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ECONOMIC ATTITUDES AND INDIVIDUAL VALUES: THEORETICAL ASPECT
OF THE PROBLEM
V.A. Fedotova, senior lecturer
National research university Higher school of economics (Perm) (Russia, Perm)
The article was prepared within financial support of the «Russian Foundation for Humanities» and administration of the Perm region in the framework of scientific project No 16-16-59002 «Economic attitudes and cultural values of the citizens of the Perm region».
Abstract. Nowadays, more and more attention is paid to the correlation of cultural parametres with the indicators of social and economic development. The connection of cultural values and economic development goes through multiple changes, in different countries and in different periods. In Russia that is constantly under the influence of economic and social transformations this question is especially relevant. One can say that culture, to some extent, bears responsibility for the economic development. It is to be expected that representatives of different generations of Russian people would perceive questions related to the problem of cultural values and economic attitudes in a different way. The younger generation has different prevailing values, and young people adapt more easily to the new life conditions. Only the young people that have already got used to new life conditions, in Russia tormented by reforms, can change their attitude towards values and economic attitudes faster than the adult generation that grew up in another country (the USSR) and thus had to change a lot during the social and economic changes that were occurring at the time. It is to be noticed that the Russian society, in the last years, is in the middle of a period of political, cultural and economic transformations. This brings a lot of changes to the way of life and to the mentality of the Russian population. During the last few years, people had to elaborate their own behaviour standards, to act, to know their way around in the situation that had occurred. Obviously, the young people turned to be more interested and open to new practices and transformations than people of an older generation whose system of attitudes and values had yet been formed in the Soviet times. Today's young generation is the indicator of social and economic alterations of the last 10-15 years. Russians' values, their active life philosophy and their ideas of what is important in their lives and what is not, - this is the core of the national identity.
Keywords: culture, values, economic attitudes, economic development.
Theoretical and methodological approaches to defining and measuring cultural values in psychology
In scientific literature, one can observe a variety of approaches to the studies of culture. Hundreds of definitions of "culture" have been given by outstanding psychologists, philosophers, historians, sociologists, cultural specialists, ethnographers, etc. In its broadest sense, culture is defined as "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society" [13]. Hofstede defines culture as "the collective programming of the mind distinguishing the members of one group or category of people from others" [5]. A more strict definition is given by Geertz: "culture is a historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a system
of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge" [9]. Scholars in the field of cross-cultural psychology tend to believe that culture has its impact on many characteristics, such as economic behaviour [15], state politics [9], national institutions and business systems [15], economy growth [9]. However, in Russian and foreign practice, we may nowadays observe rather few papers dedicated to the problem of how the culture impacts people's attitude towards innovation.
As noticed by Matsumoto, one of the struggles of psychology is the question of how to conceptualize the culture and measure it in psychology. Culture is, above all, the values [5]. Consequently, culture fulfills itself through values that are, in their turn, the basis of any culture. The values determine an individual's rela-
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tionship with the society, the nature, the closest environment and the individual themselves; they form goals, group convictions and actions. The notion of value is polysemantic by itself. Social and cultural values are built together with the personality, and their building is formed by the culture and the society. Sociocultural value orientations are the stem of our lives and are most often revealed in the way a personality thinks and acts. Currently, numerous theoretical and methodological approaches exist, among which one can name approaches developed by S. Schwartz, F. Trompenaars and C. Hampden-Turner, G. Hofstede, C. Kluckhohn and F. Strodtbeck, E. Hall etc.
S. Schwartz's approach to measuring values: new methodic
S. Schwartz's theory of basic human values [13] provided the grounds to hundreds of research works in the last few years. In these, researchers reviewed the connection between Schwartz's ten basic values, or four metavalues, with different mindsets, ideas, opinions, types of behaviour, personal qualities etc. In 2011, Schwartz created a new method that didn't include just 10 basic values, as before, but 19 values.
Shalom Schwartz dedicated a special research to the problem of choosing the comparison criteria for studying values in various cultures. He analyzed how 56 values were treated in 20 countries and created his "theory of the contents and structure of values". Schwartz concluded that 44 distinct values were perceived in the same way in the cultures he had studied. The study of values, guided by Schwartz, was performed at two different levels of analysis: individual and cultural. At the individual level, the values are perceived as the basis for motives on which people rely in their lives. Schwartz says that the main informative aspect that distinguishes one value from another is the type of motivation in which they are reflected. This is why he grouped independent values in blocks of values with a common goal and gave those types of values the definitions based on their main goal: Power, Achievement, Hedonism, Stimulation, Self-Direction, Universalism, Benevolence, Traditions, Conformity, Security.
In most of his earlier studies, Schwartz was successfully applying the ten values of the initial theory. Nevertheless, researchers often noticed problems resulting from such measurements:
specifically, multicollinearity between adjacent values, low internal validity of the indicators and the crossing charge of different points and factors [1]. The revised theory is compatible with the initial structure featuring ten wider constructs, as these 19 values embrace the same motivational continuum as the initial ten values [4]. A second-order confirmatory factor analysis was used to define if the 19 values could be combined in order to get the initial 10 basic values. The six values that the refined theory divides in a whole series of values were combined in the following way: Security (Security Personal, Security Societal, and Face), Universalism (Uni-versalism Concern, Universalism Nature, Uni-versalism Tolerance), Self-Direction (Self-Direction Thought and Self-Direction Action), Power (Power Resources and Power Dominance), Conformity (Conformity Rules, Conformity Interpersonal and Humility), and Benevolence (Benevolence Dependability and Benevolence Care) [4]. As a result, the researchers came to the conclusion that the data obtained in the format of the 19 values may also reflect the 10 initial basic values.
Differences in values between generations
The problem of intergenerational diversity is present in nowadays' Russia, since a significant gap in values can be observed between generations from the mid-1980s to the present time.
V.S. Magun and M.G. Rudnev come to a conclusion that the contemporary Russian society, compared to the Soviet-era society, is more likely to form the Openness to Change and Self-Enhancement values rather than those of Conservation and Care for other people and nature. Unlike in the Soviet times, the tendency in contemporary Russia can be described as a movement towards the values of openness and self-enhancement, while people are less oriented to conservation and care for people and nature [3].
M. Postnikova performed a study with an objective to explore the values of existing generations. The research methodology was based on I. Senin's "Terminal Values Questionnaire" [4] and S. Schwartz's methodology of personal values [11]. The author distinguished four periods: the pre-war and war generation (late maturity) - people currently older than 61 years; the post-war generation (maturity) - people that are currently 46 to 60 years old; the stagnation and early perestroika generation (early maturity) - people that are currently 31 to 45 years
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old; the perestroika and transition period generation (youth)- people that are currently 16 to 30 years old, and the "new century" generation of "market relations", - people that are currently younger than 16 years old. The prioritized values for the third generation (31-45 years old) are the following: "Material welfare"; "Creativity" and "Self-Enhancement". The relevant values for the second generation ("postwar", the "Thaw generation, 46-60 years old): "Universalism", "Benevolence", "Conformity", and "Security" are located on the axe of Conservatism / Self-Transcendence. Collectivism. Values such as "Stimulation", "Hedonism", "Achievement", "Power" are represented by low numbers. Among the representatives of the first generation ("pre-war" and "war" period, 61 or more years old), the statistically significant values of "Universalism", "Traditions", "Security" are located on the axe of Conservatism / Self-Transcendence, and the "Self-Direction", "Stimulation", "Hedonism", and "Achievement" values, associated with the axe of Openness to change / Self-Enhancement, are much less relevant.
The 2011 research by N. Korolyova investigated the basic values in young people such as students and graduates of Russian higher education institutions [2, p. 36-39]. The researcher used the value orientation scale created by the US researchers F. Elashmawi and F. R. Harris [7]. The study has revealed that the locus of control tends to change from external to internal, that is to say, young people are more inclined to hope for their own resources while they are dealing with the difficulties they encounter, and to assume responsibility for their own failures. Another tendency that showed itself in the study was the overall change of the contemporary Russian's values towards individualism. It confirms the results of earlier studies and allows us supposing that the representatives of the younger generation of Russian people would choose values that reflect the interests of an individual (Openness to changes and Self-Enhancement values).
Theoretical and methodological approaches to defining and measuring economic attitudes in psychology
As it was already said, the beginning of the 20th century was marked by the first in-depth studies of the cultural factors influence upon economy. One of the first scholars to think of
this problem was Max Weber. He was trying to find out if there was a connection between religion and economic success. According to Weber, the creation of Protestantism was the key factor in the modernization of Europe. He emphasized that the Calvinist version of Protestantism encouraged establishment of norms that were favourable for economic success: the protestant system of beliefs undermined the religious norms that provided the cultural basis for the pre-industrial societies and were impeding economic development. Later, Granato, Inglehart and Leblang demonstrated that cultural and economic factors played complementary roles in the explanation of economic growth. Guizot, Sapienza and Zingales made a significant contribution to the study of how cultural factors influence the degree of development of a country, trying to prove the cause-and-effect relations between economy and culture. Their first step was to research the influence of culture upon beliefs: they took religion as an instance of culture and observed how it influenced the beliefs concerning trust. As the second step, the authors explored the effect of this belief (about trust) on economic results and came to the conclusion that religiosity had a positive influence on the level of trust, and trust positively affected the level of development [6].
Economic attitudes reflect people's attitude to their own financial situation. Specialists frequently speak of orientation to economic autonomy and economic paternalism. Subjective economic status is an indicator of how a person perceives their own financial situation, and a component of the personal identity. The problem of property relations and welfare has become one of the essential problems in today's Russia. Interactions in economic and micro-social environment are influenced by a person's ideas of their financial situation. Speaking of orientation to economic paternalism and economic autonomy, Russians have both tendencies, but the orientation to economic autonomy is prevailing. This can be explained by the fact that Russians mostly strive for economic independence and autonomy, and they rely on the government less than before. Speaking of economic paternalism, one has to remember that, after the years of the Soviet regime, it has found a secure place in the people's conscience: decades ago, it was the State to provide citizens with apartments, trips, summer residences, 13 th month pay and many
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other benefits. Time should have passed before people stop believing that the government must give them things. At first glance, paternalism in the contemporary Russian society is a holdover from the old days. Supporters of paternalism, W. Thomas and F. Znanieski called those who were not able to change their strategies (and subsequently, attitudes) in new conditions "philistines". They wrote that unexpected and crucial changes of life circumstances make those people's behaviour disorganized, and up to a certain moment, they keep using old, time tested schemes [16, p. 1854-1855]. So, paternalism is a "splinter" of the broken Soviet past, and it is supported, as a rule, by people who, due to various reasons, have not been able to adapt to the new economic conditions. Paternalism, as a form of a community inside of a society, is autonomous from common social values and goals. Orientation to economic autonomy is mostly found with the young people and orientation to economic paternalism, conversely, with the older generation.
Another component of the subjective economic status is the attitude towards material welfare. Scholars have repeatedly touched the subject of an individual's satisfaction with his or her own life. R. Inglehart, for example, observed that the degree of satisfaction with life reflected the sum of satisfaction with various aspects of life: financial situation, job, environment, health etc. [10]. In low-income nations, the importance of material values is higher. A universal polycomponent model of psychological well-being has been suggested by K. Riff. He supposes that welfare, to some extent, is the development of the personality, self-acceptance, a life goal, positive relationships with other people, ability to control the own life situation, etc. [12]. K. Riff's model of psychological well-being includes six components: caring and trustful relationships with others; presence of activities and goals that bring sense to the life and give a feeling of self-actualization and development; the possibility to follow one's beliefs; the ability to successfully cope with the requirements set by life and a positive attitude to oneself and the own past.
Quite often, an opinion may be heard that wealth, in the Russian tradition, is condemnable and doubtful, while poverty is represented as a
virtue. Today, this affirmation became commonplace, since the value of a person is being determined by the quantity and the quality of the items that he or she owns. We should remember that wealth and poverty are relative and temporary things, especially in Russia. A study on wealth and poverty in Russia has demonstrated that among respondents, there are a number of wealthy people who do not believe in righteous and fair work as a basis for wealth and welfare. Poor Russians, in its turn, do not consider making an honest living a source of material well-being.
As for the attitude towards material welfare, it is observed that older people tend to declare that they are satisfied with their own income, even though it has significantly decreased. It has been found that some changes occur to how people value interpersonal relations: with people's aging, the latter become more important. The 30-years-old respondents are the most satisfied with their work, and for the 20 years old respondents, these numbers are lower [6].
Therefore, orientation to economic autonomy prevails over orientation to economic paternalism. Paternalism is something that remained of the Soviet past, and it is usually supported by people that could not adapt to new economic conditions for various reasons. Adult people are more oriented to economic paternalism, and young people, to economic autonomy. Representatives of the adult generation find that their welfare became worse in the last years, and they suppose that this tendency will continue in the future. For Russians, money is the source of confidence, of a certain status, of pleasure and security. The idea of money as a resource for help, self-improvement, for creating better life conditions yields its place. People in Russia believe that money is not the source of happiness. Advantaged Russians are full of initiative and energy; they aspire for power and may be characterized as quite greedy, not too clean-living, educated people who, while working hard, do not really care about the future of Russia. Sympathy is their dominant feeling towards their poor fellow citizens. The hypothesis is the following: there is a correlation between values and economic attitudes, and this correlation is not the same for different generations of Russians.
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References
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ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКИЕ УСТАНОВКИ И ИНДИВИДУАЛЬНЫЕ ЦЕННОСТИ:
ТЕОРЕТИЧЕСКИЙ АСПЕКТ
В.А. Федотова, старший преподаватель
Национальный исследовательский университет «Высшая школа экономики» г. Пермь (Россия, г. Пермь)
Исследование выполнено при финансовой поддержке РГНФ и администрации Пермской области в рамках научного проекта № 16-16-59002 а(р) «Экономические установки и культурные ценности жителей Пермского края»
Аннотация. На сегодняшний день все больше внимание уделяется связи культурных измерений с показателями социально-экономического развития. Связь между культурными ценностями и экономическим развитием претерпевает изменения в разных странах и в разные эпохи. В России, которая постоянно находится под влиянием экономических и социальных изменений этот вопрос особенно актуален. Можно говорить, о том, что культура в некоторой степени несет ответственность за экономическое развитие. Следует ожидать, что представители разных поколений россиян будут по-разному относиться к вопросам, затрагивающим проблему культурных ценностей и экономических установок. У молодого поколения превалируют иные ценности, и им легче приспособиться к новым условиям жизни. Также в России, сотрясаемой реформами, только молодежь, которая адаптировалась к новым жизненным условиям, может изменить свое отношение к ценностям и экономическим установкам быстрее, чем взрослое поколение, которое выросло в другом государстве (СССР) и в процессе социально-экономических преобразований многое вынуждено было менять. Следует заметить, что российское общество в последние годы находится в стадии политических, культурных и экономических изменений. Вследствие чего меняется и уклад жизни, и менталитет населения России. В течение последних лет людям пришлось вырабатывать собственные стандарты поведения, действовать, ориентироваться в сложившейся ситуации. Разумеется, молодежь оказалась более заинтересованной и открытой для новых практик и трансформаций, чем люди старшего поколения, чья система установок и ценностей была сформирована еще в советские времена. Сегодняшнее поколение молодежи являет собой индикатор социальных и экономических преобразований последних 10-15 лет. Ценности россиян, их активная жизненная позиция и представления о том, что важно, а что нет в их жизни - это именно то, что составляет ядро национальной идентичности.
Ключевые слова: культура, ценности, экономические установки, экономическое развитие.
