The problem of loneliness in the urban environment: experience of cities in Russian Far East

Abstract

The article deals with the phenomenon of human loneliness in the city. The ever-increasing role of the city as a living space causes changes both in the way of life of a person and in his inner world. Loneliness, being at all times an immanent companion of being, is also distinguished by specific features in modern social realities. Their formation was influenced by dynamic social factors and agents. The purpose of the article is to outline the social contour of urban loneliness by analysing relevant theoretical, methodological and empirical data.
 The methodology for researching the issue was determined by the urban discourse in sociology (G.Simmel, R.Park, A.Lefebvre); social concepts of loneliness (N.Pokrovsky, Zh.Puzanova, E.Klinenberg); the concept of a modern complex society (Z.Bauman, S.Kravchenko), as well as elements of the socio-spatial approach. The empirical basis of the research is represented by a series of semi-formalised focused interviews with respondents - residents of large cities of the Far Eastern Federal District of the Russian Federation using the narrative principle of data processing, as well as elements of content analysis.
 The results of the study are presented by empirically identified narratives of loneliness, the interpretation of their social context. The grounds for the analysis of loneliness as a phenomenon receiving additional development in the conditions of multidirectional and non-linear processes of urban life are noted. A factor social role in this process is played by the diversity and differentiation of public life, social anomie and individualisation of life practices, the crisis of the institution of trust as a value of collective interactions, and the ongoing “atomisation” of households. Also of major importance are the fundamental shifts in the mass consciousness, that led to the perception of a voluntary solitary lifestyle as beneficial and valuable. The social contours of loneliness are affiliated with the intensity of the urban lifestyle, individualism, and uncertainty about the future.
 The author formulates a conclusion about the low level of social capital of respondents as one of the significant factors of loneliness, as well as about the resource nature of the city in the development of loneliness as a personal experience, and in the practice of a lonely lifestyle.