Studying the values of people with traditional and modern outlook

Modernization is carried out through the transformation of social life, with the perception of not only technological changes but also changes in people's values. Selective implementation of some values and ignoring others can lead to severe problems in modernization. In such a situation there is a need for regulation of such changes on the part of the authorities, in the “value field” of the population, as well. The aim of this work is to study the differences between supporters of modern and traditional value orientations on parameters such as life satisfaction, confidence in the future, the extent to which changes in life depend on the efforts of an individual, their inner circle or actions of the state. Information base of the research is a survey of the population of age of the Northwestern Federal District, which was conducted in 2016 by ISEDT RAS. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the allocation of the population adhering to traditional and modern views, based on a bipolar model of the space of value-based guidelines, and in identifying similarities and differences in representatives of these groups. Traditional features were allocated on the basis of the results of the research of the Public Opinion Foundation (“Tele-FOM”, May 2013, 1,000 respondents) which state the following most common characteristic of the population: collectivism,emotionality, simplicity, credulity. Taking this into account, we considered traditional traits to be as follows: emotionality, teamwork, laziness, credulity, unity, simplicity, conservatism, generosity, kindness, the need for leadership from the top; while the opposite characteristics were considered “modern”. Identifying groups of the population focused on “tradition” and “modernity” occurred in the case of selecting six and more “traditional” and six and more “modern” traits from several bipolar judgments. The study defines that respondents with traditional traits comprise 91%, with modern traits - 9% among the population. Similarities and differences were identified among representatives of these groups. Among the similarities we note the duration of residence in the territory of the settlement, the connection of main interests with the family and home in more than 60% of cases, as well as the value of work; the differences, which were more pronounced in a certain group (for example, representatives of contemporary outlook) include life satisfaction and confidence in the future, the connection of improvements in life with the actions of relatives, friends and fellow countrymen, and deterioration - with the actions of the state, focus on education, training and the manifestation of entrepreneurship. The practical significance lies in the identification of the above groups, definition of their characteristic features for the purpose of taking them into account in the implementation of modernization.