TWO SARANSKS: SOCIAL PORTRAIT OF RESIDENTS IN THE CONTEXT OF CITY IDENTITY

Abstract

The main purpose of the publication is to test the hypothesis about the existence of two social groups in Saransk that identify city residents in opposite ways (mostly positive or mostly negative), as well as assumptions about the age (generational) nature of these differences. The object of the study is the residents of the city of Saransk, the subject is the identity of the city, defined as ideas about the corresponding social community, urban society. The analysis is based on the results of sociological research conducted in Saransk in 2020-2021: a representative questionnaire survey of citizens at their place of residence, a focus group study, a semi-structured interview with experts. The hypothesis was mostly confirmed: two groups of citizens with opposite ideas about the identity of the urban society of Saransk were identified. However, the differences between them are not age-related (as expected), but cultural. The first group, “critics” (33% of the sample, mostly educated, often hereditary citizens with incomes at or above the median level), perceive Saransk society rather negatively, noting a lack of love for the city, unwillingness to participate in its life and lack of urban culture. The second group, “optimists” (67% of the sample, mostly city dwellers in the first generation with different education and incomes at or below the median level), positively identify residents as fully accomplished, almost ideal city dwellers who love their city. The conflict potential of contradictions is rather low: disagreements are realized only by "critics" and are conditioned by their ideas about "urban" and "rural", cultural and uncultured. "Optimists" demonstrate tolerance without noticing any differences. At the same time, the leadership and the public of the city need to be aware of the existence of two cultures in the social space of Saransk, as different views on the identity and future of the city, as well as the problem of the lack of dialogue between them. The development of Saransk is impossible without maximum reliance on the creative resources of both the majority of socially active "optimists" and the minority of "critics" - the keepers of the original urban culture.