SOCIAL ISSUES IN POST-SOVIET RUSSIA

SUBMITTED TO ASST. PROF. DR. IŞIK KUSCU-BONNENFANT

THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

OF

MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

BY

ECEM SECKIN

THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS

IN

EURASIAN STUDIES

SEMINAR

JANUARY 2015

i

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................1

2. CULTURAL ISSUES……………………………..………………………….…................2

2.1. Migration and Diaspora…………………...…………….......................................2-3

2.2. Ethnic and Identity Issue……...…………….........................................................3-4

2.3. Linguistic Issues………...………………………....................................................4-5

2.4. Religious Issues…………………………………....................................................5-6

3. SOCIETAL ISSUES…………………………….………..…...………………....…….......6

3.1. Gender Issues…………………………………………………….........................6-7

3.2. Civil Society…………………………………………..…………………..................8

3.3. Educational Issues…………….……………………..…………………................8-9

4. CONCLUSION................................................................................................................9

5. LITERATURE REVIEW...............................................................................................10

BIBLIOGRAPHY...........................................................................................................11-12

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1. INTRODUCTION

Society in a general description is a group of people having shared cultures and

historical past together with common interests. Most of the characteristics of contemporary

Russian society come from tsarist Russia and Soviet period. In the Russian society, there is

a visible distinction between practice and theory. For example, in Soviet time, there was

not a class based society in theory but society dominated by the class cleavage in practice.

In modern Russia, class distinction still continues especially transition to market economy

after the collapse of Soviet Union. Moreover, formally, there was not poverty in the Soviet

Union but in reality, nearly 40 million Soviet citizens in the poverty limit. These examples

can be increased but may be the most important issue in social sphere is that both in Soviet

Union and also today’s Russia, social sphere is ignored and the state generally focuses on

political and economic issues. Most of the social problems transferred from the Soviet

Union to contemporary Russia as a heritage. In addition, historically and traditionally,

Russian society expects from state to handle social problems because the state in Russia

has primary importance (Gontmakher & Maleva, 9-10).

In transition period, because Russian state focuses on economic and political sphere in

order to modernize rapidly, social sphere is overlooked. Moreover, society slowly

perceives that it should be demanded from state for solving social problems. In this article,

social problems of Russia faced with and how these problems are directly related to

modernization of state will be discussed. Social problems of Russia will be discussed in the

two main parts which are societal and cultural problems. In the first part, cultural issues

like migration and diaspora, ethnic and identity, language and religious problems will be

addressed. In the second part, societal issues like gender, civil society and education will

be analyzed.

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2. CULTURAL ISSUES

2.1. Migration and Diaspora

Migration is one of the instruments of state policy to arrange both economic and

political realms. However, the results of migration issue are clearly sociological. Almost

half of the Russians live outside of their place of birth. This fact demonstrates the both

forced and willingly migration density in Russia. Moreover, because of Soviet nationalist

and labor policy throughout decades, most of the towns and cities in Russia, there is people

from many different nations live. At the same time, many Russian had to migrate from

Russia to former Soviet republics as a part of Soviet policy. After the collapse of Soviet

Union, large scale migration occurs among these states. At this point, another important

issue is emigration of many educated and skilled Russian people to abroad. On the one

hand, with the lifting of restriction on exit from the country, number of people who turn

back to their countries increased rapidly. On the other hand, with the permission of border

restrain, illegal migration in Russia increased dramatically and in the first years of Russian

Federation, this situation got out of control of the state. Moreover, transition in market

economy and opening of the Russian economy to abroad, the trafficking of Russian women

to the West has been increased (Pilkington, 167-168).

In the migration decision, cost and benefit balance is influential. Potential migrants

consider their economic conditions in where they live and also place that they plan to

migrate. In this decision, social structure of the place of immigration is generally ignored.

Moreover, some criteria like age, education level and sex play important role in decision

making of Russian people. For example, migration rate is high in people who graduated

from college and consider their careers but it decreases in retirement ages. Furthermore,

ethnic violence is another reason for Russian migrators, especially from former Soviet

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republics. So, there are different reasons impact migration pattern in post-Soviet Russia

and these migration movements have direct effects on structure of population and also

social policies in Russia. Other than returning of Russian diaspora who lived in non-

Russian states, many people migrate to their native lands. Thus, these migration

movements directly influence ethnic composition of Russian population and also changes

in population effect budget and social policies of state (Heleniak, 532-533).

2.2. Ethnic and Identity Issues

Tolz mentions five different Russian identity determinations as a nation. The first

one is the union identity. In the union identity, Russians are defined by their ultimate aim

to construct a supranational state. In the Soviet Union and in imperial Russia the

boundaries of state kept people together. So, common history and territorial togetherness

created a common identity for Russian people. The second one is Russians as Slav nation.

This type of determination is related to being common origin. Ethnic and cultural

similarities and having common past are main connection points for Slav nationality. The

third one is Russians as Russian speakers without paying attention to ethnic origin.

Without doubt language is an indicator of national identity. Moreover, in Russia, both in

pre-revolutionary Russia and Soviet Russia, Russian language has connective force in

society. In this category, religion is also unifying point for the Russian identity. Russian

speakers regardless of their ethnic origin, give importance to Orthodoxy as a marker of

Russian identity. The fourth one is Russians defined racially. To make connection with

blood ties to define Russian nationality is racist side of defining nationality. The last one

is civil Russian nation which composed to contemporary Russian society. It includes all

Russian people without considering ethnic and cultural origin (Tolz, 995-996).

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Identity issue is in the realm of politics in international arena but in the boundaries

of a country, it becomes social issue. The collapse of Soviet Union led to the emergence of

15 independent states in the region. Each of them promotes national identity in order to

reconstruct their territorial sovereignty. The situation in the Russian Federation is different

than other post-Soviet states. It has to deal with problems related to multi-ethnic structure

of its society. In the post-Soviet Russia, Boris Yeltsin used Russian sovereignty in order to

reinforce his position against Gorbachev but he never used Russian national identity term

for this purpose. Moreover, Yeltsin encouraged the leaders of the ethnic republics for self-

rule by saying that “take as much sovereignty as you can” in his speech in Tatarstan. This

situation is as an indicator of the origin of nationality and ethnicity issues in the Russian

Federation because Russia has ethnically diverse population as a legacy of the Soviet

Union. Furthermore, Yeltsin did not develop an obvious approach both towards ethnic

minorities and also ethnic Russian. So, Russian government did not define the Russian

people rather it prefers to use citizens of the Russian state term. In the contemporary

Russia, the ethnic Russians are composed four fifths of the country. Therefore, Russia

should guarantee the rights of other ethnic groups in its territory. President Putin also did

not solve the uncertainty of nationality policy in Russia (Rutland, 7).

2.3. Linguistic Issues

The Russian Federation includes 176 different ethnic groups today and this number

of ethnic groups also equals to number of language that are spoken in contemporary

Russia. In addition, minority languages are composed of 20% of total language spoken in

Russia. Language issue is the important sociocultural indicator in Russia. After collapse of

Soviet Union, almost nearly all post-Soviet countries replace Cyrillic letters to Latin

alphabet but another dimension of language issue is minority languages in post-Soviet

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Russia. According to Red Book on Endangered Languages report of UNESCO, almost all

minority language except from only three of them are in danger of extinction. Therefore,

other languages are at the limits of extinction. This situation sometimes causes minorities

to start radical to move for the purpose of preserve and continue their language and also

identity. Because the language issue is related to the recognition of the identity, it is source

of strain in itself. Thus, these actions may lead some social tensions foster cultural and

ethnic conflicts (Leprete, 6-7).

In Russia, the language issue seems less critical in Russia because Russian language is

internationally accepted as a common language. Moreover, Russian language is internally

accepted as official language in majority of autonomous region in Russia. The problem is

the criteria for selecting Russian language as official language. Except from four districts

have accepted language regulation which gives precedence to minority language. Because

language is a strong sign of ethnic identity, it demonstrates who is member of which ethnic

and cultural group. In Russia, all languages are not equal and a hierarchical order exists

among languages. Although different languages are spoken in Russia, Russian language is

predominant language depends on population size of nationality (Pavlenko, 301-302).

2.4. Religious Issues

Although Soviet constitutions guaranteed freedom of belief of all Soviet citizens, in

reality there was anti-religion propaganda. Therefore, Soviet Union violated constitution

by discriminating its citizens according to their beliefs. With glasnost and perestroika,

there was a relaxation in religious restrictions. The changes and development in religious

life of Russian citizens continues with Yeltsin in Russian Federation. At the beginning of

1990’s, there was increase in religious associations and religious activities also increased

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in the society. In 1993, Russian constitution has article on religion of the state and it

confirms that Russia is officially secular country. In the new legislation on religion, all

believers’ rights are guaranteed by legal system. However, because of the density of

Christian population in Russian society, there has been unofficial discrimination among

different religions. Moreover, until Putin, the Orthodox Church become the most

influential and powerful social institution in in post-Soviet Russia. Under the Putin, war

against Islamic fundamentalism in Chechnya gained importance especially at the beginning

of 2000’s (Knox, 284-285).

In Russia, in spite of the fact that majority of the population is Orthodox Christian;

there is diversity in religious issue. However, religious tradition and values are much more

based on Christianity due to majority of believers in Russia. So, Russian Orthodox Church

is not only just a religious institution besides, it has crucial role of civil society in Russia.

Even if people do not believe in Christianity, they identified themselves with values and

norms of Christianity. Therefore, the religious organizations and intuitions play active role

in social sphere in post- Soviet Russia. For instance, in 2000, the Russian Orthodox Church

admitted a document namely “Bases of the Social of the Russian Orthodox Church” which

positions the Church in Russian society and also it includes social and ethical issues from

public morality to ecological problems. Therefore, religion is important part of the Russian

social life especially in post-Soviet Russia (Kazmina & Filippova, 1071).

3. SOCIETAL ISSUES

3.1. Gender Issues

During the Soviet rule, women were not liberated but rather mobilized by state as a

labor force in the communist system. In this system, they have unskilled and low paid jobs

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so that their economic independence is problem. After the collapse of Soviet Union, social

status of women decrease and discriminatory environment for women occurred with the

changing political and economic conditions. Nevertheless, with the establishment of the

modern Russia, women try to find their social identity. At the beginning of transition

period, gender roles of both women and men did not change too much and these roles and

identities were defined for requirement of the state. Even though in modern Russia

motherhood was not glorified as in the Soviet Union, women identity still based on paid

work and motherhood. Moreover, household responsibilities, raising child and family care

were perceived as duty of women in contemporary Russia (Sargeant, 1996, 269-271).

Social transformation of Russian society after dissolution of the Soviet Union did

not equally impact men and women. In some realms of the social life, women are still

subject to oppression and discrimination in the patriarchal system. For example, in

educational life, women are supported more than men but in health care system, women

have limited access to full equipped medical care as compared with provided health care

service in Soviet Union. (Mezentseva, 2009, 17-19). Another important social issues

related to Russian women are domestic violence, women trafficking and sexual assault.

Russian administration is not capable of prevent violence against women in Russia and

women expect to reform in legal system and also its implementation together with

improvement in social services in order to support women suffered from domestic

violence. Women’s trafficking is also a big problem related to gender issue in the Russian

society but the government is failure to take precautions. Unfortunately, there has not been

any regional preventative action to avoid it (Johnson, 2009, 97).

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3.2. Civil Society

In Russia, state understanding is strong as a legacy of Soviet Union and also

imperial Russia. With the establishment of modern Russia, state increased its influence in

social life through its institutions. Centralization of political power limited space for the

development of civil society. Although there is increase in the number of civic

organizations after the Soviet Union, membership is very low in civil society. However,

social movements and civic activism increase against Putin administration but these are

unorganized mass society movements. This situation demonstrates there is not any

structured and institutionalized civil society understanding in Russia. Furthermore, most of

civic organizations are financed by international funding. State also supports civic

organizations in order to impose them aims of state. Through this strategy, state plans to

control over civic organizations in Russia. So, some financial and political constraints

make influence of civil society passive (Golenko 14-15).

3.3. Educational Issues

After dissolution of Soviet Union, modernization in education also occurred in

transition period. In education system one of the most important issues is inequality in

school education. Schools are basic units of democratic institutions provides children

different world view and social background. As a social institution, learning in school is

defined by social status in Russia. For instance, wealthier parents of students prefer to

spend more money on their children’s education except from school education. Private

courses or academic coaches are more accessible for them. Therefore, economic prosperity

of families is one of the important determinations in Russian education. Especially with the

marketization of school education, social strata have becoming visible. Demographic and

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cultural structure of the any region in Russia is also another parameter in education issue.

Importance given to education varies from region to region in Russia. Intellectuality level

of people influences the demands for education system. The number of people who visit to

the theatre or museum or average number of book that people read in a specific of time

determines the education (Sobkin, 296-297).

Although some educational reforms were applied in higher educational system in

Russia, there are some structural problems. The first one is inadequate wage of teachers.

The academic wages is decreased due to financial burden of the reforms in educational

system in Russia. Another point is social status of teachers in the society. The respect for

the teacher profession is little and there is a perception that people had not another choice

in their career and did not find any job in public or private sector, become teacher. In

addition, graduated people who could not find suitable job had to continue higher

education in Russia. In addition, because of compulsory army service, the majority of

young men register higher education. Therefore, all of these structural problems lead social

problems in educational system in Russia (Fursova & Simons, 28-29).

4. CONCLUSION

In conclusion, Russia has experienced social transformation after the collapse of the

Soviet Union. Multi-ethnic structure of Russian society leads some social problems.

Migration issues, linguistic and national identity issues are directly related to cosmopolitan

composition of Russian society. Social realm in Russian society is at the second plan.

Russian government gives more importance to political and economic issues. Civil society

is significant part of Russian population to reinforce social sphere in Russia but it seems to

long way to go.

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5. LITERATURE REVIEW

In literature, there is a lot sources related to social issues in post-Soviet Russia. These

academic studies generally focus on migration and ethnic identity issues. Gender issues are

also popular as research areas. Education, religion and language issues do not come

forward. Moreover, social issues are usually analyzed in the light of political and economic

issues. Especially in the last decade, civil society, social movements and civic

organizations are featured subjects.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Fursova, Valentina., Simons, Greg. “Social Problems of Modern Russian Higher Education:

The Example of Corruption”. International Education Studies; Vol. 7, No. 10; 2014. 25-31.

Golenkova, Zinaida T. Civil Society in Russia. Russian Social Science Review, vol. 40, no. 1.

January-February 1999. 4-18.

Gontmakher, E., Maleva, T. “Russia’s Social Problems and Alternative Ways of Resolving

Them”. Problems of Economic Transition, vol. 51, no. 12, April 2009, 3–17.

Heleniak, Timothy. “Migration and Restructuring in Post-Soviet Russia”, Demokratizatsiya,

Vol. 9, no. 4, Fall 2001. pp. 531-549.

Johnson, Elise Janet. Gender Violence in Russia: The Politics of Feminist Intervention. USA:

Indiana University Press. 2009.

Kazmina, Olga., Filippova, Olga. “Re-Imagination of Religion in Post-Soviet Society:

Challenges and Responses”. International Education Studies; Vol. 7, No. 10; 2014. 1050-

1076.

Knox, Zoe. “Religious Freedom in Russia: The Putin Years”. Religion, Morality and

Community in Post-Soviet Socieities. Ed. Steinberg, Mark D., Wanner, Catherine. USA:

Woodrow Wilson Center Press. 281-315.

Mezentseva, Elena. “Gender Inequality in Today Russia: Who Bear the Social Costs of

Reforms? ”. Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization, Volume 17,

Number 1 / Winter 2009. 17-24.

Lepretre, Marc. “Language Policy in the Russian Federation: Language Diversity and

National Identity”. Sociolingüística internacional. Primavera 2002. 1-9.

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Pavlenko, Aneta. “Multilingualism in Post-Soviet Countries: Language Revival, Language

Removal, and Sociolinguistic Theory”. The International Journal of Bilingual Education and

Bilingualism Vol. 11, Nos. 3&4, 2008. 275-314.

Pilkington, Hilary. Migration, Displacement and Identity in Post-Soviet Russia. London:

Routledge. 1998.

Rutland, Peter. “The Presence of Absence: Ethnicity Policy in Russia”. Institutions, Ideas and

Leadership in Post-Soviet Russia, ed. Julia Newton & William Tompson USA: Palgrave

Macmillan. 2010.

Sargeant, Elena. “The ‘woman question’ and problems of maternity in post-communist

Russia”. Women in Russia and Ukraine. Ed. Rosalind Marsh. UK: Cambridge University

Press. 1996. 269-286.

Sobkin, Vladimir. “Education and the Problem of Social Inequality in Russia”. International

Journal of Inclusive Education, 2001, Vol. 5, No. 2/3, 293-303.

Tolz, Vera. Forging the Nation: National Identity and Nation Building in Post-Communist

Russia. Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 50, No.6, 1998, 993-1022.