Formation of Socio-Political Expectations in Modern Russia: Specifics and Main Trends

The article delves into the features and main vectors of formation of socio-political expectations in modern Russian society. It is emphasized that socio-political expectations are a dynamic component of mass consciousness that integrates diverse representations of the collective future in its macro-social and political dimensions. These representations of the future are the result of the synthesis of social aspirations and the dominant mass moods. It is indicated that the specificity and psycho-emotional orientation of socio-political expectations prevailing in Russia today are due to such factors as the growth of internal socio-economic uncertainty and the escalation of geopolitical conflict in the context of a Special Military Operation. It is revealed that the trend to maintain socio-political optimism in Russian society is associated with such political and psychological processes as individualization and partial “atomization” of the perceptions of the future and the distancing of a significant number of Russian citizens from the negative images of Russia’s current and future, which are constructed in digital media. It reveals that a key aspect of the mass expectations of Russians is the desire for socio-political predictability and normalization, which is primarily understood as the end of the acute phase of Russia’s conflict with the countries of the “collective West”.