The Russian Values - Paperback

by Vladimir Petrovich Zakharov (Author)

This final book is the last of a trilogy devoted to the mentality of the Russian people. The first book - "The Price Russians Pay" (2014) gives an idea of what was of value to the people living in Russia, their achievements and failures, what was the cost of wars, revolutions, terror and perestroika. In the second book - "Putin: A Shackled President" (2017), I tried to cover the notion of the Russian mentality "from below," from the position of a private person - in many respects a typical representative of the Russian population - the country's president, Vladimir Putin. It turned out to be a psycho-graphic description of the personality of a prominent, strong-willed person who has already had a strong influence on the development of modern Russia for eighteen years. I tried to show the nature of the national character through one private person. Very much is written about the Russian mentality, the mysterious Russian soul and national values - maybe even too much. Enough to confuse the question, but not enough to understand what it is. These concepts include both the values, attitudes, and personal qualities that are supposedly inherent in the Russian people. At the same time, the authors talk about Russian people in general, about their sobornost and collectivism, about their altruism and contempt for wealth, about the pursuit of justice. Meanwhile, many of the common stereotypes and private everyday truths are outdated, irrelevant or suppressed by subsequent cultural and civilization stratification. To describe the Russian mentality, I used the term "values." Values are stable psychological cognitive-emotional processes. Values include needs, goals and attitudes. I singled out in a Russian man exactly twelve values: four of them - basic, eight - auxiliary, socio-psychological. In my opinion, they all fit into the concept of modern Russian mentality. Someone will find this list incomplete. Feel free to add to the list. In my review, the basic values are presented as those that force Russian people to aspire to meaningful action. These are motivational values. They are: 1) Private property, 2) Power as a substitute for property, 3) The image of an external enemy, 4) The image of the inner enemy. Among socio-psychological values: the Russian Will, Legal Nihilism, Exposure to Verbal Conventions and Conservativeness. The book is written for those who are interested in a fresh socio-psychological view of Russian and Soviet history, culture and politics of the 20th century and how these events influenced the mentality of the Russian people. The book can also be of interest to scientists and students in Russia and abroad.

Author Biography

Vladimir Zakharov, PhD in Psychology. For nineteen years, he worked at Leningrad State University in the area of psycho-diagnostics and socio-psychological training. Vladimir founded the Department of Industrial Psychology at MIPK St. Petersburg State Technical University and led this department for nearly five years. He has numerous publications. The author of well-known books: "The Price Russians Pay" (2014) and "Putin: A Shackled President" (2017). Vladimir was born in evacuation in Novosibirsk in 1944. After the Second World Was his family moved to Moscow for 5 years and then to St. Petersburg. In this city he studied in High school, Electrotechnical University and State University (Faculty of Psychology). He has Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering and PhD in General Psychology. Most part of his career he worked as an Applied Psychologist in the Area of Psychodiagnostics and Socio-Psychological Training. In 1993 Vladimir immigrated to the USA and live here for 25 years. For 13 years he worked as the Oracle Database Administrator. He has numerous publications. Currently he lives in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, United States.