Is Russia a Fair Society (or at least do Russians
Themselves Think It Is)?
Stephen White
Department of Politics, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8RT, Scotland
[s.white@socsci.gla.ac.uk]
Ol’ga Kryshtanovskaya
Institute of Sociology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Krzhizhanovskaya 24/35, korp. 5,
117218 Moscow, Russia [olgakrysht@yandex.ru]
A paper presented to the General Conference of the European Consortium for
Political Research, University of Glasgow, 3-6 September 2014
Work in progress; please do not cite without permission
Table 1: Perceptions of Fairness, 2007 and 2011 (FOM data)
68
70
61
60
50
52
47
50
42
40
2007
30
2011
20
20
12
14
12
19
16
10
0
Fair
Unfair
How fair is Russian society?
Fairer
Less fairer
Is it fairer than Western society?
Fairer
Less fairer
Is it fairer than Soviet society?
Source: adapted from ‘Spravedlivost’ v rossiiskom obshchestve’, Fond obshchestvennogo mneniya, Dominanty
no. 47, 24 November 2011. Question wordings were ‘What do you think, is contemporary Russian society on the
whole organised fairly or unfairly?’, ‘Which society in your opinion is organised today more fairly – Russian or
western?’, and ‘What do you think, is contemporary Russian society organised more or less fairly than Soviet
society of the 1970s and 1980s?’; rounded percentages; don’t knows and no answers account for residuals.
Table 2: How Equal Should Incomes Be?
(World Values Survey and authors’ data, 2010-14)
China
More equal
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Less equal
DK/NA
(N)
Mean
15
14
15
9
9
7
8
9
5
4
6
2,300
4.4
Germany Japan
Russia
Sweden
United States
16
7
12
13
9
8
3
11
7
5
17
10
13
12
8
16
9
15
10
8
18
24
16
17
18
8
13
11
8
14
7
13
8
13
12
4
8
6
11
12
1
1
3
2
5
3
3
2
4
8
1
9
1
1
2
2,046
2,443
1,602
1,206
2,232
4.1
5.2
4.4
4.9
5.6
Sources: World Values Survey Wave 6: 2010-2014 for all countries except Russia; Russia: authors’ nationwide
survey in 2014 (n=1,602). The question wording was ‘Which statement is closer to your own view and to what
extent? Incomes should be made more equal vs We need larger income differences as an incentive’; rounded
percentages
Table 3: Self-Reliance or State Support? (Russia, 2003-2014)
60
53
55
51
51
40
40
54
50
45
44
40
39
40
36
Self-reliance
30
State support
20
10
0
2003
2005
2008
2010
2012
Source: authors’ national surveys; rounded percentages.
2014
Table 4: Should Taxes Be Raised (Russia, 2011-2013)?
70
70
60
63
54
65
65
59
57 56
52
50
40
33
30 29 29
28
30
27 28
2012
22
2013
17
20
10
0
Support
Oppose
Do you support or oppose the
return of the progressive tax
system?
Source: Levada data.
Support
2011
Oppose
Do you support or oppose a
substantial rise of the property tax?
Support
Oppose
Do you support or oppose
introduction of a 'luxury goods'
tax?