printNational Pride and Trust in President in Russia:
Socio-Demographic Characteristics and Emancipative Values
Zubarev N.S.
Cand. Sci. (Polit.), Research Assistant, Ronald F. Inglehart Laboratory for Comparative Social Research, HSE St. Petersburg, Russia. nzubarev@hse.ru
Moreva Yu.E.
Research Assistant, Ronald F. Inglehart Laboratory for Comparative Social Research, HSE St. Petersburg, Russia. yuli-more@hotmail.com
Arkatov D.A.
Cand. Sci. (Polit.), Junior Research Fellow, Assoc. Prof., Department of Political Science and International Affairs, Ronald F. Inglehart Laboratory for Comparative Social Research, HSE St. Petersburg, Russia. darkatov@hse.ru
he article was prepared within the framework of the HSE University Basic Research Program.
Zubarev N.S., Moreva Yu.E. , Arkatov D.A. National Pride and Trust in President in Russia: Socio-Demographic Characteristics and Emancipative Values. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2025. No 9. P. 63-78
Discussions about the role of values and national pride in determining institutional trust are prominent in contemporary Russian politics. The comparison of national pride and trust in the president is necessary since both variables play an essential role in shaping social cohesion of any given society. Christian Welzel's theory of emancipatory democratization identifies four dimensions that structure individual “liberty aspirations” (Welzel 2013). The degree of autonomy granted to children by their parents (1), opportunities available to individuals to make their voices heard in the sphere of politics (2), equality between genders (3), and choices that people make to control their bodies and personal lives (4). We combine this theory with the findings of several publications concerning socio-demographic factors of political culture formation to compare the "portraits" of those who have high national pride and tend to trust state institutions. Multinomial regression is applied to survey data collected in 60 regions of Russia in 2019–2020. Results show that socio-demographic characteristics and value orientations of Russians with high indicators of national pride and trust in the president coincide. These population groups tend to be low on emancipative values index, high on religiosity and income satisfaction. Women, older people, and residents of rural areas trust the president and feel proud more often than other population groups. Welzel’s theory suggests that the growth of emancipative values that typically follows improvements in economic well-being could further dampen such indicators of social cohesion as national pride and trust in the president.
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