Poverty and Wealth: Impressions of Russian Internet Users

Abstract

Through analysis of the content of social media posts, this article discusses the attitude of Russian Internet users toward the issues of poverty and wealth. Online discussion is pragmatically oriented: General issues of a socioeconomic and sociopolitical nature are not discussed there. Poverty and wealth are perceived through the prism of consumer behavior in order for people to find opportunities to meet their needs. Internet communications manifest an obviously negative assessment of poverty, while the attitude toward wealth and the wealthy and toward social differentiation involves more neutral assessments. At the forefront of discussions is the opportunity to maintain an acceptable standard of living under difficult economic realities. People share recipes for survival in the face of sharp declines in income.

Keywords:

• poverty
• wealth
• the poor
• the rich
• Internet users
• social media
• online communities
• inflation
• inequality
• consumption
• salary
• income

Notes

1. This research was carried out as part of the scientific research project “Nabliudaia za russkim: ekonomicheskie realii,” begun in 2016 at the Department of Economic Sociology and Management at the Faculty of Sociology, Lomonosov Moscow State University. The project focuses on the study of various aspects of Russian economic behavior, as well as their perception of various economic phenomena, based on analysis of online communications. As one stage of the project, the content analysis of online space was conducted between September 2017 and January 2018 and involved both teachers and undergraduates from the department (D. Erkina, A. Zinchenko, Iu. Ivanicheva, A. Korastyleva, V. Mateveeva, S. Muradian, M. Pivovarova, and E. Fedorova).

2. Federal’naia sluzhba gosudarstvennoi statistiki (available at http://www.gks.ru/wps/wcm/connect/rosstat_main/rosstat/ru/statistics/population/level/#).

3. Survey data: survey of Russian citizens aged 18 and over, 43 federal subjects, 100 population centers, 1,500 respondents (Fond obshchestvennogo mnenia “FOMnibus,” 2015–2017) (available at http://fom.ru/Nastroeniya/12463 and http://fom.ru/Ekonomika/13115).

4. K. Kudrin, “Rossiiane adaptirovalis’ k ekonomicheskoi situatsii,” Izvestiia, July 11, 2017, (available at https://iz.ru/616017/kirill-kudrin/rossiian-spasaet-ogorod).

5. “Schast’e v Rossii: monitoring,” VTsIOM press release no. 3431, August 1, 2017 (available at https://wciom.ru/index.php?id=236&uid=116335).

6. “Bogatye i bednye—vchera i segodnia,” VTsIOM press release no. 2878, July 14, 2015 (available at https://wciom.ru/index.php?id=236&uid=115317).

7. Survey “O bednykh, bogatykh i raznitse v dokhodakh,” Fond obshchestvennogo meneniia, October 18, 2017 (available at http://fom.ru/Ekonomika/13815).

8. E. Loriia, “Bogatye stali razdrazhat’ rossiian vdvoe bol’she,” Levada Center data portal, July 26, 2016 (available at www.levada.ru/2016/07/26/bogatye-stali-razdrashat-rossiyan-vdvoe-bolshe).

9. “Digital in 2017: Global Overview” (available at https://wearesocial.com/sg/blog/2017/01/digital-in-2017-global-overview).

10. N. Ignat’eva and A. Fedotov, “Proniknovenie Interneta v Rossii: itogi 2017 goda,” Vserossiiskii omnibus GFK (press release), January 17, 2018 (available at www.gfk.com/fileadmin/user_upload/dyna_content/RU/Documents/Press_Releases/2018/GfK_Rus_Press_Release_Internet_Penetration_in_Russia_2017-2019.pdf).

11. Data from Fond obshchestvennogov meneniia survey of January 15–19, 2016, “Onlain praktiki rossiian: sotsial’nye seti,” January 28, 2016 (available at http://fom.ru/SMI-i-internet/12495).

12. “Sotsial’nye seti v Rossii, leto 2017: tsifry i trendy,” June 29, 2017 (available at http://blog.br-analytics.ru/sotsialnye-seti-v-rossii-leto-2017-tsifry-i-trendy).

13. Sharikov is the satirical canine anti-hero of Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel Heart of a Dog.—Trans.