Health as a value and a result of activity: problems and contradictions

Abstract

According to multiple studies, health holds a key place in the system of life values. Health is the foundation of a happy life and self-realization of the individual. The lack of health bring in serious restrictions on the possibilities of normal life functioning. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the entire global population faces risks to their health, values of health and life become ever more important. In contemporary Russia there is a contradiction between the high importance of health and the real behavior aimed at preserving it. The level of awareness of the population about various aspects of their own health and healthy lifestyle is low. The population underestimates the importance of behavioral risk factors, especially those whose lifestyle is far from healthy. The article is based on the analysis of the literature and the latest statistical data. It makes an attempt to comprehend the above-described contradiction, its causes and consequences. It is concluded that the formation of a self-preserving ideology, education of a culture of health and “reload” of the value system in such a way that the value of health becomes more real and is embodied in certain strategies of health-preserving behavior is one of the main tasks facing the state and society today. The methodological basis of the work is the study of the Department of Sociology of Family and Demography of the Faculty of Sociology, Lomonosov Moscow State University “Interregional sociological and demographic study of the values of family and children lifestyle (SEDOZH-2019)” conducted in 2018–2019 and supplemented by data from the Public Opinion Foundation, the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion, Rosstat and WHO.