According to Alexei Levinson, the communist regime had a monopoly on the public future, and with the collapse of communism 30 years ago, Russians lost an important public future in which they believed and acted. Instead, they act or talk about trifles as if their country’s future is the same as it is now.
According to sociologists at the Levada Center, what mattered about the Soviet system was not that it was communism, but that it was about the future of the group. “And with the demise of the state and its ideological foundations, this future disappeared”, depriving the Russians of “the future as a category of time” (polit.ru/article/2022/12/29/levinson/).
Levinson continues that the private future of individuals, families, friends and colleagues remains “mostly untouched.” “With these structures, everything is very well in place regarding future categories.” Otherwise, the country would be in complete chaos.
But the lack of a common public future is a serious problem. Especially since it affects not only the population but also the elite. In focus groups he conducts, the sociologist continues, Russians simply cannot explain the future when asked that question directly.
When asked what the worst thing could be, he says they have an opinion. Others talk about nuclear war. ” And the third story of the civil war that leads to the first or second civil war.
But when asked what’s best, he talks about trivial things like a stable ruble and $90 a barrel of oil. And they cannot imagine a future different from the present, at least as far as their rulers are concerned. In short, they have no vision of the future and increasingly lack vision of the present.
