting to them.

3. Russian ingenuity represents one of the ways to realize high adaptability when you need to find an original way out of a difficult situation. Ingenuity is an intellectual means of survival, of overcoming difficulties regardless of their content.

The considered genetic traits of the Russian mentality are inherited genetically. In contrast, the socially-formed features of the Russian mentality discussed below are inherited not genetically, but through the mechanism of historical memory, which includes folk traditions, folklore, literature, art of all kinds, and in general everything that is commonly called culture.

The socio-formed features of the Russian mentality are determined by the interaction of its gene- and nature-formed features with the social conditions of life over a fairly long historical period, covering many generations (hundreds of years). Only a nation with a centuries-old history, such as the Russian one, can have socially educated traits.

The sociocultural features of the Russian mentality include the following:

1. Collectivism and conciliarity, developed by centuries of life in a rural community. The community did not appear suddenly, but as a historically formed necessity of existence, as a reaction to low soil fertility, low agricultural yields and harsh climatic conditions, in which it was easier to survive in a community and using mutual assistance than alone. Russian history has shown that its course is determined not by socio-economic theories of changing social formations, but by the habit of the Russian population to a certain way of life, especially the habit of the rural population to life in the community. At the same time, it should be taken into account that the stability of socially-formed mentality traits is lower than genetic and nature-formed ones, therefore urbanization and the rapid reduction of the rural population in Russia may in the near future lead to the degradation of the mentioned collectivist tradition and the undermining of one of the main foundations of Russian civilization.

2. A heightened sense of injustice among the Russian people social inequality that infringes on the interests of the poor. This trait can be seen as a manifestation of collectivism. Hence the ancient feeling of social compassion for people who are spiritually and physically damaged: the poor, holy fools, cripples, etc., and the egalitarian tendencies in the Russian understanding of social justice.

3. Religiosity of the Russian people, brought up by the church and the authorities for almost a thousand years. Religion in Russia has always gone hand in hand with secular power. The Tsar was considered the representative of God's power on earth, and the Russian national idea for several centuries was expressed in the formula “God, Tsar and Fatherland.” The specific form of Russian religiosity was Orthodoxy, introduced into Rus' again by the secular authorities in the person of Prince Vladimir. Social essence Orthodoxy, based on the concepts of social justice, goodness, the primacy of the spirit over the flesh, embodied in the church biographies of Orthodox saints, as well as the forms of Orthodox religious rites - fasting, religious festivals, etc. turned out to be most consistent with the historical conditions of existence, the way of life and the Russian mentality generated by them people. This correspondence explains the stability of the Orthodox faith among the Russian people.

4. Cult of the leader. Deep religiosity, understood as hope for a deliverer from life’s hardships, contributed to the formation of such a socially educated Russian trait as the cult of the leader. The entire Russian history took place under the sign of first the power of the prince, then the tsar, and during the Soviet period under the banner of the personality cult of the leader of the Communist Party. In all cases, it was the sole power of the leader (prince, king, general secretary) and the people blindly relied on him. It can be noted that the cult of the leader is also promoted by collectivism, one of the manifestations of which is the subconscious subordination of the individual to the collective, and in his person to the one who expresses collective interests, that is, the leader, personifying the collective in the mass consciousness. Hence the currently observed lack of initiative of the main part of the population, political infantilism, inability to politically self-organize, and reluctance to take responsibility for socially significant actions.

5. National and religious tolerance. Almost one and a half hundred different peoples have lived peacefully on the territory of Russia for many centuries. In Russia there has never been racial hostility, religious wars, or bans on interethnic marriages. The country, with few exceptions, has historically been formed as a voluntary multinational association. This could not but give rise to such a socially formed Russian trait as national and religious tolerance.

6. Finally, one cannot help but say about Russian patriotism. Patriotism exists in any country, but the basis of patriotism is different in different countries. Russian patriotism is patriotism based on the people's awareness of their community. The rise of the Russian patriotic spirit always arose in years of difficult trials, not for individual people, classes or groups of the population, but for the entire people, when they began to become acutely aware of themselves as a historical community that was in great danger - enslavement or destruction. These were precisely the tasks set by its enemies in the wars against Russian civilization.

In such years, this community was determined not only by the threat of personal loss of family, housing, property, but also by the threat of a general loss of the Fatherland: the traditional way of life, the opportunity to be proud of the past and believe in one or another social idea, that is, everything that is commonly called the self-identification of the people . The people rose to defend the Fatherland as a civilization. The idea of ​​individualism, now being introduced under the banner of individual freedom and human rights into the Russian national consciousness, is deeply anti-patriotic, because individualism has never been a social value among the Russian people, like, for example, among Western European peoples, and they will not defend it in case of national danger.

Despite not all the virtues of the Russian people, listed above, the peoples of Russia are also endowed with a number of vices. The main ones are: passivity; drunkenness and recently rapidly developing drug addiction; theft, which has become truly widespread.

However, sociological research shows that the basic features of the mentality of Russians are still the predominance of moral components. And, above all, a sense of responsibility and conscience, as well as a special understanding of the relationship between the individual and society.

Important features the mental life of a Russian person is the ability to feel and think in different, sometimes mutually exclusive ways; combine the impulse for boundless freedom with patience.

Mentality acts spontaneously, without realizing it, manifesting itself in a set of principles and habits reflected in character traits. Thus, the structure of mentality is a complex multi-level pyramid of mechanisms and methods of action directly related to the centuries-old culture of the people. At the same time, the peculiarities of the mentality of the people serve as the basis for the formation of ideology and national ideas.

Russia has always been a country located between East and West. Russian people have repeatedly wondered whether he is a man of the West or, after all, the more spontaneous East. Philosophers have resolved this issue in their own way. Many of them even began to talk about the unique position of the country, which has its own unique path. The mentality of Russians is difficult to compare with the mentalities of neighboring countries, both Western and Eastern. Of course, you can find something in common from each of the powers, however, there is something in the Russian soul that defies simple classification.

The mentality has been formed over centuries. He was influenced by both countries and a new religion (Orthodox Christianity). Moreover, a Russian person is predominantly Orthodox, because he reflects the dogmas of his faith. The peculiarities of the Russian mentality can be found not only in the way of thinking, but also in the way of life itself. The Western world is extremely simple, there is a threefold division of the universe: the divine world, the demonic world and the human world. Therefore, people living in the West strive to do something in this world. For Russian people, the universe is binary: either divine or demonic. This world is considered a dark kingdom, given over to the prince of darkness. Every day people see injustice and imperfection.

The Russian mentality has always strived for maximalism. And this desire results either in the creation of an ideal world here and now (revolution), or in complete self-elimination and asceticism. Russian people are predominantly apolitical. he acutely feels dissatisfaction with the authorities. Justice in Russian means equality and brotherhood. And since ideals are unrealizable, then the world is in the power of evil forces. Instead of doing something (as is customary in all capitalist countries), a Russian would rather fall into asceticism.

The Russian mentality, formed by the Orthodox religion, is not prepared to follow the path of a market economy. Only a few were able to accept the fact that self-elimination will not lead to anything good. Russia is an abundant country. And, at the same time, Russians continue to live worse than Europeans, a paradox that experts puzzle over year after year. The proximity of the Turkic people had a great influence on the mentality of the Russians; they themselves were a peace-loving people, hospitable and meek. The mixing of the Slavs with the Turks gave rise to a tendency towards melancholy, depression, cruelty and spree. This is exactly how the contradictory temperament of Russians was born, in which extremes coexist. The most eastern feature in the mentality of the Russian people is manifested in their collectivism and attitude towards power.

Power for a Russian is sacred, it is given from above. Authorities must be obeyed. However, as soon as rebellion is born in the soul, the Russian person is ready to destroy everything. Since ancient times, history has brought down to the present day cases of riots and uprisings. As soon as a Russian person sees the prince of darkness in the image of the Tsar, a sacred revolution begins. However, strong rulers could always pacify their subjects. Russian collectivism manifests itself not so much in peacetime as in times of war and disaster. Here you can find not only amazing mutual support among people, but also resilience. There are known cases when residents of Russian cities held the defense to the last without any control from military officials. This is an amazing fact that shows not only the high principles of collectivism, but also patriotism and citizenship. By the way, nationalism is not inherent in Russians in the form in which it manifested itself in a number of Western countries. The citizenship of this people has a completely different basis.

We are different. What does one need?
Doesn't suit anyone else at all -
You can’t impose yours on someone
Who is not naturally inclined to this.
Lev Zazersky

How and why are we different from other nations?

135 years ago, French psychologist and neuropsychiatrist Henri Vallon was born, who, based on the works of the famous Swiss psychologist Carl Jung, introduced the concept of mentality. This happened in 1928. It is interesting that social work suggested him to generalize groups of people with characteristic features. Vallon was a convinced Marxist and believed that the main driving force of progress was the communists.

Meanwhile, in the USSR almost no one wrote about mentality. It was only in the late 80s of the last century that people started talking about some kind of national self-identification. Immediately, as if from a cornucopia, numerous works devoted to this psychological category appeared.

"Russia is America in reverse..."

In general, many Russian psychologists believe that every nation has a mentality, and it is expressed in patterns of perception and behavior that influence the political and economic life of the country. Moreover, national character is based on historical experience. For example, Russians and Americans can see the same event from different angles, precisely because of their mentality. Each nation will have its own truth, and it will be very difficult to convince each other. This is because values ​​are transpersonal in nature. For example, the English-speaking literary critic Van Wyck Brooks, studying Russian literature, said: “America is just Russia in reverse...”

Just like everyone else

They study the mentality of the nation in order to understand who they will have to deal with, or even wage war. For example, the Germans have always been keenly interested in the Russian people. The first detailed description of Russia was made by the German ethnographer Johann Gottlieb Georgi back in 1776. The work was called “Description of all the peoples of the Russian state, their way of life, religion, customs, dwellings, clothing and other differences.”

“...There is no such state on earth as the Russian State, which accommodated such a great variety of different peoples,” wrote Johann Georgi. - These are the Russians, with their tribes, like the Lapps, the Samoyeds, the Yukaghirs, the Chukchi, the Yakuts (then there is a list of nationalities on the whole page). ...And also settlers, such as Indians, Germans, Persians, Armenians, Georgians... and new Slavs - the Cossack class.”

In general, ethnographer Johann Georgi noted that it is not unusual for Russians to see strangers. All this, of course, affected the Russian mentality. Already today, psychiatrist Igor Vasilievich Reverchuk, exploring the significance of ethnic self-awareness in the clinical dynamics of various borderline mental disorders, discovered that 96.2% of Slavs living in Russia treat their nation as “equal among others,” while 93% - demonstrate a friendly attitude towards other ethnic groups.

Children of their land

Doctor of Philosophy Valery Kirillovich Trofimov, who specializes in the Russian mentality, noted that in the past “Russia is a country of risky agriculture, where every third to fifth year there were crop failures. The short agricultural cycle - 4-5 months - forced the farmer to constantly rush. Sowing and harvesting turned into a real suffering, a battle for the harvest.” That is why our people tend to work urgently when it is critically important, and the rest of the time they react to circumstances.

The Russian historian Vasily Osipovich Klyuchevsky also highlighted this characteristic feature of the Russians in his time. “Nowhere in Europe will we find such a lack of habit of even, moderate and measured, constant work as in Great Russia,” he noted. According to professor of philosophy Arseny Vladimirovich Gulyga, “rushing from one extreme to another is a typically Russian trait: from rebellion to humility, from passivity to heroism, from prudence to wastefulness.”

Daydreaming

Most of our ancestors rarely left their native village. All because Boris Godunov enslaved the peasants by law in 1592. The Russian historian V.N. Tatishchev was sure of this. All this injustice, multiplied by a poor life, led to collective fantasies and dreams of universal justice, goodness, beauty and goodness. “Russian people generally had the habit of living with dreams of the future,” Professor Vladimir Nikolaevich Dudenkov is convinced. - It seemed to them that the everyday, harsh and dull life of today is, in fact, a temporary delay in the onset of true life, but soon everything will change, a true, reasonable and happy life will open. The whole meaning of life is in this future, and today’s life does not count.”

The mentality of a Russian official

It is known that in 1727, petty officials were no longer paid government salaries in exchange for accidents. Later, this rule was abolished, but the habit of the sovereign's servants to live off “feeding” remained and was not actually persecuted. As a result, bribery became the norm in the first half of the 19th century. For example, “resolving a case” in the Senate cost 50 thousand rubles. For comparison, a far from poor district judge had a salary of 300 rubles. Théophile Gautier, a famous writer from France, who visited St. Petersburg in 1858, wrote: “It is believed that people of a certain level do not become and do not walk on foot. A Russian official without a carriage is like an Arab without a horse.”

It turns out that this part of our history may also be related to the mentality, albeit, of a certain group of Russian people. Thus, in the dictionary “Social Psychology” edited by M.Yu. Kondratiev defined the term “mentality” as “the specifics of the mental life of people (groups of people), determined by economic and political circumstances and having a supraconscious nature.”

Endurance and patience

American mentality experts are convinced that national character traits are influenced, among other things, by genetics, in which the behavior patterns of our ancestors are programmed. For example, if the family tree is represented by convinced monarchists, then a person will subconsciously feel sympathy for this form of government or its representatives. Perhaps this lies in the neutral and even loyal attitude of the Russian people towards the political leaders who have ruled the country for many years.

This also has to do with such a mental trait of our people as patience. In particular, the historian N.I. Kostomarov noted that “the Russian people amazed foreigners with their patience, firmness, and indifference to all kinds of deprivations of the comforts of life, difficult for a European... From childhood, Russians were accustomed to endure hunger and cold. Children were weaned after two months and fed roughage; the children ran around in their shirts without hats, barefoot in the snow in the bitter cold.”
Many Russian and foreign mentality experts believe that patience is our response to external and internal challenges, the basis of the Russian person.

Famous foreigners about Russians

Foreign politicians and journalists like to speculate about the Russian mentality. Most often, our compatriots are called drunkards. Thus, the French journalist Benoit Raisky wrote that “rude Russians are known for their passion for vodka.” And on the englishrussia portal on October 14, 2011, the article “50 Facts About Russia In The Eyes Of Foreigners” was published; it received a huge number of views. It says, in particular, “A Russian who doesn’t drink is an extraordinary fact. Most likely, he has some kind of tragedy associated with alcohol.”
However, there are other opinions about Russians. For example, Otto von Bismarck considered the Russians to be a united nation. He argued: “even the most favorable outcome of the war will never lead to the disintegration of the main strength of Russia, which is based on millions of Russians... These latter, even if they are dismembered by international treatises, are just as quickly reconnected with each other, like particles of a cut piece of mercury...” . However, history teaches nothing even to pragmatic Germans. Franz Halder, Chief of Staff of the Wehrmacht (1938-1942) was forced to state in 1941: “The uniqueness of the country and the unique character of the Russians gives the campaign a special specificity. The first serious opponent."

Expert opinion

Modern social psychology does not confirm the thesis about the immutability of mentality, notes Vladimir Rimsky, head of the sociology department of the INDEM Foundation. - The conditions in which people live, social relationships are changing - and the mentality is changing along with them.

It can hardly be assumed that people have not changed their mentality since the Middle Ages. This is definitely an illusion. Let's say, in the Middle Ages, the desire to become famous was completely absent in the mass consciousness. Is this really true in today's society? Therefore, I would be careful not to assert that the features of the modern Russian mentality developed in Peter’s or pre-Petrine times.
In Russia, treating mentality as something unchangeable often leads to one purely practical consequence: we are not trying to actually do anything to become different. And this is wrong.

In my opinion, today the majority of Russians have no desire to participate in solving public problems. Let's say the Unified State Exam campaign has recently ended. Many fellow citizens expressed dissatisfaction with the unified exam, but at the same time, we did not have a broad civil movement in support of changing the exam system. This system, by the way, is changing - for example, instead of tests in the Russian language, essays have returned. But such changes occur without the participation of society.

You can, of course, say that the problem is in mentality. But the point, rather, is that Russian society simply has not created the conditions for the implementation of civil initiatives.

Or take the problem of corruption - it is really widespread in Russia. It is believed that this is also a feature of our mentality. But I think we need to give people the opportunity to change their social practices. And then, quite possibly, the mentality will also change.

I should note that on a historical scale, mentality can change quite quickly - in two or three decades. This is evidenced, in particular, by the examples of South Korea or Singapore - states that have changed dramatically over the course of one generation.

Or take a purely Russian example. The reforms of Alexander II affected, in particular, the judiciary. As a result, quite a lot of lawyers have appeared in Russia, working in jury trials. These jurors were ordinary citizens; I assure you, they perfectly understood what decisions the authorities needed - but often made the exact opposite verdicts. As a result, a completely different attitude towards the court appeared in the Russian Empire - as a fair institution in which one can actually defend one’s rights. Before Alexander II, such an attitude towards the judiciary was not even close.

I think people, of course, have national and ethnic characteristics. But still, one should not deny that a lot is determined by social relations and the social environment in which we live. If we were ready to change the environment, the mentality would change. Let me give you another example.

It is generally accepted among us that in Russia, from time immemorial, laws have not been observed, and nothing can be done about it. But I have talked more than once with Germans and Americans who came to Moscow to live and work. So, after a short stay in the Russian capital, almost all of them began to violate traffic rules when driving a car and give bribes to traffic cops. One lady, an American, when I asked why she did this, replied that in America it would never have occurred to her to bribe a policeman, but in Moscow “there is no other way.”

As you can see, the mentality in the head of a particular American changes quite simply - as soon as he adapts to the Russian environment. But this example tells a different story. In America and Germany, for example, everyone began to “live according to the law” relatively recently - about a hundred years ago. We can go the same way, and much faster...

GOU VPO

"Voronezh State Medical Academy named after. N.N. Burdenko"

Abstract on the topic:

“Characteristics of the peculiarities of the Russian mentality.”

Completed by: student P-509

Lyamina O. S.

Voronezh 2009

Mentality is one of the basic concepts of modern humanitarian knowledge. It includes the main characteristics of an ethnic group and is one of the leading criteria when comparing nations with each other.

Mentality is the subject of consideration in several humanities, each of which brings its own feature to the definition of this concept.

The modern Philosophical Encyclopedic Dictionary interprets mentality as a way of thinking, the general spiritual disposition of a person or group, limiting itself only to the study of thinking. Encyclopedic Dictionary Terra Lexicon This concept implies a certain way of thinking, a set of mental skills and spiritual attitudes inherent in an individual or a social group. In this interpretation, there is no mention of language as an important component of mentality, and among cultural characteristics, only behavioral characteristics are probably taken into account.

One-sided interpretation is not a feature of modern science alone. Mentality as an independent subject of research began to be considered in the 20-30s. XX century At the beginning of the 20th century, the term “mentality” appears to have been used in two ways. In ordinary speech, this somewhat fashionable term preferably denoted collective systems of attitude and behavior, “forms of the spirit.” At the same time, it also appears in the scientific lexicon, but again as a “way of thinking” or “peculiarities of attitude.”

There are many definitions of what mentality is, here are some of them:

Mentality is a special “psychological equipment” (M. Blok), “symbolic paradigms” (M. Eliade), “dominant metaphors” (P. Ricoeur), “archaic remains” (S. Freud) or “archetypes” (K. Jung), “... whose presence is not explained by the individual’s own life, but follows from the primeval innate and inherited sources of the human mind.”

It is generally accepted that the category of mentality was one of the first to be introduced into the scientific terminology apparatus by the French psychologist and ethnographer L. Lévy-Bruhl after the publication of his works. In its essence, mentality is historically processed archetypal ideas, through the prism of which the main aspects of reality are perceived: space, time, art, politics, economics, culture, civilization, religion. Consideration of the mental characteristics of the consciousness of a particular social group allows us to penetrate into the “hidden” layer of social consciousness, which more objectively and deeply conveys and reproduces the mentality of the era, to reveal a deeply rooted and hidden slice of reality - images, ideas, perceptions, which in most cases remains unchanged even when one ideology changes to another. This is explained by the greater stability of mental structures compared to ideology.

Even J. Le Goff noted that “mentalities change more slowly than anything else, and their study teaches how slowly history moves”[ Disputes about the main thing: Discussions about the present and future of historical science around the French school of “Annals”. - M., 1993.- P.149]. If ideology, with certain deviations, generally develops progressively, so to speak linearly, then within the framework of mentality, ideas change in the form of oscillations of various amplitudes and rotations around a certain central axis. The basis of such a movement and development of mentality is a certain way of life.

So, mentality is a concept very rich in content, reflecting the general spiritual mood, way of thinking, worldview of an individual or social group, which is not sufficiently conscious, in which the unconscious occupies a large place.

The mental characteristics of Russian culture are characterized by a number of specific features, which are due to the fact that any attempt to present Russian culture as an integral, historically continuously developing phenomenon, with its own logic and expressed national identity, encounters great internal difficulties and contradictions. Each time it turns out that at any stage of its formation and historical development, Russian culture seems to double, revealing at the same time two faces that are different from each other. European and Asian, sedentary and nomadic, Christian and pagan, secular and spiritual, official and oppositional, collective and individual - these and similar pairs of opposites have been characteristic of Russian culture since ancient times and have actually persisted to the present day. Double faith, double thinking, dual power, schism - these are just a few of the concepts that are significant for understanding by the historian of Russian culture, identified already at the stage of ancient Russian culture. Such stable inconsistency of Russian culture generates, on the one hand, increased dynamism of its self-development, and on the other, periodically escalating conflict. inherent in the culture itself; constitutes its organic originality, typological feature and is called by researchers binary (from Latin duality).

Binary nature in the structure of Russian culture is an undoubted result of the border geopolitical position of Rus'-Russia between East and West. Russia, throughout its history and geography, for centuries has been a Eurasian society, either striving to get closer to its European neighbors, or gravitating throughout its entire system of life towards the Asian world. [Semennikova L.I. Russia in the world community of civilizations. - M., 1994.]

It was (since the times of the Golden Horde) a country of border civilization. Western cultural figures perceived Russia as a country of a different, non-European order. Thus, G. Hegel did not even include Russians in his list of Christian peoples of Europe. Many observers have come to the conclusion that Russia is a kind of Eurasian hybrid, in which there are no clear signs of either part of the world. Oswald Spengler argued that Russia is a centaur with a European head and an Asian body. With the victory of Bolshevism, Asia reclaims Russia after Europe annexed it in the person of Peter the Great [Quote from the book Russia and the West: Dialogue of Cultures. M., 1994].

In addition, cultural and historical paradigms in Russian history were layered on top of each other: one stage has not yet ended, while the other has already begun. The future sought to come true when the conditions for this had not yet developed, and, on the contrary, the past was in no hurry to leave the historical stage, clinging to traditions, norms and values. A similar historical layering of stages, of course, is found in other world cultures - eastern and western, but in Russian culture it becomes a constant, typological feature: paganism coexists with Christianity, the traditions of Kievan Rus are intertwined with Mongol innovations in the Muscovite kingdom, in Peter's Russia there is sharp modernization combined with the deep traditionalism of pre-Petrine Rus', etc. Russian Culture for centuries was at the historical crossroads, on the one hand, of the modernization paths of civilizational development characteristic of Western European culture, on the other, of the paths of organic traditionalism characteristic of the countries of the East. Russian culture has always strived for modernization, but modernization in Russia was slow, difficult, constantly weighed down by the unambiguousness and setness of traditions, every now and then rebelling against them and breaking them. Hence the numerous heretical mass movements, and the daring thirst for will (robbers, Cossacks), and the search for alternative forms of power (imposture), etc.

The mental characteristics of Russian culture historically naturally developed as a complex, disharmonious, unstable balance of forces of integration and differentiation of contradictory tendencies of the national-historical existence of the Russian people, such as a sociocultural balance (often on the verge of a national catastrophe or in connection with its approaching danger), which declared itself in the most decisive, crisis moments of the history of Russia and contributed to the survival of Russian culture in extremely difficult for it, and sometimes seemingly simply impossible socio-historical conditions and everyday circumstances as the high adaptability of Russian culture to any, including directly anti-cultural factors of its more than a thousand years of history.

The Russian mentality is characterized by absolutism - which is reflected even in the Russian language: the frequency of words such as “absolutely”, “perfectly” - as well as synonymous words “terribly”, “terribly” - is more than ten times higher in the Russian language, than, say, in English. And the very synonymy of these and other concepts paints an image of global, stunning and extreme changes. Sometimes they go beyond the rational and reasonable, since the collective mind, like ideology, is the preservation of the existing - and for the sake of radical change it is necessary to overturn it too.

The constant need for something fundamentally new gives rise to the desire to actively adopt someone else’s (just as quickly consigning one’s own to oblivion: neglecting it as outdated). Russian thought has often been accused of turning to foreign heritage for the lack of its own. However, they did not indicate the other side of the coin: the ability to assimilate and implement other people’s ideas as universal ones. It is the constant desire for something fundamentally different, new, as well as the perception of the universalism (objectivity) of ideas that makes it possible to cultivate them on our own soil.

The second Russian trait is going beyond one’s own boundaries: not only at the level of society, but above all at the level of the individual, which manifests itself in overcoming interpersonal barriers. This trait is clearly visible to everyone who has been abroad: Russians strive to unite their own and others, organizing collective interaction in any conditions. They easily manage to do this, unlike representatives of other nations, and this is due to the lack of fear and the presence of the habit of invading the very essence of someone else's life, crossing the personal barrier and overcoming the isolation of individuality. This quality is usually referred to as “Russian soulfulness.” Foreigners often perceive it as aggression: an attack on a person. For the vast majority of nations, the boundaries of the individual are sacred, and the psychological barrier between souls is insurmountable.

The concept of morality is inextricably linked with the very significant concept of truth for the Russian mentality - which is confirmed by the Russian language. The Russian word “pravda” not only has a high frequency in the Russian language compared to others, but also the epithet “mother” (truth-uterus, truth-mother), depicting the blood closeness of truth to a person, his original womb and refuge. And also the synonym “truth”, meaning the highest truth: truth in the spiritual sense, which connects it with the concept of the source of morality and ideal.

We can safely say that the desire to unite people/nations with an ideal or some universal idea is typical of our character. By playing such a role, Russia (Russian people) has a face in front of other nations (people).

Also important for the Russian mentality are the concepts of the soul: as a special inner, significant world - and fate, correlated with humility and the expression “nothing can be done.” Such concepts of soul and fate are unique: inherent only in the Russian language.

This character trait is physically confirmed by more than six months of hibernation of nature and external passivity during this period - against the background of which there is an internal, unconscious fermentation of the psyche, predisposing to deeply religious perception (recently, studies have appeared proving that the shortness of daylight hours promotes meditation , although also depression). The consequence of this is the philosophical depth of mental life, manifested primarily not even in philosophers, but in writers whose works have gained worldwide fame (Tolstoy or Dostoevsky). When the clear mind is silent, images speak. The fact that Russian philosophy expresses itself in fiction more clearly than in rational-logical concepts has been repeatedly pointed out by historians of Russian philosophy, among them E.L. Radlov and A.F. Losev.

Nations deprived of such a long-term forced decline in physical activity (inevitable in our climate, no matter how it is influenced by the now intense, violent social rhythm of life) do not develop such emotional and spiritual philosophical depth.

Russian Orthodoxy also played a huge role in the formation of the mental characteristics of Russian culture. It has given internal certainty to the mentality of the Russian people and over the last millennium has determined the spiritual potential of the nation. The Orthodox faith plays the role of a spiritual core or spiritual substance for the Russian national mentality. Orthodoxy did not preach the idea of ​​predestination. And therefore, responsibility for sins committed of one’s own free will fell on the sinner. This was understandable and acceptable. Orthodoxy in this context is identical to the emotional and artistic structure of the Russian mentality: it reflects the Russian commitment to absolute spiritual values, maximalism, and the figurative and symbolic construction of the Russian national culture.

The historical conditions of existence, the spatial environment, the Orthodox religion and the Russian Orthodox Church as a sociocultural institution have left an indelible imprint on the Russian national mentality.

The Orthodox faith is a special, independent and great word in the history and system of Christianity. The Russian national spirit and national morality, respect and love for all tribes and peoples are based on Orthodoxy.

The moral and religious dominant gives rise to a number of features of the Russian cultural mentality. Firstly, not a single people had a Christian idea at the national-state level, only the Russians. Secondly, the Russian people are capable of religious and philosophical thinking. Thirdly, only Russians tend to understand the world through religious intuition, unlike the West. Fourthly, of all European peoples, the Slavs and especially the Russians are the most prone to religion, for in ancient times they believed in one God, and in our monotheistic paganism there was a premonition of Christ and the Mother of God, and Christian concepts such as God, heaven, hell, demons were originally Slavic.

The mental characteristics of Russian culture, which was determined by Orthodoxy, are the peculiarities of the attitude towards private property, wealth and justice in the Russian mentality. The economic experience of the Russians was dominated not by economic interest, but by the established moral economy, which has survival as its main goal. Therefore, people abandoned economic success and the risk associated with it, those values ​​that seem natural in modern liberal civilization. Property relations for the bulk of the population were of a labor nature, and achieving material well-being was not an end in itself. Hence, in the character of Russians, there is a relative indifference to material wealth and individual property. The absence of traditions of private property in Russia is the Orthodox view of wealth, which is not the result of labor, it is sent by God and is given not for accumulation and storage, but for beneficial use to others. The focus is on the righteous use of wealth rather than the acquisition of it. Wealth should serve a person, and not vice versa. Income was not an end in itself.

In Russia, the Orthodox ethics of entrepreneurship and commodity-money relations was created, while Western Christianity cultivated pragmatism, hoarding, and a passion for money and wealth in people. In the Russian mentality, the category of wealth acquires the greatest value, as a measure of spirituality in connection with wealth. Entrepreneurs looked at their activities differently than in the West, not so much as a source of profit, but as the fulfillment of a task assigned to them by God or fate. Entrepreneurship was seen as a certain type of creativity and self-affirmation.

Wealth in Orthodox ethics was perceived as a violation of fair mechanisms. And if a market economy is based on the principles of rationality and expediency, then in Russia they give priority to the ideas of justice. In the historical mentality, Russians have developed an egalitarian understanding of justice, associated with the harsh climatic conditions of Russia and the need for the physical survival of people. Here there was no objective possibility of ensuring the distribution of produced material goods in proportion to the merits of each person to society. Ideas about equality in the Russian mentality are predominantly moral, not legal, in nature.

Under the influence of Orthodoxy, a moral tradition of world development and management was formed in the Russian mentality, which persists even where conscious religiosity was lost. The Russian world development is characterized by the principles of a religious and ethical approach to the development of life.

Many researchers note the indifference of Russians to the organization of their earthly life, some strange disregard for the material layer, comfort, and ease of existence. When a culture is oriented towards eternity, then human existence in it is perceived as especially brief and ephemeral. In the “Cherubim Song” there are the words: “Put aside every care of this life...”, which means pushing into the background all the troubles associated with ensuring material well-being and order in this world. At the same time, the world for such a person is only a temporary refuge, and the leading type of attitude is “the delicate patience of a guest.”

The focus of culture on eternity explains why it has a poorly developed time perspective and orientation towards the future. Therefore, it is incredibly difficult to reform anything in such cultures. They strongly resist any changes, and if they occur, they are revolutionary, or rather apocalyptic in nature.

Another mental characteristic of Russian culture is self-sacrifice. Self-sacrifice is an absolute value in our culture. Quite strange things have happened several times in history - on the eve and during terrible troubles that threatened humanity with destruction, many European countries, their unique, original cultures and peoples were saved by the voluntary bloody sacrifice of Russia.

Of course, the original Russian culture and its spiritual center - Orthodoxy - are difficult for representatives of other national cultures to understand. Pushkin said this brilliantly: “the Greek religion, separate from all others, gives us a special national character.” It is not surprising that the West does not know or understand us; it is much more important that we ourselves know and understand our culture and mentality.

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