Figure of the day: 74% of Russians are sure that they are not able to influence the political situation

A short but very succinct description of the structure of Russian society was given by analysts of the Institute for Social and Political Research (ISPR) of the Russian Academy of Sciences in their work "Family in Modern Society":

“In 2017, Russian citizens assessed their monetary incomes as follows: 30% of respondents live in poverty or poverty, not eating enough or barely making ends meet. 54% of respondents have enough money to buy necessary food and clothing, 13% can afford to buy most durable goods, 3% do not deny themselves anything. Note that since the end of 2012, there has been a decrease in the number of "wealthy" citizens from 20% to 13%". This means that only 16% of Russians can be considered successful...

Further, sociologists write:

“The overwhelming majority of Russians do not expect anything good in the future.

Only 4% of Russians expected a significant improvement in the financial situation of their families in 5 years. A sixth of the respondents simply expected an improvement in their financial situation (16%)".

That is, only 20% of Russians can be considered optimists.

But even more impressive data were provided by the experts of this institute in their new, 2021, study entitled "Where are you going, Russia?"

First, it makes it clear that one of the main demands of Russian society is the demand for real federalism, the dream that Moscow finally stops robbing the regions and begins to reckon with their interests.

Only 10% of Russians believe that "the Center is pursuing a policy in the interests of the regions".

And secondly, and most importantly, the citizens of Russia admit that "most of them cannot influence the political processes in the country". 73% of Russians agree with this statement. Moreover, this figure has almost invariably been kept at the same level since 2004.

It is this fact that demonstrates how strong the syndrome of "learned helplessness" is in Russian society.

Psychologists have found that this syndrome appears "after several unsuccessful attempts to influence negative circumstances of the environment (or avoid them) and is characterized by passivity, refusal to act, unwillingness to change the hostile environment or avoid it, even when the opportunity arises"...