Russia has always been a country located between East and West. The Russian man has repeatedly wondered whether he is a man of the West or, after all, of a more spontaneous East. Philosophers have dealt with this issue in their own way. Many of them even began to talk about the unique position of the country, which has its own unique path. The mentality of Russians is difficult to compare with the mentalities of neighboring countries, both Western and Eastern. Of course, one can find in it something in common from each of the powers, however, there is something in the Russian soul that defies simple classification.

The mentality has been formed over the centuries. Both countries and the new religion (Orthodox Christianity) influenced him. Moreover, a Russian person is predominantly Orthodox, because he reflects the dogmas of his faith. Features of the Russian mentality can be found not only in the way of thinking, but also in the very way of life. The Western world is extremely simple, there is a threefold division of the universe: the divine world, the demonic world and the human world. Therefore, people living in the West strive to do something in this world. Russian people have a binary universe: either divine or demonic. This world is considered a kingdom of darkness, given to the prince of darkness. Every day people see injustice and imperfection.

The Russian mentality has always strived for maximalism. And this desire results either in the creation ideal world here and now (revolution), or into complete self-elimination and asceticism. Russian people are predominantly apolitical. he acutely feels dissatisfaction with the authorities. Justice in Russian means equality and brotherhood. And since the ideals are unrealizable, the world is in the grip of evil forces. Instead of doing something (as is customary in all capitalist countries), the Russian would rather fall into asceticism.

The mentality of Russians, formed Orthodox religion not prepared to walk the path market economy. Only a few were able to accept the fact that self-elimination will not lead to anything good. Russia is an abundant country. And, at the same time, the Russians continue to live worse than the European paradox, over which specialists puzzle over from year to year. The neighborhood of the Turkic people had a great influence on the mentality of the Russians. They themselves were a peace-loving people, hospitable and meek. The mixing of the Slavs with the Turks gave rise to a tendency to melancholy, depression, cruelty and spree. This is how the contradictory temperament of Russians was born, in which extremes coexist. The most eastern feature in the mentality of the Russian people is manifested in its collectivism and attitude towards power.

Power for the Russian is sacred, it is given from above. Authorities must be obeyed. However, as soon as rebellion is born in the soul, the Russian person is ready to destroy everything. Since ancient times, history has brought cases of riots and uprisings to our days. As soon as a Russian person sees the Prince of Darkness in the image of the Tsar, a holy revolution begins. However, strong sovereigns could always pacify their subjects. The collectivism of Russians manifests itself not so much in peacetime as in times of war and disaster. Here you can find not only amazing mutual assistance among people, but also resilience. There are cases when the inhabitants of Russian cities kept the defense to the last without any control from military officials. This is a striking fact, which shows not only the high foundations of collectivism, but also patriotism and citizenship. By the way, Russian nationalism is not inherent in the form in which it manifested itself in a number of Western countries. The citizenship of this people has a completely different basis.

And indeed, it is the mentality of the population that primarily affects how well, in simple terms, the inhabitants of a certain country live. The peculiarities of collective psychological consciousness explain why an ordinary citizen of a given country treats the state and its authorities in this way and not otherwise, what he expects from life and what he does not accept, what he is ready to achieve on his own, and what he will not even undertake, what benefits and freedoms are more priority for him and what is the general level of his life claims. In a word, one can list for a long time, but to a greater or lesser extent, we all fall under the influence of the collective mentality of the country of which we are residents or natives.

Does the national mentality influence the peculiarities of business vision? Of course. The main function of the mentality, according to psychology, is the ordering and modeling of a certain world and the surrounding reality in the collective consciousness - it is on the basis of this model, which is an alloy of rational and emotional-sensory characteristics, as well as archetypes, collective values, etc., that is formed behavior of people in certain sociocultural conditions. That is, to put it simply, the mentality affects how a typical representative of his people will behave in a certain situation, and on what he will be based when making this or that decision. This fully applies to the sphere of making money and making a profit.

What influenced the formation of the "mysterious Russian character"?

Nothing arises from scratch, and the mentality is no exception. Its formation is a long process that begins even before the emergence of a certain people and continues throughout the entire time of its existence. Before considering the peculiarities of the Russian mentality in the business environment and the working sphere, we will briefly describe what factors determine it.

“Unique geographic location”

Russia is located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, between the West and the East. Actively in contact with both European and Eastern peoples, the inhabitants of our country could not help but adopt the characteristics of character from both those and other neighbors. At the same time, due to the more militant nature of the eastern peoples (Khazars, Pechenegs and, of course, Tatars), the influence of Asia on the Russian state was much more significant, and for a long time in a more enlightened Europe Russia was perceived precisely as Asian country. Some historians note that it was the neighborhood with the Turkic peoples that gave rise to the main contradictions of the Russian mentality - a mixture of meekness and cruelty, hospitality and expansiveness, the desire for unbridled fun and at the same time melancholy and depression.

Separately, it is worth noting the influence of the East on the attitude of a Russian person to power and to its more everyday manifestation - bosses and middle managers. The leader in the minds of our compatriots must be a strong and tough person, even despotic, by analogy with the eastern rulers. He is more likely to be expected to deprize bonuses and other “punitive” measures, rather than positive encouragement. Having a negative attitude towards such a boss, the subordinate, nevertheless, recognizes his authority, but if the leader changes the style of the “severe patron” to more democratic behavior, then this can become a reason for relaxation and disobedience of the subordinate employee.

"Orthodox culture"

It is no secret that in many ways the features of the mentality of the people are determined by the dominant religion - the dogmas instilled from childhood are firmly rooted in the mind and determine the future life. Since 988, Russia lived under the auspices of Orthodoxy - a special offshoot of Christianity. From European Christianity, the religion brought to Russia was distinguished primarily by overall picture peace. In Europe, this picture was clearly divided into three spheres - divine (heaven), demonic (hell) and the world of people (in which earthly life takes place). Thus, Western man understood that it was necessary not only to count on the Kingdom of Heaven, but also to achieve something in this world. However, in the picture of the universe, characteristic of Russia, earthly life was originally ranked as the domain of the dark forces, where imperfection and injustice rule, and every day Satan exposes people to temptations, for which severe punishment is imposed.

This predestination was reflected in the awareness of doom, which is characteristic of the Russian mentality. Beliefs that "nothing can be changed anyway." Unfortunately, this doom to this day is a characteristic feature for many of our compatriots - they complain about the authorities and unfair bosses, about unloved job and the banal lack of money. They complain, but they tolerate it, because they believe that the risk will not lead to anything good, and the situation will only worsen as a result of any active actions.

Russian mentality and how to deal with it

So, what features of the "mysterious Russian soul" determine the behavior of Russians in the workplace? And most importantly, what should a leader do about it? We will tell you some management tricks using the example of real experience shared by Vasily Melnichenko, director of one of the Russian farms.

1. Laziness

“Until the thunder breaks out, the Russian peasant will not cross himself.” The laziness of our compatriots has long become a byword. It's a shame, but all over the world, Russians are considered a lazy nation, which even performs the actions necessary for a normal life with reluctance. Thus, among the young rural generation, it has become fashionable to choose not the job that will bring more income, but the one that needs less strain. There is an outflow of young people from the village to the city, where young men mostly get jobs as security guards, and girls go to work in beauty salons. Vasily Melnichenko notes that the age of most of the workers on his farm is from 40 to 55 years old, and it is on the more industrious older generation that the country's agriculture is based. To prevent the outflow of personnel, the farmer offers people a decent salary - the salary on the farm is from 25 to 40 rubles. However, even “stimulation with the ruble” does not always bear fruit.

2. Inertia and lack of initiative

At all times, the Russian people hoped for someone who is higher and smarter - for God, for the father-king, for the state, for the boss, for a more responsible colleague. The proverb about a peasant who does not want to be baptized illustrates not only laziness, but also inertia - why take the initiative if there is no need for it? The various forms of suppression of individuality are to blame for such a warehouse of the Russian character, of which there are many in the history of our state - the Mongol-Tatar yoke, serfdom, Soviet collective farms and, of course, the destructive attitude towards manifestations of the human personality, characteristic of Orthodoxy.

The lack of initiative leads to the fact that people are afraid to put forward entrepreneurial projects and take risks, preferring “office slavery”. Fearing to take the initiative and lose what they already have, people continue to work for a fixed wages, obeying the orders of the boss, because this means stability and some kind of guarantee. For this, support for small business initiatives is needed - it helps raise the head of those who are still ready to start their own business and rely on their own strength, but do not have sufficient resources.

3. Irresponsibility

The hope for the Russian "maybe" is also known to the whole world. If many small businesses do not have a clear planning system and live one day, then what about employees? A common practice is to delay the execution of important tasks, or even cancel it altogether, hoping that you will be lucky and that the authorities will not notice the errors.

Vasily Melnichenko accustoms his employees to responsibility, again with the ruble. In his farming a significant annual bonus of 50-60 thousand rubles is provided, and if employees violate any production technologies, they lose this amount. The farmer said that there was a time when their wives tried to stand up for negligent workers - women came to the head of the farm with a request not to deprive their spouses of the bonus. However, Melnichenko refused the petitioners, explaining that with his indulgence, he himself would violate the charter of the economy and thus deprive his own family of the annual bonus.

4. Theft

Despite various industrial sanctions aimed at preventing theft from the state and employers, the statistics do not become optimistic - many Russians do not consider it shameful to encroach on someone else's property if they have the opportunity. Motivations can be very different, but they can be briefly described in one phrase: "because it's not mine." Someone writes off the total Russian theft to the dictatorship of the banking system, someone blames the uneven distribution of material wealth during the privatization of collective property, but the facts do not cease to be facts.

In the fight against theft, the farmer Melnichenko is greatly helped by the self-supporting system, in which each farm maintains its own reporting of income and expenses, and the profit is divided in a percentage ratio of “60/40”, where most of it goes to the brigade, and not to the leading enterprise. Melnichenko proudly notes that the last case of theft in his household was recorded in the late 1990s, and in 2006 he decided to abandon protection.

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Research work in geography

The mentality of the Russian people

Tynda 2005

• Content
• Introduction
• The mystery and solution of the mysterious "Russian soul"
• The mentality of the Russian people
• On Chinese pragmatism
• China is a land of contrasts
• Poll: Russians about Chinese
• Misunderstanding of humor in intercultural communication
• Features of the French mentality
• Poll: France is a beautiful country, the French are unbearable
• Russia and USA
• Russians about their attitude towards Americans and their idea of ​​the attitude of Americans towards us
• Conclusion
• Bibliographic list

Introduction

In my work, I will try to answer the following questions:

what character traits distinguish the Russian people (according to the authors of literary sources);

how do the Chinese, representatives of European countries, differ from other peoples;

what do the peoples of the world think about each other, what do they think about themselves;

what needs to be done to ensure that all the peoples of the world live in peace and harmony

Basic working methods:

analysis of literary sources (textbooks, media materials)

analysis of Internet materials

conducting a social survey;

I will continue to work on this topic, because. the issues of finding a common language between the peoples of the world remains relevant. The fact that human thinking is largely reactive and situational was noted by ancient philosophers. In their daily behavior, people rarely give an account of why they acted this way and not otherwise. Even Leibniz, long before Freud's theory of the unconscious, wrote that "we are three-quarters automatic in our actions." R. Chartier, who quoted him, noted that “firstly, there still remains “one quarter” of human actions, which are determined by collective determinants. The latter are not necessarily realized by individuals, but, nevertheless, govern and command the actions of people in these cases. As you know, in difficult historical periods, such as the one we are currently experiencing, the volume of significant social information increases many times over. The collective intellect of the nation is not always able to efficiently and timely process these overflowing information flows. The importance of mentality among the phenomena of this level is difficult to overestimate. Moreover, without analyzing the deep ethno-mental foundations, it is impossible to understand the peculiarities of the spiritual life of a particular people, to explain why the development of democratic and market principles in Ukraine collided with the psychological inertia of the masses, with the unpreparedness of a conservatively oriented person for worldview pluralism.

Secondly, the theoretical relevance of mental problems is due to the presence of a long period of latent development, when mentality was described and studied without calling it as such. It is impossible to detect the concepts of the mentality of this period in the philosophical literature by any external signs: the fact that they are talking about the mentality becomes clear only after reading the works.

Thirdly, different authors put different content into the same concept of mentality, which greatly complicates a comparative analysis. It is generally accepted that mentality is one of those concepts of scientific and everyday language that are difficult to define with any strict definition. If you try to somehow explain its various meanings, you will get more of an intuitive image than a logically verified category. Various authors in different time understood as mentality the contradictory integrity of the picture of the world, and the pre-reflective layer of thinking, and the collective unconscious, and the sociocultural automatisms of the consciousness of individuals and groups, and the “global, all-encompassing “ether” of culture”, in which “all members of society are immersed”, etc. The urgent need to systematize the existing definitions of mentality, which would form the basis of mentology as a doctrine of mentality, its nature, content, its specific manifestations, also determine the relevance of the chosen topic. (one)

The mystery and solution of the mysterious "Russian soul"

About the "mysterious Russian soul" each of the readers has probably heard more than once. And I have read it many times. What it is - no one knows (and therefore "mysterious"). Most often it is explained that the mystery of the Russian soul is in its extraordinary breadth. But what is "breadth"? Not the distance from the equator along the meridian, expressed in degrees! When you understand more thoroughly what exactly is meant by this, it turns out - three things.

First. Extraordinarily great kindness.

Generally speaking, there are good (as well as evil) people among every nation. But there are peoples where a kind person is rather an exception, and an evil one, like a hungry wolf, is the rule. There are peoples who have a lot of virtues, for example, diligence, discipline, musicality, etc. and only in last place is by no means amazing kindness. And there are peoples who have a lot of shortcomings, but it is kindness that strikes the imagination.

This is what the Russians are.

This medal also has a flip side - amazing tolerance for oppression, endless suffering from the oppressors.

Second. An unusually humane frame of mind, when in the first place in the system of human values ​​- the fate of mankind, far in the background - the fate of one's own people, very little - the fate of one's family and absolutely zero attention - one's own destiny.

It was this mindset that distinguished the typically Russian behavior of the late 18th and early 20th centuries. - "intelligentsia" of Russian origin, which has significant differences whether from the Western "intellectuals" or from the Eastern "contemplative philosophy". Today, little is left of the intelligentsia: this breed has been uprooted generation after generation since 1917. However, the tragic fate of Andrei Sakharov, the Russian Robert Oppenheimer, with a surprisingly similar life and fate, shows that something of the intelligentsia has survived to this day. The most striking thing is that exactly the same mindset is widespread among the common people - to the last beggar, inclusive.

There are peoples where "every man for himself - one God for all", and relations between people are regulated by laws. There are peoples where everything is dominated by the feeling of belonging to one's own people, to one's own kind-tribe. It turns people into a close-knit flock of animals, and woe to those who come across this flock on the way (there are more than enough examples of how different flocks of Russians come across on this path). And there are peoples where relations between people are regulated not by laws, not even by reason - by the heart. The Russians belong to them.

Unusually developed sense of asceticism. Not in the sense of complete self-forgetfulness, when, according to the Russian proverb, you have to move a mountain. Russians have no equal when they have to throw themselves into a burning house or into icy water in order to save a person. When you need to put out a fire or dig a blockage. When you need to stand to the death in a besieged fortress or go on a bayonet attack. When you need to lift the unbearable or endure the unbearable. When you need to somehow “dissolve” your life in the life of another person or devote it entirely to the cause you serve. (2)

Just one example. Hearing that one of the leaders of the American Communists went blind, one Soviet schoolboy offered him his eyes for transplantation: after all, he needs them for the common struggle against the villainous American imperialists who oppress the unfortunate american people! Someone can say that skillfully staged totalitarian propaganda is capable of bringing not only a Russian boy to such a state. I just want to emphasize that this is typical for Russians.

And at the same time, any tourist who comes to Moscow does not get tired of being amazed at the viciousness of the attendants, the thieving of almost everyone who gets in his way, the shameful laziness that occurs at every step. Very far from cordial kindness, selflessness, selflessness and a typical Russian tourist, who appeared before your eyes in a foreign country for him. How to combine one with the other? Is this really the mystery of the “mysterious Russian soul”?

Let's first remove the various husks from this notorious "soul" and take a closer look at its "core".

Russia in this regard is distinguished by two essential characteristics.

First, the special character of the Russian community. The Russian village has gone far from that primitive stage of communality, when a person’s personality literally dissolves in the community, when he turns into a simple detail of the social mechanism of the community, like a warrior of the ancient Greek phalanx, which moved and fought as one. This condition is still characteristic of the rural community in the developing countries of Asia and Africa (including the Asian republics of the former USSR). It has a number of advantages - mainly in terms of resilience to endure hardship - but is so uncompetitive in relation to the modern urban lifestyle that everywhere in the world, to one degree or another, is in the process of decay, transition to more modern forms life.

Secondly, those national traits of the Russian character were superimposed on this combination. And it increased tenfold strength. Actually, it was community (collectivism) that helped and is helping to endure the hardships of totalitarianism to the Chinese, North Korean, Vietnamese, Mongolian, Iranian, Iraqi, Libyan, Cuban and other peoples of the world who fell into this trouble.

But it was precisely the imposition of unique features of the Russian national character on the community that allowed the Russian people to endure not only the burden of totalitarianism, but also the unbearable burden of the arms race for other peoples (on an equal footing with the much more economically stronger United States of America!) and even break out of developing countries into a number of developed countries. world - albeit mainly through the military-industrial complex and its infrastructure.

Such, in our opinion, is the mystery and solution of the imaginary "mystery" of the notorious Russian soul. In our opinion, there is nothing mysterious in it. Many components of this "mystery" are present in many peoples. Collectivism is even stronger among the peoples of the developing countries of Asia and Africa. Latin America. Individualism is stronger among the peoples of the developed countries of the world. Many features of the national Russian character are also found in the mentality and social psychology of other peoples, who have their own unique character, no worse and no better than the Russian. Just a unique combination of different components, traits, characteristics created a unique phenomenon that is difficult to study and therefore acquired an aura of "mystery".

But no matter how we treat this phenomenon of the “Russian soul”, it must be taken into account and kept in mind. Otherwise, it is impossible to understand how, in what way, Russia endured the Civil War, which by an order of magnitude exceeded the Civil War of 1861-1965 in terms of its hardships, victims and economic devastation. in the USA. How did you get complete rout agriculture with tens of millions of victims, very similar in its consequences to the most ferocious hurricanes ever swept over the territory of the southern states of the United States, or to the tragic events in the African Sahara of the 70s, Somalia of the late 80s and early 90s. How did she endure the mass terror by the sons of tens of millions of victims (which in one way or another affected almost every third inhabitant of the country), very similar to the tragedy of the Jews during the Nazi Holocaust or the tragedy of Cambodia during the time of Pol Pot. How did she endure the Second World War when she was taken by surprise, unprepared for war, and had to literally cover the approaches to Moscow with corpses, first to Moscow, and then to Berlin, when ten Russians were forced to give their lives so that the eleventh could kill one German soldier. Finally, how, and at the cost of what sacrifices, it endured the almost half-century Third World (so-called "cold") war against a much stronger economically and technologically adversary.

There can be no doubt that the Russian people would have endured the burden of totalitarianism and the arms race for some more time. He was not defeated in World War III. Totalitarianism itself was defeated, which turned out to be uncompetitive in competition with the “democracy + market” system and began to decline, gradually decay from within. And then all of a sudden it collapsed like a rock and crumbled into sand. (3)

The mentality of the Russian people

The mentality of the people is an integral part national culture. The study of the national mentality is necessary to understand the relationship of nature, culture and society in a certain area. Man is part of the geographic environment and depends on it.

S. N. Bulgakov wrote that the continentality of the climate is probably to blame for the fact that the Russian character is such contradictory, thirst for absolute freedom and slave obedience, religiosity and atheism- these properties of the Russian mentality are incomprehensible to the Europeans and therefore create an aura of mystery, mystery, incomprehensibility for Russia. After all, for us, Russia remains an unsolved mystery. F. I. Tyutchev said about Russia:

Russia cannot be understood with the mind,

Do not measure with a common yardstick.

She has a special become -

One can only believe in Russia.

The facts show that the Russian state and the Russian ethnos were historically, geographically and psychologically "programmed" for confrontation from the outside. Russian ethnos originated in the center of Eurasia, on a plain that is not protected either from the west or east by seas or mountains and is accessible for military invasions, both from East Asia and from Western Europe. The only way to maintain independence under such conditions - to occupy as large a territory as possible, in which any enemy armies would be bogged down.

Huge spaces, harsh climate and the need to resist the combined forces of many peoples from the West and from the East at the same time gave rise to the predominant type of subconscious and conscious psychological attitudes.

The severity of our climate also strongly affected the mentality of the Russian people. Living in a territory where winter lasts about six months, the Russians have developed in themselves great willpower, perseverance in the struggle for survival in the climate. The low temperature during most of the year also affected the temperament of the nation. Russians more melancholic, slow than Western Europeans.

The North Eurasian character of our nation has formed a type of national psychology that not only does not correspond to the prevailing world trends. But the exact opposite of them. Hence, instead of developing a commodity economy - psychology of care in subsistence farming(saving during the years of foreign intervention, but unproductive for building an intensive economy), instead of independence - habit of paternalism, instead of high material demands - unpretentiousness to the conditions of life.

The harsh Russian winters had a strong influence on the traditions of the Russian hospitality. Denying shelter to a traveler in winter in our conditions means dooming him to a cold death. Therefore, hospitality was perceived by the Russian people only as a self-evident duty. The severity and stinginess of nature taught the Russian man to be patient and obedient. But even more important was the stubborn, continuous struggle with the harsh nature. Russians have long had to engage in all kinds of crafts along with agriculture. This explains practical orientation of the mind, dexterity and rationality. Rationalism, prudence and a pragmatic approach to life do not always help the Great Russian, since the waywardness of the climate sometimes deceives the most modest expectations. And, having become accustomed to these deceptions, our man sometimes prefers to choose headlong the most hopeless decision, to oppose the whim of nature with the whim of his own courage. This inclination tease happiness, play luck V. O. Klyuchevsky called the "Great Russian Avos".

To live in such unpredictable conditions, when the result depends on the vagaries of nature, is possible only with an inexhaustible optimism. In the ranking national traits character, compiled on the basis of a survey of the Reader's Digest magazine, conducted in 18 European countries in February 2001, this quality was in the first place among the Russians. 51% of respondents declared themselves optimists (only 3% were pessimists). In the rest of Europe, among the qualities won constancy, preference for stability.

A Russian person needs to cherish a clear working day. This forces our peasant to hurry, to work hard in order to have time to do a lot in a short time. No people in Europe is capable of such hard work in a short time. Such industriousness is inherent, perhaps, only Russian. This is how the climate influences the Russian mentality in such a multifaceted way. The landscape has no less influence. IN. Klyuchevsky reveals the landscape determinism of the Russian character as follows: “Great Russia of the 13th - 15th centuries, with its forests, swampy swamps, at every step presented the settler with thousands of small dangers, among which one had to be found. With which I had to constantly fight. This taught him to vigilantly follow nature, to look both ways, in his words, to walk, looking around and feeling the soil, not to meddle in the water without looking for a ford, developed in him resourcefulness in minor difficulties and dangers, the habit of patient struggle with adversity and hardship. .

In Europe there is no people less spoiled and pretentious, accustomed to expect less from nature and fate and more enduring. The originality of Russian nature, its whims and unpredictability were reflected in the mindset of Russians, in the manner of their thinking. Life's bumps and accidents taught him to discuss the path traveled more than to think about the future, to look back more than to look ahead. In the fight against unexpected hardships and thaws, with unforeseen August frosts and January slush, he became more circumspect than precautionary, learned to notice the consequences more than set goals, cultivated in himself the ability to sum up the art of making estimates. This skill is what we call hindsight ... Nature and fate led the Great Russian in such a way that they taught him to go to the straight road in a roundabout way. The beautiful Russian nature and the flatness of Russian landscapes taught the people to contemplate. According to V. O. Klyuchevsky, “in contemplation is our life, our art, our faith. But from excessive contemplation, souls become dreamy, lazy, weak-willed, unworking. Caution, observation, thoughtfulness, concentration and contemplation- these are the qualities that were brought up in the Russian soul by Russian landscapes.

In many ways, the specific (and often contradictory) features of the Russian mentality are determined by the vastness of spaces in Russia. A huge sparsely populated territory required for its development a special type of people capable of decisive action, daring and courageous. And everywhere, during their journey, the Russians created a network of settlements - fortresses, which also played the role of economic centers for the development of the territory. Such a population was distinguished by enterprise, extraordinary love of freedom and rebelliousness. A significant part of the inhabitants fled beyond the Urals from the "sovereign's eye", and the authorities themselves preferred to keep such citizens away from the capital.

Russians were formed not in a nationally closed space, but in an open plain - the plain of assimilation. They "boiled" in this boiler. And they came out of it with two fundamental feelings - feeling of powerful unity with each other and arising from centuries of experience of life conciliatory attitude towards peoples - neighbors - and to those who had to seize land, and to those who joined based on their own interests; and even more so to those who considered it important for themselves to transfer their knowledge, creative elements of their culture to the Russians.

The spirit of hostility and rivalry was alien to the Russians - precisely because of their obvious predominance, and also because of the powerful folk root they had with its Moscow core. This Russian “root” was so strong that it digested the kings of German blood, and the Baltic officials, and the Tatar Baskaks and Murzas, and their French-speaking nobility, and the Ukrainian version of Orthodoxy.

The vastness and incomprehensibility of the country's spaces could not but affect its perception by its neighbors. Emperor Alexander 3, in parting words, produced shortly before the country entered the 20th century, said: “Remember - Russia has no friends. They are afraid of our immensity."

A long period of careful dosing of deliberate distortion of information leaking abroad did not contribute to the formation of an objective image of the country among foreigners. P.A. Vyazemsky, a writer and friend of Pushkin, characterized such opinions as follows: “Do you want clever man, German or French, froze stupidity - make him express judgments about Russia. This is an object that intoxicates him and immediately darkens his thinking abilities.

“Huge spaces were easy given to the Russian people, but it was not easy for them to organize these spaces into the greatest state in the world, to maintain and protect order in it. The size of the state set the Russian people almost impossible tasks, kept the Russian people in exorbitant tension (N.A. Berdyaev). All this could not but affect the mentality of the Great Russians. The Russian soul turned out to be overwhelmed by the immense Russian fields, the immense Russian snows, it seems to be drowning, dissolving in this immensity. Long and cold winters were reflected in joyless sadness in the soul of the Russian people.

The state mastery of vast spaces was accompanied by terrible centralization, the subordination of all life to the state interest and the suppression of free personal and social forces, the suppression of any initiative that came "from below". Centralization affected the Russian spirit in two ways: firstly, the Great Russian decided that the one who controls such vast spaces, representing Russia and a great people, is almost of supernatural origin. From here - cult of personality, a sense of reverence for« father-tsar» in the soul of the Russian people. Secondly, the feeling that someone is standing above a person and controlling all his actions has resulted in such a quality of the soul as carelessness. ON THE. Berdyaev said: "The Russian soul is bruised by the breadth." The Russian soul is wide, like the Russian land, rivers, fields - everything can be absorbed by the soul of a Russian person, everything human feelings properties will fit in it.

The power of breadth over the Russian soul also gives rise to a whole series of Russian “undignities”. Associated with this is the Russian laziness, carelessness, lack of initiative, a poorly developed sense of responsibility.“The expanse of the Russian land, and the expanse of the Russian soul crushed Russian energy, opening up the possibility in the direction of extensiveness,” N.A. Berdyaev.

Russian laziness (Oblomovism) is common in all strata of the people. We are lazy to do work that is not strictly obligatory. Oblomovism is partly expressed in inaccuracies, delays.

Seeing the infinity of their open spaces, the Russians resign themselves to the idea that it is still impossible to master such a vastness. I. A. Ilyinsky said: "Russia has endowed us with enormous natural wealth - both external and internal." A Russian person considers these riches to be endless and does not protect them. It breeds in our mentality mismanagement. We feel like we have a lot. And further in his work “On Russia”, Ilyin writes “From the feeling that our riches are plentiful and generous, a kind of spiritual kindness is poured into us, a kind of organic, affectionate good nature, calmness, openness of the soul, sociability ... there will be enough for everyone, and the Lord will send more” . This is the root of the Russian generosity.

“The natural calmness, good nature and generosity of Russians surprisingly coincided with the dogmas of Orthodox Christian morality. Humility in the Russian people and from the church. Christian morality, which for centuries held the entire Russian statehood, strongly influenced the national character. Orthodoxy brought up in the Great Russians spirituality, all-forgiving love, responsiveness, sacrifice, spiritual kindness.

The unity of the Church and the state, the feeling of being not only a citizen of the country, but also a part of a huge cultural community, has nurtured among Russians an extraordinary patriotism to the point of sacrificial heroism. A. I. Herzen wrote: “Every Russian is aware of himself as a part of the whole state, is aware of his kinship with the entire population.” The problem of overcoming Russian spaces and distances has always been one of the most important for the Russian people. Even Nicholas 1 said: "Distance is the misfortune of Russia."

The Russian man has perseverance and thoroughness peasant and nomadic blood ( prowess, the desire to withdraw from habitable places in search of something better, horizontal structured space, etc..) Russians do not distinguish between Europe and Asia, balancing between two models of development.

A comprehensive geographical analysis of the ethno-cultural and natural environment today allows us to reveal key features the mentality of any nation and trace the stages and factors of its formation. (3)

On Chinese pragmatism

The sage takes care of the stomach, not of the eyes: he takes what is necessary and discards what is superfluous. (Lao Tzu. "Tao Te Ching")

A unifying principle in the rethinking and processing of values different cultures and religions and their assimilation and assimilation in China is pragmatism. It is this dominant feature of the Chinese mentality that determines the amazing adaptability of the Chinese and their ability to survive in the most difficult conditions throughout the most difficult history of the Middle Kingdom. That is why the Chinese civilization, which gave rise to one of the most mystical currents - Taoism, lives very pragmatically, does not talk about profit, but constantly follows it. Just like any Chinese, he strives to extract his interest even from a trifle. Obviously, this circumstance determines the realities faced by a tourist coming to modern China. First of all, the amazing diligence of the Chinese is striking, or rather their work in any area, despite its appearance and level. On the way to Cheng De, we watched the Chinese create earthen terraces in the mountains for agricultural work. Before us, pictures of the distant past literally came to life: a bull, a plow, a basket and a man. We saw how many kilometers of greenhouses for growing the most common vegetables, peas and beans, the workers covered with mats from the night cold, and in the morning, at sunrise, they cleaned them, putting them in huge piles - and so every day. Even at a gas station quite remote from the central highway, the toilet is washed and deodorized with incense after each visit.

But if « workaholism» - a well-known feature of the Chinese, their love for trade is amazing. Wherever you are - near the museum, temple, palace, in the parking lot, at the restaurant, theater, hotel, on the observation deck, everywhere there is a huge number of merchants of various souvenir trifles, toys, postcards, handkerchiefs.

More than 500 million "unrecorded" people live in China, those who were born in a family in excess of the established "minimum": one or two children - the second with special permission. They are not registered, they do not have documents. And everyone needs to live!

China is a country of different languages, peoples and cultures. And even in the very Chinese four tonic accents. The slightest change in tone - and the spoken word takes on a completely different meaning. Chinese from different provinces may not understand each other at all. Therefore, in China, video information is preferred. Almost all films, performances and programs of an information and political nature are duplicated by titles - hieroglyphs in all provinces and by everyone are read the same way. But it was the presence of tonic stresses that contributed to the development of a high musical culture.

Pragmatism The Chinese are manifested in everything, in relation to health, first of all. After all, it is health care that underlies Taoism, the flourishing of Chinese and Tibetan medicine, and traditional martial arts. Every morning, passing through any city, you can observe groups of people doing qigong breathing and meditative exercises, taijiquan gymnastics. On weekends, parks and gardens are given into the possession of pensioners for recreation.

China is a land of contrasts

… Existence and non-existence give rise to each other,

Difficult and easy create each other,

Short and long are measured by each other,

High and low are drawn to each other.

(Lao Tzu. "Tao Te Ching")

However, upon closer examination classical culture strikes at the same time a certain stereotype. In China, everything corresponds to the Taoist canon and is therefore stereotyped. In accordance with the principles of Taoism and its symbolism, the odd number “9” will prevail in architecture - it is the most beloved, a little less often “7”, and there will never be an even number, especially “4”, because it is equivalent to the concept of “death”. At the same time, symmetry prevails, as a rule, associated with the principle of the unity of opposite principles - feminine and masculine (Yin and Yang). Therefore, in front of all the palaces there will be figures of two lions: on the one hand, a lion, putting its paw on a ball - a male symbol denoting power, and on the opposite side - a lion, under whose paw there will be a child - a female symbol denoting fertility. All buildings, in accordance with the principles of Taoism, will be adjacent to the mountains with a back wall, and with a facade - to go to a river or an artificial reservoir. True, the symbolic elements of the harmony of the Cosmos are intertwined here - earth and water, and in the middle is a person, with purely practical, functional ones - protection from enemies, of which the Chinese have always had a lot.

Chinese gardens - the most harmonious combination of opposites Yin and Yang: nature and architecture, verticals and horizontals, emptiness and fullness. In any garden, three elements are necessarily present so that a person can live in it: water, rocks and plants. The color scheme will always consist of five colors, according to the Taoist ideas about the five elements. In addition, the color scheme also means the characters' characters - both in fine arts and in sculpture. The color scheme is used even in a religious ceremony. And, of course, the use of animal symbols is canonical, in which the first place is occupied by the dragon, personifying water and performing protective functions. Tiger, turtle, horse, unicorn are popular. Among the flowers, preference is given to the lotus - a symbol of purity. Clouds are also a symbol of the sky, the cult of which occupied a paramount place in the life of pre-Confucian China. From here ancient name China - Celestial. Dragons on the roofs perform a protective function, protecting all the living from the power and interference in their lives by evil spirits. The same functions are performed by the famous curved roofs with tightly sealed tubes of tiles, as well as peculiar labyrinths from the gates at the entrance to the dwelling of a medieval Chinese.

With all the originality and specificity Chinese history and culture, unlike the history and culture of our country, one can see their common features. These include collectivism - or community, benevolence and hospitality, the ability to artificially create difficulties and then overcome them (5) .

Poll: Russians about Chinese

As the survey showed, 42% of Russians, judging by their own words, positive image of China. In groups, the respondents talked a lot about the fact that the Chinese are a hardworking, patient, wise people:

« Well, what the Chinese are the most hardworking people in the world, everyone knows it. And they proved with their diligence, their work» (DFG, Novosibirsk).

« The country is civilized. And so - this is a country of hard workers ...» (DFG, Novosibirsk).

« Patient people. It seems to me that their whole history<об этом говорит> « (DFG, Moscow).

« Very resilient people» (DFG, Moscow).

« They are very wise people» (DFG, Samara).

« This is an old, wise state ...» (DFG, Novosibirsk).

By the way, respondents aged 50 years and older (48%) speak about a positive image of China much more often than on average. This attitude of representatives of these socio-demographic groups, apparently, is largely due to the perception of this country as one of the last "strongholds" of the communist order. It should be noted that modern television pictures from China - not with pagodas, but with a red banner, a sickle and a hammer - only reinforce this image, fairly seasoned with nostalgic feelings.

Another group more likely than average to say that they have a very positive image of China are people with higher education (53%).

More than a third of Russians (36%) say they have a good neutral the image of the eastern neighbor, and more often than on average, this is how young respondents (48%) and people with secondary general education (41%) define their ideas about this country.

Negative The image of China was formed by 12% of the respondents. It should be noted that residents of the Siberian (17%) and especially the Far Eastern districts (29%) speak about the negative image of this country more often than others. It is there that the problem of illegal immigration of residents of the "under heaven" is extremely acute.

« 25% of Vladivostok are Chinese. Free passage of the border, free purchase and sale, that's all! In the center of Vladivostok - houses, restaurants, everything is Chinese. Likewise in Transbaikalia» (DFG, Novosibirsk)

« We have a lot of unemployed ourselves. Well, why do they come from there, without any visas?» (DFG, Novosibirsk).

Another 10% of the respondents found it difficult to answer the question, what image of China has developed in their minds.

As for the experts, two-thirds of them have a positive image of China, a quarter - a neutral one, and only one sixteenth of the experts surveyed speak of a negative image of the eastern neighbor.

The “peaceful expansion” of China in the Far East causes considerable concern among the respondents:

« Everyone knows that they populate Siberia and that's all. They take out everything... They take out both timber and furs, and that's all. They are being introduced, and there is a gradual peaceful seizure of territories» (DFG, Samara).

« They populate our territories ... They slowly occupy our territory» (DFG, Samara).

« In general, if you look at military history, they almost never acted as an attacking side. They acted in a peculiar way: they seemed to let the invader through, and then assimilated. And the fact that there are a lot of Chinese in Russia now is more likely that they will slowly creep in there, creep in ...(DFG, Novosibirsk).

Finally, the traditional fear of the "multitude" of the Chinese, judging by the remarks of the focus group participants, is still present in the mass consciousness:

« And this billion fears me. Causes concern» (DFG, Moscow).

« The fear for the whole world is Chinese expansion. Because it is developing very well, the population is very large, the army is very strong. So in the future there are fears that it will seize territories» (DFG, Samara).(6)

Misunderstanding of humor in intercultural communication

Misunderstanding of humor as a result of insufficient competence in intercultural communication can be divided into several types:

misunderstanding of everyday humor associated with the absence of similar realities in their culture,

misunderstanding of certain accepted etiquette norms,

misunderstanding of the deep values ​​of the corresponding culture.

Misunderstanding of humor, based on ignorance of realities, is easily removed in the presence of comments. The exception is a play on words: a native of another culture understands that, probably, in another language, such a random coincidence of homonymous units may turn out to be funny, but since these words are by no means homonyms in their native language, there is no comic effect. The clarification associated with the form of words, in fact, eliminates the unexpectedness of the semantic clash that underlies humor. Similarly, jokes based on rhymes do not cause laughter. Such jokes are not very characteristic of English culture, and in Russian jokes they are registered in our corpus of examples, mainly in relation to primitive jokes.

Usually, anecdotes associated with various classifications regarding ideas about other peoples cause a smile. Even if the essence of the anecdote is not immediately clear, the bearer of Russian culture can easily guess that the very structure of the anecdote should suggest its climax. For example, the following anecdote translated into Russian does not quite fit into the idea of ​​Russians about Italians, but becomes clear due to the context:

How to convince a skydiver recruit to make the first jump?

An American needs to be told: "If you are a man, you will jump!"

To the Englishman: "Sir, this is a tradition."

Frenchman: "This is a lady's request."

German: "This is an order."

Italian: "Jumping is forbidden!"

The last remark in the joke is built on a contrast, this contrast is based on a typical image-stereotype of an Italian in the eyes of Europeans.

More complicated is the anecdote with a confused classification:

Paradise is a place where the policemen are English, the cooks are French, the mechanics are German, the lovers are Italian and the managers are Swiss. Hell is a place where the chefs are English, the mechanics are French, the lovers are Swiss, the police are German and the managers are Italian.

The British treat their policemen with respect, German policemen are known for their harshness, French cuisine is also known for its sophistication, and English food is criticized by the French and other Europeans (note that modern English cuisine is largely international). The Germans are known in Europe for their love of mechanics and precise mechanisms, the stereotype of an Italian is a passionate lover, the Swiss are famous for their discipline and good organizational skills, the idea of ​​reliability is enshrined in the concept of a `Swiss bank'. traveling around the countries of their continent, this confused classification causes a genuine smile: they remember that in France no one could fix their car, in Italy they had to spend a lot of time at the airport due to administrative problems and the irresponsibility of the staff, etc. In other words , such jokes are based largely on personal experience, i.e. on the conscious experience of incomprehensible realities.

Here is another anecdote that plays on the stereotypes of representation of foreign ethnic groups:

German, American and Swedish police are competing to see who is the best at catching criminals. The task is given: a hare is released into the forest, and it must be caught. The Swedish police set up animal informers throughout the forest, interview all plant and mineral witnesses, and after three months of intense searching, they come to the conclusion that there are no hares in nature. The Americans break into the forest, roam the forest for two weeks, cannot find anyone, set fire to the forest, killing everyone, including hares, and do not apologize to anyone. The Germans get down to business and two hours later they return with a badly beaten bear, which yells: “Yes, I am a hare, I am a hare! Just don't kick me!"

From the point of view of the British and Americans, the Swedish police are overly scrupulous and liberal. In our opinion, the Swedes were in this series by accident: it was necessary to build a kind of classification of cruelty and show that there is a people whose police are too soft on criminals. The American police are distinguished not by sophisticated cruelty (here the priority belongs to the Germans), but by insufficient competence, which is compensated by the manifestation of brute force. The lack of tact (‘they don’t apologize to anyone’) is also noteworthy, the latter sign is painful for those cultures where it is customary to observe the norms of politeness, especially for the English culture. This anecdote is in in general terms understandable to the bearers of Russian culture, who imagine the behavior of American supermen from films and who are aware of the cruelty of the Germans during the war. (7)

The British showed a complete lack of understanding of Russian realities associated with proper names in jokes:

Aunt Valya: “Dear guys! Vova Glazunov from Moscow took first place in our drawing competition on the theme "Vanya and the Bear". He has the most beautiful drawing. True, grandfather Ilya helped him a little ... "

The British may not know that Ilya Glazunov is a famous contemporary Russian artist. Also, the idea of ​​a child submitting to a children's drawing contest a picture he was helped to draw seems strange to the British: the idea violates the English idea of ​​`fair play'. Similarly, the English do not understand the attitude of Russians to prompting during the exam: we have a friend who refused to prompt you during the exam, unequivocally assessed as a traitor, in English culture, refusal to help in such a situation is not perceived so sharply (punishment for cheating, `cheating at the exam" is quite severe).

The British had difficulty understanding very specific Russian jokes about the KGB:

A man calls the KGB on a pay phone: “Hello, KGB? You're doing a bad job!" I ran to another pay phone: “Hello, KGB? You're doing a bad job!" He ran to the third one: “Hello, KGB? You're doing a bad job!" He feels a hand on his shoulder: “We work as we can.”

The specificity of these jokes is that state security is endowed with supernatural abilities and is evaluated positively. Such an attitude to power is contrary to the norms of carnival culture, the reversal of values ​​and the nature of the anecdote. It is no coincidence that there is an opinion that jokes of this kind were specially invented in the analytical departments of the KGB in order to create appropriate stereotypes among the population. By the way, the abbreviation “State Security Committee” itself was also jokingly deciphered with a positive connotation `office deep drilling". The idea of ​​the omnipresence of our special services is expressed in the following anecdote, which is not entirely clear to the British (they understand the intent of this text, but do not internally agree with the pathos of the anecdote):

NASA is wondering why the left SHUTTLE solid-propellant booster exploded, and in the KGB why the right one didn’t explode ...

Even without taking into account the fact that in this text the functions of foreign intelligence are attributed to the KGB, the bearers of Russian culture emphasize the ability of our special services to carry out the most fantastic operations. The British perceive such a text as pretentious and partly national-chauvinistic.

Frank apologetics of the authorities is no exception in Russian jokes dedicated to the meetings of top leaders. Here is a children's anecdote from the Brezhnev era:

Brezhnev arrives in America. American President Reagan says: "Press that button!" Brezhnev pressed, and found himself under a cold shower. After some time, Reagan arrives in Moscow. Brezhnev tells him: "Press this button!" Reagan pressed, nothing happened. Pressed again, nothing happened either. He says, “What is this? Here we are, in America ... "And Brezhnev told him:" Your America is no more.

The British did not find this anecdote funny, the reaction was a polite smile, in some cases a shrug. It cannot be said that the respondents (and these were subjects of the United Kingdom) felt solidarity towards the United States, but frank praise of the power of the USSR in the genre of anecdote seemed strange to them. It is interesting that at the same time jokes were circulating in which Brezhnev was shown as a very weak person, these jokes did not cause misunderstanding among the English respondents.

Speaking about the realities of our culture, incomprehensible to the English respondents, we note that anecdotes about the police are very specific to Russian culture. The attitude towards law enforcement officers among the bearers of Russian culture is sharply negative. The police in the mirror of the anecdote is distinguished by corruption and narrow-mindedness. For example:

A traffic cop comes home, angry and frozen - he earned little while standing on the highway. A schoolboy son opens the door for him. The traffic cop shouts: “Give me the diary, if I got a deuce, I’ll whip it!” The boy runs to his mother in tears: “Today they just gave me a deuce!” “Okay, don’t be afraid,” says the mother, and puts fifty rubles in her son’s diary on the page with the deuce. The boy with horror gives the diary to his father. He, frowning, flips through, reaches the page with a banknote, puts it in his pocket, sighs with relief and says: “It’s good that at least everything is in order at home!”

This text seemed difficult for the British, they understood that it was about the inadequate behavior of a policeman, but the whole system of Russian realities turned out to be closed to them. They had to tell them that the police on the roads, the service of the state traffic inspectorate, now, by the way, renamed the State Safety Inspectorate traffic(traffic police), is almost always perceived in the minds of the bearers of Russian culture as extortionists, unfairly fining drivers for minor traffic violations. It is clear that the tellers of jokes are the victims of the unfair control of the state over people. The carriers of modern Russian culture are also aware of the procedure for presenting driving license policeman, usually a banknote is invested in the rights. The humor of the cited text is that instead of a driver's license, a student's diary appears - another reality that is absent in English culture. English schoolchildren do not have diaries, which are a rigid form of control over children.(8)

The British could only superficially appreciate the following joke:

At the exhibition of fire departments:

- Uncle, why do you need a helmet and a belt?

- Yes, baby, when I climb into a burning house, but if something falls on my head, then the helmet will save me.

- Ugh, I thought that the muzzle would not crack.

A superficial understanding of this text is a boy's mockery of a fat fireman. In this sense, we have before us an anecdote-trap. But in this text, the British do not understand the linguocultural presupposition: a firefighter is a person who sleeps all the time in the service, so he has a swollen face that needs to be bandaged with a strap so that it does not crack. The boy in many Russian jokes is a trickster provocateur who inevitably baffles the adult. In the most prominent form, this function is expressed in a series of jokes about Vovochka (many of these jokes are rude).

The results of our experimental analysis of the perception of jokes showed that the sign "rudeness" did not appear in the answers of the respondents, both from the English side and from the Russian side (however, we did not consider frankly obscene jokes, although they should also be accepted in a special work to conduct an objective study into account). English jokes was perceived by Russian respondents as extremely insipid. The British have the same reaction to the exquisite anecdotes of the countries of Southeast Asia:

The monkey king ordered to get him the moon from the sky. The courtiers jumped from a high cliff, crashed, and, finally, the most dexterous of them managed to jump to the moon and brought it to their master. Passing the moon to the king, the courtier asked: “O great king, I dare to ask, why do you need the moon?” The king thought: “Really, why?…”

Such anecdotes are philosophical in nature, make you think about life, perhaps with a smile, but they can hardly be attributed to spontaneous jokes.

The English respondents were at a loss when trying to understand the anecdote, which includes a value that is very specific to the Russian linguistic consciousness:

Announcement in a Ukrainian newspaper: I am changing a 3x4 m carpet for a piece of lard of the same size.

In the minds of Russians, salo is the favorite food of Ukrainians, the anecdote contains obvious hyperbole. At the same time, the carpet acts as a measure of value, which in our apartments was often hung on the wall as a decoration and which was considered as a valuable investment. In English, there is no one-word and unambiguous translation of the Russian reality `fat', there are words meaning fat, melted fat, the British do not understand the hyperbole in the size of an immense piece of fat, finally, they perceive carpets only as a comfortable floor covering, and not at all as an object of art or a demonstration The British also cannot understand the specific bantering of Russians over Ukrainians and vice versa, although similar relations take place between the British and the Scots, the British and the Irish, etc. The elements of mutual misunderstanding in intercultural contact, presented in a caricatured anecdotal form, are, in apparently, an ethnocultural universal, but the qualities of another nation to be ridiculed are specific.Note that the British could not understand a very typical anecdote for intercultural misunderstanding between Russians and Ukrainians:

Wife: Why did you hit me, I didn't do anything!

Husband: It would be for that, I would have killed in general.

The presupposition that a husband has the right to hit his wife seems strange to the British, although in a large number of jokes about mother-in-law such a presupposition does not raise questions. The British, in principle, do not understand an unmotivated action: faced with a world in which, in principle, there are no causal relationships and which Russians perceive as cheerful for this very reason, the British experience a kind of cognitive discomfort. This leads to the conclusion about the orderliness of the world as a value in the English-speaking mind.(9)

These kinds of jokes stand in stark contrast to jokes that exaggerate and caricature certain human qualities. Our corpus of examples includes a humorous miniature on the subject of "radio interception":

Actual radio conversation released by the Chief of Naval Operations (so it says)

Hail: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision.

Reply: Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.

Hail: This is the Captain of a U.S. navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course.

Reply: No, I say again, you divert YOUR course.

Hail: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER ENTERPRISE. WE ARE A LARGE WARSHIP OF THE U.S. NAVY. DIVERT YOUR COURSE NOW!

Reply: This is the lighthouse...your call.

Radio recording from a Navy report.

Request: Please change your course 15 degrees north to avoid collision.

Answer: I recommend that you change your course 15 degrees to the south in order to avoid a collision.

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About the mysterious Russian mentality many words are spoken, both flattering and not very. There are also pleasant features of the mysterious Russian soul, but there are also dark, unkind ones. On closer examination, a rather ambiguous picture emerges, but looking at it is still interesting and very informative, at least in terms of understanding yourself and the environment in which you grew up.

One of the main traits of the Russian character consider the primacy of society over the individual. A Russian person feels himself a part of society, and does not think of himself outside of it. He is just a grain of sand, a drop in the endless ocean of his fellows. The concept of society goes far beyond a few neighboring houses, it traditionally embraces the entire village. A Russian person is primarily "Lukoshkinsky", "Tulupkinsky", "Medvezhansky", and only after that he is Vasily Stepanovich, Ignat Petrovich and so on.

Positive moment in this approach, it manifests itself in the ability to very quickly cooperate against a common one, to act as a united front against the enemy. The negative is the overwriting of one's own personality, the constant desire to transfer one's own responsibility to the collective, to "opism".

Russian world rather polar, in the mind of a Russian person there is "truth", and there is "falsehood", and there are no halftones between them. Even the processes of modern globalization still cannot level this line, smooth it out by mixing cultures, our people still try to see the world like a chessboard: there are black ones, there are white ones, and all fields are clear and square.

Of course, each worthy member of society seeks to live "in truth", a term that is reflected even in legal documents. One of the first legal documents Kievan Rus so it is called "Russian Truth", it regulated trade relations, inheritance rules, norms of criminal and procedural legislation. Explained how to live by the truth.

While with Germans traditionally associate pedantry, strict adherence to rules, discipline, all this is deeply alien to the Russian person. He is rather prone to the absence of any discipline, he is more attracted to freemen, sincerity, he prefers a deep feeling to reason. This also sometimes leads to turmoil, disorder of life and life in general, but in other cases it can become truly strong point. And certainly life with emotions gives a Russian person much more happiness than blindly following the instructions written by someone for him.

Generally written by other people instructions by Russian people greatly despised. Traditionally, such a feature of mentality has developed as the opposition of oneself and society to the state and governing bodies. The state is perceived as a necessary evil, as a kind of apparatus of oppression. And a person, society, survives and adapts in the conditions of the state. That is why the Russian is not so offended by the one who inflicted a direct insult on him, as by the one who entered into soldering with the state. Such at all times were called various equivalents to the modern word "snitch" and were considered notorious bastards, traitors to the people, Christ-sellers.

Good, I'm sure Russian man, reachable, it exists. Somewhere out there, far away, but it is there, and one day it will definitely come. Maybe not in this life, but someday it will happen, it will appear, a good life will come. Belief in this warms the Russian people in the darkest times, in war, in famine, in times of revolutions and uprisings. Good is sure to come. And the Russian himself always strives to be a kind person.

On the negative side faith into some higher good that will come one day on its own - personal irresponsibility. The Russian person himself does not consider himself to be strong enough to bring closer this moment of the condescension of good from the heights of heaven, so there is nothing to try for. The Russian not only does not take an active part in approaching the hour of the victory of good, but does not even think about how to do it.

Love for controversy- another characteristic touch to the portrait of a person. In this, the Russian character echoes the Roman one, in whose culture a sincere popular love for discussions was also laid. And in both cultures, the dispute is perceived rather not as a way to show oneself or to convince the interlocutor of one's own rightness, but as an intellectual exercise, exercise for the mind and form table entertainment. Contrary to popular belief, it is not at all accepted to switch from words to fists, on the contrary, a Russian person is usually quite tolerant of someone else's opinion if he does not see direct aggression against him in it.

Attitude towards own health a Russian person clearly does not give a damn. To be treated or take care of the state of one's body, to engage in physical culture, is seen by the Russian mentality as a kind of some kind of pampering, pampered.

Well, not to mention extraordinary loyalty of the Russian people to theft and bribery. As already mentioned, opposing oneself to the state, treating it as an enemy, develops a similar attitude towards bribes with theft. From historical data, we can conclude that this has been the case at all times.

It is no secret, however, that time even the mentality of peoples may be substantially changed. After all, it comes not only from geographical location places of residence of the people, but also on many other factors that determine its consciousness. All this gives hope for a brighter future, for the eradication or mitigation of the shortcomings of our mentality and the multiple strengthening of its merits.

Mentality is a system of originality of the mental life of people belonging to a particular culture, a qualitative set of features of their perception and assessment of the world around them, which are of a supra-situational nature, due to the economic, political, historical circumstances of the development of this particular community and manifested in a peculiar behavioral activity. “Mentality” means something in common, underlying the conscious and the unconscious, logical and emotional, a deep, hard-to-reflect source of thinking, ideology, faith, feelings and emotions.

2.1 Religiosity

The main, deepest feature of the character of the Russian people, distinguished by Russian philosophers, is its religiosity and the search for absolute good associated with it, therefore, such good that is feasible only in the Kingdom of God. Perfect good without any admixture of evil and imperfections exists in the Kingdom of God because it consists of persons who fully realize in their behavior the two commandments of Jesus Christ: love God more than yourself and your neighbor as yourself. Members of the Kingdom of God are completely free from selfishness, and therefore they create only absolute values ​​- moral goodness, beauty, knowledge of the truth, indivisible and indestructible blessings that serve the whole world.

2.2 Superstition

Despite all the religiosity, the Russian people are characterized by such a trait as superstition. A black cat crossing your path cannot be left unattended; try not to spill salt or break mirrors; if you are going to an exam, do not forget to put a nickel under your heel ... And this is only a small particle of all superstitions, and a huge number of them will accept them.

The latest fashion is oriental calendars. At the beginning of each year, Russians excitedly ask each other whose year it is: the Tiger, the Horse or the Monkey ... Even a completely prudent lady can say in all seriousness that, since she was born in the year of the Rat, she cannot marry this man, because that his year of birth is not compatible with hers.

2.3 Freedom

Among the primary properties of the Russian people, along with religiosity, the search for absolute goodness and willpower, is the love of freedom and the highest expression of its freedom of spirit. This property is closely connected with the search for absolute goodness. In fact, perfect good exists only in the Kingdom of God, it is superearthly, therefore, in our kingdom of egoistic beings, only semi-good always occurs, a combination of positive values ​​with some kind of imperfection, i.e., good combined with some aspect of evil. When a person determines which of the possible courses of action to choose, he does not have mathematically reliable knowledge of the best course of action. Therefore, one who has the freedom of spirit is inclined to test all value not only in thought, but also in deed.

2.4 Universality

Among the constants of the national mentality, it is necessary to note the "all-humanity" of the Russian soul, its openness to other cultures and influences, which Dostoevsky spoke about. This is manifested, in particular, in a very high level of interethnic tolerance, the ability to adapt to different ethno-cultural conditions, in a heightened interest in the experience of other countries and peoples, accompanied by a willingness to test and apply it at home. Historically, such features contributed to the successful creation of a huge multinational empire, the "building blocks" of which were cemented by the ability of Russians to find a common language with representatives of the most different cultures and religions. The ethnopsychology of Russians has always been characterized by the ability to accept as "their own" people from any other national groups, which gave the Russian state expansion a very specific character. In any case, no other empire has ever been built on this.

2.5 Sense of justice

Many Russian thinkers recognized as an archetypal feature of the "Russian soul" an ardent desire to reach "to the root", to find the "real truth", perceived as a kind of absolute. Moreover, on the way to this absolute, Russians are often ready to mercilessly destroy what until recently seemed sacred, correct, or at least quite acceptable.

2.6 Kindness, responsiveness

Among the primary, basic properties of the Russian people is its outstanding kindness. It is supported and deepened by the search for the absolute good and the religiosity of the people associated with it.

3.7 Leveling aspirations

This trend over the centuries has become one of the dominant values ​​in the minds of the people, actively opposing individual efforts to strengthen private property - enrichment, by no means stimulating distribution according to work. It is necessary to pay attention to the Russian proverb: "from the works of the righteous you will not make stone chambers."

The socially educated features of the Russian mentality include the following.

1. Collectivism and catholicity developed by centuries of life in a rural community. The community did not appear suddenly, but as a historically formed necessity for existence, as a reaction to low soil fertility, poor agricultural productivity and harsh climatic conditions, in which it was easier to survive being in a community and using mutual assistance than alone. Russian history has shown that its course is determined not by socio-economic theories of changing social formations, but by the habit of the Russian population for a certain way of life, especially the habit rural population to life in the community. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that the stability of socially educated mentality traits is lower than that of genetically and nature-based ones, therefore, urbanization and the rapid reduction of the rural population in Russia may in the near future lead to the degradation of the mentioned collectivist tradition and undermine one of the main foundations of Russian civilization.

2. A heightened sense of injustice among the Russian people social inequality infringing on the interests of the poor. This trait can be seen as a manifestation of collectivism. Hence the ancient feeling of social compassion for people who are spiritually and physically handicapped: the poor, holy fools, cripples, etc., and the leveling tendencies in the Russian understanding of social justice.

3. The religiosity of the Russian people, brought up by the church and the authorities for almost a thousand years. Religion in Russia has always gone hand in hand with secular power. The tsar was considered the representative of God's power on earth, and the Russian national idea was expressed for several centuries in the formula "God, tsar and fatherland." A specific form of Russian religiosity was Orthodoxy, introduced in Russia again by secular power in the person of Prince Vladimir. The social essence of Orthodoxy, based on the concepts of social justice, goodness, the supremacy of the spirit over the flesh, embodied in the church biographies of Orthodox saints, as well as the forms of Orthodox religious rites - fasting, religious celebrations, etc. them to the mentality of the Russian people. This correspondence explains the stability of the Orthodox faith among the Russian people.

4. The cult of the leader. Deep religiosity, understood as the hope for a deliverer from life's hardships, contributed to the formation of such a socially educated Russian trait as the cult of the leader. All Russian history passed under the sign first of the power of the prince, then the king, and in the Soviet period under the flag of the leader's personality cult communist party. In all cases, it was the sole power of the leader (prince, king, general secretary) and the people blindly relied on him. It can be noted that the cult of the leader is also promoted by collectivism, one of the manifestations of which is the subconscious subordination of the individual to the collective, and in his person to the one who expresses the collective interests, that is, the leader personifying the collective in the mass consciousness. Hence the currently observed lack of initiative of the main part of the population, political infantilism, inability to politically self-organize, unwillingness to take responsibility for socially significant actions.

5. National and religious tolerance. Almost one and a half hundred different peoples have been peacefully living on the territory of Russia for many centuries. In Russia, there has never been racial hatred, religious wars, prohibitions on interethnic marriages. The country, with few exceptions, has historically been formed as a voluntary multinational association. This could not but give rise to such a socially educated Russian trait as national and religious tolerance.

6. Finally, one cannot fail to mention Russian patriotism. Patriotism exists in any country, but the basis of patriotism in different countries different. Russian patriotism is patriotism based on people's awareness of their community. The rise of the Russian patriotic spirit always arose during the years of severe trials not for individuals, classes or groups of the population, but for the whole people, when they began to acutely realize themselves as a historical community, which was in great danger - enslavement or destruction.