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9Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences 10 (2014 7) 1765-1774
УДК 316.752
Dynamics of Social Well-Being
of the Population of the Region in View
of Emotional and Energy Indicators
Valentin G. Nemirovskiy*
Siberian Federal University 79 Svobodny, Krasnoyarsk, 660041, Russia
Received 22.06.2014, received in revised form 30.07.2014, accepted 17.09.2014
The article investigates the dynamics of social well-being of inhabitants of the Krasnoyarsk Territory (2010-2014 years). To perform the analysis the author applied a method developed in the framework of the "socio-cultural portrait of the region" by N.I. Lapin and L.A. Belyaeva; that method was complemented with a scale of self-assessment of the level of life energy of the respondent.This allowed to show a more adequate representation of the emotional-energy component of social well-being of the respondents. The empirical basis of the study were representative surveys of the population of the Krasnoyarsk Territory in 2010 and 2014 through the method offormal interviews, as well as a study with the method we had developed; the study was conducted in accordance with a similar methodology in 2011. It wasfound that in terms of all of the indicators that were used there was a significant improvement of the social well-being of the population of the region. Such a phenomenon is typical for many regions of Siberia. It was concluded that one maymisjudge the significant improvement of social well-being of the population in the region in recent years as a uniquely positive phenomenon. It can be caused not only by the improvement in living conditions and by the increase in the effectiveness of social policies in the region, but also by other poorly understood factors. These include, for example, the involvement into an active social life of the representatives of new age cohorts, which internalized modern social norms and values, or by intensive migration of social actors who are dissatisfied with life in the region to Moscow and to foreign countries. As a result, there is an outflow of human capital from the active population of Siberia.In addition,the elderly people leave this life in a natural way, and it was this group of population that often had showed a negative social well-being. Therefore, the improving social well-being of the population may mask some negative processes. Hence, there is a need for a better understanding of the factors influencing the change in social well-being of the population of the Siberian region.
Keywords: social well-being, sociology of region, sociology of emotions.
The study was accomplished with the financial support of Russian State Fund for Humanities, the project "Dynamics of Socio-Cultural Processes in the East Siberian region in the Context of Contemporary Modernization of Russia (based on materials of sociological research in the Krasnoyarsk Territory), № 13-03-00379.
Research area: 22.00.00 - sociology.
© Siberian Federal University. All rights reserved Corresponding author E-mail address: [email protected]
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*
Social well-being of the populationis one of the most important characteristics of socio-cultural and socio-economic processes in any region, as well as in larger social and territorial communities. There are different approaches to its measurement described in the domestic and foreign literature. For all its variety, the most widely spread approach, first of all, takes into account such social and emotional phenomena as overall life satisfaction of the respondent, the level of social optimism and security against a variety of risks (Lapin, 2006). In our view, the feeling of being safe from all dangers is certainly an emotional phenomenon, the opposite to the sense of fear (Nemirovsky, Nemirovskaya, 2012: 119). Accordingly, the sense of fear is one of the elements of social well-being. Therefore, it is difficult not to agree with D.N. Barinov that the changes in the repertoire of social fears, and their objects show the impact on social well-being of the objective conditions of life of people, and these conditions are determined by macrosocial factors (Barinov, 2008:169). It is not a coincidence that the analysis of the sense (emotion) of fear in the structure of social well-being of the population has a long tradition. Moreover, the very notion of social well-being is determined by socio-emotional categories. For example, one has to agree with the opinion of N.V. Doolina (Doolina, 2009: 89), who stipulates that when defining "social well-being" we need to mention the fact that this is really functioning social consciousness and behavior, "which reveal the emotionally comfortable assessment of individuals, social groups and the population ... attributed to the level of satisfaction of their social needs, as well as its position in comparison with other individuals, social groups ..." (Burko, 2000: 56). Thus, we can safely say that the social well-being of the individual is largely relates to the problematic field of sociology of emotions (Barbalet, 1999). So, we come to such an important
indicator of social well-being as general life satisfaction. Some authors identify the various aspects of the satisfaction with their human life. This kind of tradition has a long history. It is not a coincidence that more than 20 years ago an American scholar A. Campbell revealed the following representations of the respondents about the good life: economic stability, good family relationships, strong and tough character, loyal friends, outwardly attractive environment (Campbell, 1981).
Indicators, which measure social well-being of the population, are often combined in special indexes, special tests are developed. For example, famous Ukrainian scientists E.I. Golovakha, N.V. Panina, A.P. Gorbachik some time ago developed the sociological test "Integral index of social well-being". There were two modified versions of the test created: 44-line version of the questionnaire (IISS-44), designed for in-depth studies of social wellbeing, and 20-line version (IISS-20), designed for monitoring, comparative and operational research. The authors' methods make it possible to measure the level of social well-being of the population. In addition, it allows to evaluate the effectiveness of social policies (Golovakha, Panina, Gorbachik, 1998: 45-72). The method developed by N.I. Lapin and L.A. Belyaeva applies the interview to measure "... three components of social well-being of the population: the degree of feeling protected against 10 social risks; the degree of satisfaction with their lives in general; the degree of social optimism - a comparison of living standards with the previous year, the expectations in the coming year, confidence in the future. Using them as a basis, the authors developed the comprehensive index of social well-being (ISS)" (Lapin, Belyaeva, 2010).
In our opinion, for a more holistic description of the phenomenon of "social well-being" its indicators should be complemented by indicators
of its emotional and energetic elements. We support the view of N. L. Batalova, who assumes that "the energy component expresses the level of implementation of vital forces of a personality or a social group as an ability to play and improve their lives in different areas, showing the social subjectivity ..." (Batalova, 2009: 8). This author introduced an additional index: the coefficient of socio-energy potential to the toolkit which had previously been elaborated by N.I. Lapin and L.A. Belyaeva. The coefficient reflects the level of actual and potential social activity of a young man. This indicator is based on how the respondent himself (herself) estimates his (her) state of health, as well as on the degree of social activity" (Batalova, 2009: 11). In this study human vitality was measured according to the four-point scale; its variants of assessments and judgments for describing the energy level of a human are shown in Fig. 1.
We relied on the data from a survey of the population of the Krasnoyarsk Territory (2014), which was carried out by formal interviews at the place of residence of respondents, on stratified, multi-zoned, quota samples represented by sex, age and level of education. The respondents were selected randomly. Representativeness of the sample is provided by keeping the proportions between the population living in 28 settlements of various types (areas of large cities, medium and small cities and rural areas), gender and age and educational structure of the adult population of the region. The study was conducted within the project "Socio-cultural evolution of Russia and its regions" (supervisors N.I. Lapin, L.A. Belyaeva). On the whole there were 1300 residents interviewed, living in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. For comparison, we also used the data from a similar survey conducted in the region in 2011 (n = 1100).
The feeling of being protected from a variety of risks in the standard procedure "Socio-cultural
portrait of the region" includes ten indicators characterizing corresponding types of social danger. We can combine them into two main groups of types of danger and, accordingly, "... a feeling of insecurity / security from them on the basis of separation of the two main sources of such risks (threats): firstly, the external objective conditions that an individual would like to change, to be isolated from them, etc. Second, internal, subjective characteristics of the person that he (she) cannot change or does not want to change because they, for example, can destroy his (her) social and cultural identity, self-consciousness, the inner "Ego".
The first group includes:
• environmental threat;
• arbitrariness of officials;
• arbitrariness of law enforcement bodies;
• poverty;
• loneliness and abandonment;
• crime.
The second includes:
• harassment because of age or sex;
• infringement because of nationality;
• harassment for their religious beliefs;
• persecution for their political beliefs « (Nemirovsky, Nemirovskaya, 2012: 120121).
Let us see the changes that have occurred in the perception of these threats by the inhabitants of the region over the past 4 years (Table 1). We shall analyze the answers "Protected + probably protected". Let us consider the first group of threats. Thus, the fear of the environmental threat has decreased by 2.5 times, the arbitrariness of officials, respectively - by 2.0 times, the arbitrariness of law enforcement bodies - 1.5 times, poverty - 1.3 times, crime - 1, 9 times, loneliness and abandonment remained the same.
With respect to the second group of threats we shall mention: the fear of harassment
Table 1. Residents of Krasnoyarsk Kray on Their Protection from Social Dangers ( % of respondents)
Types of danger Krasnoyarsk Kray, 2010 Krasnoyarsk Kray, 2012 Krasnoyarsk Kray, 2014
Feel protected (safe); probably protected It is hard to say Do not feel protected (unsafe) Feel protected (safe); probably protected It is hard to say Do not feel protected (unsafe) Feel protected (safe); probably protected It is hard to say Do not feel protected (unsafe)
Crime 10,9 25,1 64,0 13,4 23,4 63,2 21,2 24,4 54,3
Poverty 17,8 25,2 57,0 19,4 21,2 59,4 23,9 28,0 48
Environmental threat 12,4 33,6 54,0 16,6 27,3 56,1 30,7 29,0 40,3
Arbitrariness of officials 10,2 31,9 57,9 13,0 30,0 57,1 20,3 31,1 48,5
Arbitrariness of law enforcement bodies 18,0 33,3 48,7 19,6 34,0 46,5 26,4 35,8 37,8
Loneliness and abandonment 39,7 27,5 32,8 38,5 23,6 38,0 40,5 25,3 34,2
Persecution for political beliefs 43,1 41,0 15,9 39,5 40,8 19,7 41,3 36,2 22,5
Harassment because of age or gender 47,1 32,1 20,8 53,2 26,3 20,5 57 28,1 14,9
Harassment for their religious beliefs 68,6 25,7 5,7 70,6 23,2 6,2 66,2 23,9 9,9
Infringement due to nationality 73,5 20,1 6,4 70,1 22,1 7,8 68,9 23,7 7,4
because of age or sex has decreased by 1.2 times, harassment due nationality decreased by 0.9 times, the harassment and persecution for political beliefs, as well as for religious beliefs, in practice, remained at the same level.
It can be concluded that for the period 2010 -2014 in the Krasnoyarsk Territory the sense of insecurity (fear) of respondents over external objective factors and threats generated by them has decreased by two times on average. This is, in part, can be explained by the improvement of living conditions in the region and in the country as a whole. In other words, taking into account the socio-economic and socio-cultural factors, life in the region became more comfortable. In the second group, fears that extend beyond the social level have decreased slightly. That is the level of protection against the dangers ascribed to this group actually remained the same. This looks logical: the existence of these fears is largely determined by the microenvironment of the individual, which is characterized by greater inertia.
Satisfaction of the individual with his (her) life serves as an essential element of social well-being. Consider the evaluation of polar groups of respondents. According to the results of our studies (Table 2), the percentage of respondents who are "totally of satisfied" with their lives, in the Krasnoyarsk Territory from 2010 to 2014 has increased by 2.2 times. And in rural areas it is
higher than in urban territory: respectively, by 2.5 and 2.1 times. This may indicate the progress made in a number of public and regional programs aimed at improving life in rural areas and the development of agriculture.
In general, the proportion of "not very satisfied" with their lives over the years in the region decreased by 1.9 times, "not satisfied" -3 times. As you can see, the indicator of social well-being of its residents of the region shows its improvement over the past four years.
Analysis of the level of confidence of the respondents about their future as an indicator of social optimism of the region's population shows a similar pattern (Table 3). The share of people in the region, who are "quite confident" about their future, increased by 1.9 times, "completely confident" - decreased by 1.5 times.
In many ways, social well-being of people is determined by their degree of optimism, social expectations (Table. 4). Now we shall consider the polar groups of respondents. The share of respondents who expressed the opinion that we "are going to live much better" for four years has grown by 2.1 times. In contrast, the proportion of response noted "we are going to live somewhat worse" decreased by 1.9 times, "are going to live much worse" increased by 1.2 times and amounted to only 1.7 %. Thus, the social expectations of the population of the Krasnoyarsk Territory reveal a high degree of optimism.
Table 2. Satisfaction of Residents of Krasnoyarsk Kray with Their Life in General ( % of respondents)
Types of answer Krasnoyarsk Kray, 2010 Krasnoyarsk Kray, 2012 Krasnoyarsk Kray, 2014 Russia, 2010
ropog ceno Bcero ropog ceno Bcero ropog ceno Bcero
Fully satisfied 9,2 8,4 9,0 11,1 13,1 11,6 19,7 21,0 20,0 12,5
Rather satisfied 40,4 41,2 40,6 43,5 37,8 42,1 47,3 38,9 45,3 46,5
Difficult to say exactly 17,0 17,2 17,1 14,8 11,9 14,1 16,8 20,6 17,7 14,2
Not very satisfied 28,6 29,4 28,8 26,7 34,0 28,5 14,5 18,3 15,4 21,0
Not satisfied at all 4,8 3,8 4,5 3,9 3,2 3,7 1,7 1,2 1,6 5,8
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Table 3. The Degree of Confidence of Residents of Krasnoyarsk Kray about Their Future ( % of respondents)
Types of answer Krasnoyarsk Kray, 2010 Krasnoyarsk Kray, 2012 Krasnoyarsk Kray, 2014 Russia, 2010
urban rural total urban rural total urban rural total
Quite confident 11,1 10,2 10,8 16,6 12,8 15,7 19,4 23,5 20,4 13,9
Is likely to be confident than not 25,7 28,5 26,4 31,0 26,3 29,8 33,3 28,5 32,1 36,5
Cannot say for sure 34,5 38,7 35,5 28,7 29,2 28,8 33,1 31,3 31,8 21,2
Is unlikely to be confident 21,3 16,2 20,1 18,4 23,4 19,5 11,2 10,0 10,9 18,2
Completely not confident 7,4 6,4 7,2 5,3 8,3 6,0 4,8 5,0 4,8 10,2
Source: the results of survey (2010, 2012, 2014, question № 17)
Table 4. Expectations in the coming year (Answers to the question "Do you think that in the coming year you and your family will live better than today, or worse?") ( % of respondents)
Types of answer 2010 2012 2014
We are going to live much better 9,7 11,9 19,9
We are going to live a bit better 20,8 20,3 26,4
Nothing is going to change 30,3 33,3 27,3
We are going to live a bit worse 8,2 7,8 4,4
We are going to live much worse 1,4 2,3 1,7
Don't know 29,6 24,4 20,3
Table 5. The Dynamics of the Components of Social Well-Being and Its Index (2010 -2014)
Components of well-being, its index Krasnoyarsk Kray, 2010 Krasnoyarsk Kray, 2012 Krasnoyarsk Kray, 2014 Russia, 2010
Protection from hazards (Kz) 0,60 0,60 0,63 0,59
Satisfaction with life in general (Kuzh) 0,66 0,66 0,73 0,68
social optimism (Ko) 0,63 0,66 0,67 0,62
The index of social well-being (Iss) 0,62 0,64 0,68 0,63
The index of social well-being of the population, calculated by the method developed under the supervision of N.I. Lapin (Lapin, 2006) (Table 5) increased significantly: from 0.62 in 2010 to 0.68 in 2014. Most have increased "Satisfaction with life in general (Kuzh)" and "Social optimism (Ko.)".
According to the research, over four years (2011-2014) Respondents' assessment of any
indicators that characterize their high vitality, increased, for example, "almost always feel": a huge burst of energy, inspiration, respectively,
14 % and 24 %, the state peace and harmony -
15 % and 25 % (see Fig. 1). On the contrary, with regard to the indicators reflecting the decline of vital energy, they decreased or remained unchanged: the answer is "almost always feel": special energy is not observed, but there is a
desire to change the situation: 24 % and 19 %; the answer is "sometimes": strength is not enough, feel tired - 38 % and 31 %, special energy is not observed, but there is a desire to make a difference - 45 % and 37 %.
As you can see, the respondents in the region in the three years have revealed an increase in the indicators characterizing their vitality. In other words, improved emotional and social wellbeing in terms of energy component of the region's residents. The reasons for this phenomenon, in our opinion, require further study. But it is impossible to do without resorting to heuristic sociology of emotions (Nemirovsky, Nemirovskaya, 2012).
Similar processes occur in most regions of the Siberian Federal District. According to "the results of the third well-being ranking of regions of Russia, composed by the Fund of Development of Civil Society in assistance and support of the Fund "Obschestvennoe Mnenie" (Public Opinion), just five Siberian territories
were included in the group with a very high rating. Thus, the most satisfied with their lives are residents of Kuzbass (87 points), Khakassia (72, previously 68 points), Tuva (67, previously 71 points), Buryatia and the Novosibirsk region (66 points). In this case, the Kemerovo region improved its position compared with previous survey immediately by 13 points. The second group with high ranking includes two Siberian region - The Altai Republic (64, previously 61 points) and the Krasnoyarsk Territory, preserved rating of 58 points" (Novosibirsk, 2014).
As you can see, the improvement of social well-being of the population took place in very different in terms of socio-economic development and quality of life regions of Siberia. It can be assumed that improving the social well-being of the population of the Krasnoyarsk Territory in all analyzed indicators related not only to the general improvement of the living conditions in the region. Obviously,
Fig. 1. The Dynamics of Vital Forces of the Residents of Krasnoyarsk Kray in 2011-2014 years
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the important role was played by socio-cultural and socio-psychological factors. On the one hand, on the social arena came the age cohorts of the population, representatives of which are deeply internalized by currently existing in society social norms and values. During the 23 years that have passed since the collapse of the period of our great country, not only a new generation of Siberians has appeared, but also older people en masse have managed to adapt to the changing conditions of life. We also cannot ignore the fact that a large proportion of those who are dissatisfied with the conditions of life in the Siberian region, especially the young, migrate to the western regions of the country in the first place - to Moscow, as well as abroad. In other words, there is a leak of the most qualified and motivated people in the region. In contrast, the population of Siberia "diluted" by
migrants of various nationalities of the other CIS states, some of which obtain local citizenship. Conditions of life in this region for them seem much better than where they lived before.
Therefore, it would be wrong to assess the dramatic improvement of the social well-being of the population in the region of Siberia (as well as other regions of the country) as a uniquely positive phenomenon associated exclusively with the improvement of living standards, reducing social tensions, effective social policies in the region. In reality, it is a complex phenomenon influenced by various subordinate processes and factors, which are not always taken into account by researchers. In our opinion, it is advisable to refer to the studies in related disciplines such as cultural studies, which can contribute significantly to the explanation of these processes (Koptseva, Luzan, 2012; Koptseva, Zamaraeva, 2011).
References
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2. Batalova N.L. Sotsial'noye samochuvstviye molodezhi v usloviyakh izmenyayushchegosya obshchestva (regional'nyy aspekt) Social well-being of young people in a changing society (regional aspect) abstract of dissertation. Tyumen, 2009. P. 8.
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4. In Siberia, the most satisfied with their lives Kuzbass residents: FoRGO // Novosibirsk. City News Latest Asia. June 23, 2014. URL: http://novosibirsk.bezformata.ru/listnews/dovolni-zhiznyu-zhiteli-kuzbassa/21354948/
5. Golovakha E.I., Panina N.V., Gorbachik A.P. Measurement of social well-being // Sociology: 4M. № 10. 1998. C. 45-72.
6. Doolina N.V. Social well-being of the population as one of the criteria for the evaluation of the regional power base // Sociocultural strategy of regional development of Russia: Materials of All-Russian scientific and practical conference on the program «The socio-cultural evolution of Russia and its regions.» Smolensk, October 6-9, 2009 The Smolensk: «The Universe», 2009. P. 89.
7. Koptseva N.P., Luzan V.S. State cultural policy in the Siberian Federal District: concepts, issues and research: a monograph. Krasnoyarsk: SibFU , 2012. 160 p.
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8. Koptseva N.P., Zamaraeva J.S., Sertakova E.A. Sociocultural Research of the Cultural Requirements of the Residents of the Krasnoyarsk City. Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences. № 4. 2011. P. 1577-1588.
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Динамика социального самочувствия населения региона с учётом эмоционально-энергетических показателей
В.Г. Немировский
Сибирский федеральный университет Россия, 660041, Красноярск, пр. Свободный, 79
Статья посвящена исследованию динамики социального самочувствия жителей Красноярского края (2010-2014 гг.). Для анализа использована методика, разработанная в рамках «Социокультурного портрета региона» Н.И. Лапина и Л.А. Беляевой, впервые дополненная нами шкалой самооценки уровня жизненной энергии респондента. Это позволило более адекватно представить эмоционально-энергетическую составляющую социального самочувствия респондентов. Эмпирической базой исследования являются репрезентативные опросы населения Красноярского края в 2010 и 2014 гг. методом формализованного интервью, а также исследование по созданной нами методике, проведённое аналогичным методом в 2011 г. Установлено, что по всем используемым индикаторам произошло значительное улучшение социального самочувствия населения региона. Подобное явление характерно для многих регионов Сибири. Делается вывод, что неверно оценивать существенный рост социального самочувствия населения региона в последние годы как однозначно позитивное явление. Оно может быть вызвано не только улучшением условий жизни и повышением эффективности социальной политики в регионе, но и другими малоизученными факторами. К их числу, например, можно
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отнести приход к активной социальной жизни представителей новых возрастных когорт, интернализировавших современные социальные нормы и ценности. Или интенсивную миграцию социальных акторов, недовольных жизнью в регионе, в Москву и за рубеж страны. В результате происходит отток активного человеческого капитала из Сибири. Также естественным путём уходят из жизни пожилые люди, которые тоже зачастую проявляли негативное социальное самочувствие. Поэтому повышение социального самочувствия населения может скрывать некоторые негативные процессы. Отсюда вытекает необходимость более глубокого изучения факторов, влияющих на изменение социального самочувствия населения сибирского региона.
Ключевые слова: социальное самочувствие, социология региона, социология эмоций.
Исследование выполнено при финансовой поддержке РГНФ, проект «Динамика социокультурных процессов в Восточно-Сибирском регионе в контексте современной модернизации России (на материалах социологических исследований в Красноярском крае)», № 13-03-00379.
Научная специальность: 22.00.00 - социология.
