Russian Education and Society: Nationalistic Stereotypes of Russians Among Students and Instructors in Higher Education,

Abstract

The April 1993 issue of Russian Education and Society reported the results of a survey that
investigated several social indicators and attitudinal parameters of nationalism among postsecondary
school students. The present issue reports two surveys conducted by the State Committee on Public
Education: one of students' stereotypes of nationality, and the other, of political stereotypes. Both
surveys explicitly explore stereotypes concerning the role of Russia in interethnic relations, among
both Russian and non-Russian faculty and students.
The first survey, of ethnic stereotypes of the Russian people among Russians themselves as well
as among other nationalities of the fifteen republics, was conducted in April-May 1991. This was a
turbulent period-just after the ambiguous results of the March 1991 referendum on maintaining the
Union,
2
and leading up to Boris Yeltsin's June 1991 election to the presidency of the Russian
Federation (which had declared its sovereignty in June 1990). The survey purports to measure the
distribution and structure of Russian nationalism and ethnic prejudice, but analysis of the survey
report reveals that the survey's sponsor, the State Committee on Public Education, was attempting to
balance its ideological loyalties with the rising forces of nationalism.
3
Continuing a Soviet tradition,
the survey data are constructed and interpreted according to political, rather than impartial scientific
criteria.
4
Thus, for example, Russophobia and Russophilia are differentiated as relating to
respondents' opinions regarding independence (participants in demonstrations against the Union are
likely to be Russophobes). In choosing a priori constructs of Russophobia and Russophilia, rather
than a posteriori construction from open-ended questions, the State Committee exhibits its
ideological agenda.
The second survey addresses the political stereotypes of students and instructors in higher
education concerning socialism and democracy. Not surprisingly, the surveyfound that socialism,
whether as concept or as a phenomenon, is no longer relevant for students. Students have only a
vague understanding of socialism and take internally contradictory positions (for example, they want
both free markets and guaranteed employment). A significant finding is that more than half of the
students (in December 1990) expected civil war, dictatorship, or repression. A perception that a
mafia-type structure of power was in control of the country was largely related to political
disaffection among students and a concomitant increase in political radicalism or deviant behavior.
Clearly, young people were a distinct but unharnessed political force almost a year before the August
1991 coup.