How Russian Society is Developing at a Time of Economic Crisis: A Contextual Approach (Article 2)

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The article presents a multidimensional contextual analysis of the fourth wave (March 2016) and the key conclusions of the nationwide sociological monitoring of the status and trendline of Russian society under the new reality, which is influenced by external and internal threats and risks that are in turn intensified by the current economic crisis. It assesses the social–psychological trendline of Russian society during the period under analysis. It reports a deterioration in the mass view of the changes that occurred from 2015 to 2016—a result of the unfulfilled hopes of the population for an easing of crisis-related phenomena—but this shift to pessimistic views is a long way from the results in 1998. The author devotes particular attention to the population’s adaptability. The population’s main strategy of adaptation in 2016 was to economize, which went beyond consumer spending and broadly encompassed investment in human capital. A diagnosis is offered for the systemic change in employer–employee relationships, with the balance of power shifting in these relationships toward exacerbating the powerless position of employees. The article analyzes the stability and variability of the worldview orientations and life priorities of Russians and resources for social integration in Russia’s multiethnic and religious space.