Interethnic Attitudes Through the Prism of Subjective Characteristics of Social Well-Being

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the dependence of assessments of the state of interethnic relations on the nature of the social well-being of the population. The main approaches to the study of social well-being are presented, which is interpreted as an integral characteristic affecting all spheres of human activity, marking a complex indicator of a person’s satisfaction with life in a given society and a generalized indicator of the population’s reaction to social transformations. Based on the materials of representative sociological all-Russian and regional studies, it is shown that social well-being influences the vector of interethnic attitudes. Significant differences in the level of ethnic negativism were found depending on the level of material well-being, satisfaction with the financial situation, life satisfaction, and emotional state. All-Russian surveys show that respondents in a negative emotional state, aggravated by a general disturbing information agenda, are more likely to show malevolence towards people of other nationalities. It is also shown that subjective characteristics of social well-being, based on positive assessments of one’s material well-being and a life-affirming emotional background, reduce the level of hostility towards representatives of other nationalities. The article concludes that in conditions of unresolved socio-economic problems, subjective characteristics of social well-being as a factor of perception of the ethnically “other” increase their importance: low level of material prosperity, lack of stable employment and a decrease in the positive level of everyday emotional state, leads to increased negativism in the perception of the sphere of interethnic interactions. Dissatisfaction with one’s financial situation and life in general is likely to lead to an increase in possible ethnically marked social tensions.