Basic Human Values and Practics of Social Participation in Russia

Basic Human Values and Practics of Social Participation in Russia


Almakaeva A.M.

Cand. Sci. (Sociol.), Deputy Head, Ronald F. Inglehart Laboratory for Comparative Social Research (LCSR), National Research University “Higher School of Economics”, Moscow, Russia.; Scientific Editor, Department of Publishing Programs, VCIOM, Moscow, Russia aalmakaeva@hse.ru

Nastina E.A.

Junior Researcher, Ronald F. Inglehart Laboratory for Comparative Social Research (LCSR), National Research University “Higher School of Economics”, Moscow, Russia. enastina@hse.ru

ID of the Article: 9651


The article was prepared within the framework of the HSE University Basic Research Program.


For citation:

Almakaeva A.M., Nastina E.A. Basic Human Values and Practics of Social Participation in Russia. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2023. No 6. P. 56-67




Abstract

This study aims to explore to what extent values determine informal social engagement in comparison to the effects of other factors. A heterogeneous sample of respondents from an online panel (N = 3711) is used for our analyses. Self-report in terms of two types of activity, utilitarian and sociotropic, respondents engaged in the last three years were used to create a typology of social participants using latent class analysis. The results of multinomial regression modeling using the obtained classes allow us to conclude that values have a significant impact on the likelihood of more active participation in initiatives for the benefit of society as a whole or its specific groups, and their effect often exceeds the effects of other predictors, including trust, identity, life satisfaction, religiosity, and socio-demographic characteristics. At the same time, activists who approach social participation from a predominantly utilitarian perspective prioritize “Self-enhancement”, while the participants whose social activity is not limited by the interests of narrow circle, put more value on “Self-transcendence”. Other values did not have a significant impact on the engagement pattern. The paper concludes with a discussion of the limitations of the study and directions for future work.


Keywords
values; social engagement; civic participation; altruism; multinomial regression; latent class analysis

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Content No 6, 2023