Problems and prospects of spiritual and moral well-being of the Russian people

Despite a significant success in the socioeconomic development of Russia during the past 10–15 years the spiritual and moral condition of the society is still very far from perfect. In the early period of market reforms some of its aspects were paid more attention in strategic documents, others were not considered at all. Currently, however, public sentiment, scientific research1 and the strategy of the country’s authorities point to the need for systematic target policy in this sphere. It has become clear that despite the moral and psychological environment in the society being only very slightly linked to the level of economic development this correlation is not always direct and linear; on the contrary, sometimes technological and economic advances may lead to cultural degradation. This is discussed in the works by E.V. Balatsky, N.A. Ekimova [1], A.A. Kuklin, E.V. Vasil’eva [9], A.V. Yur’evich [14] and others. “We need to be strong militarily, technologically, economically, but still the main thing that determines success is the quality people, the intellectual, spiritual, and moral quality of the society” – said Russian President Vladimir Putin2.

On the one hand, the inner world of a human which forms their goals, values, and behavioral standards is a very sensitive subject where rude ideological cliches are inappropriate. There are enough examples of it in the history. On the other hand, the state cannot ignore the sense-making, educational, and protective functions of education, health, culture, media, and nonprofit organizations which greatly influence the mental and physical condition of each person, family, and the society as a whole. The awareness of this is proved by the adopted regulations affecting the mental component of the Russian society3.

Any social deviation is a trouble for the person himself first of all, as they fail to fully reveal themselves, develop as a personality, and find the meaning in their lives. This is a tragedy for relatives and friends experiencing whose expectations collapse. Finally, it is a loss for the whole society which is deprived of its active member and a potential employee. That is why even from a purely utilitarian point of view, the country should be interested in long-term investment in improving the spiritual and moral well-being of the population, not to mention dealing with these issues through the postulate that each soul is priceless.

Definition of terms

We understand spiritual and moral wellbeing of the society as correctness, lack of social “diseases”, closeness to the perfect image of social processes closely dependent on the values and motivational attitudes of a human4. Morality is referred to as ways, behavioral standards, people’s actions in interaction with each other; spirituality is considered as a system of highest ideals, aspirations of each individual, the direction of their soul. In this sense, spiritual and moral well-being is an important element of the concept of “health” which, according to the Constitution of the World Health Organization, is interpreted as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being5.

We offer to review the spiritual and moral well-being of the society at three levels – personal, family and social. This approach, in our opinion, will help distinguish between the phenomena in this sphere by degree of their influence, identify strong and weak

Figure 1. Structure and indicators of the spiritual and moral well-being of the society*
	SOCIAL	•    crime •    economic inequality •    conflicts and protests
	FAMILY	•    population growth •    divorces •    extramarital births •    abortion •    abandoned children
	PERSONAL	•    life expectancy •    mortality •    addictions •    mental disorders
* Compiled by the authors (first published with slight differences: Styrov M.M., Tikhomirov V.V. Dukhovno-nravstvennoe blagopoluchie naseleniya Komi: nuzhna ser’eznaya strategiya [The spiritual and moral well-being of the Komi Republic: in need of a major policy]. Region, 2015, no. 7, pp. 2–4).

points more clearly and focus on them. We propose a system of indicators for a rapid assessment of each of the listed spheres⁶ ( Fig. 1 ).

The system is not intended to be more comprehensive or supreme over other known approaches. It is based mainly on official statistics and is intended to show the most acute problems of the spiritual and moral condition of the society. However, it can serve as a starting point for more in-depth study of each block including subjective assessments of public opinion polls7.

During 2000–2015 all three blocks demonstrated predominantly positive changes; however, most indicators still reflect certain imperfection. Some phenomena demonstrate a slowdown in an upward trend or even the worsening of the situation. Let us consider official statistics and sociological surveys.

Figure 2. Number of deaths from external causes in Russia, per 100 thousand people a year

from external causes, total including suicide

Main trends

Personal well-being

Russia is currently demonstrating an upward trend in life expectancy – from 65.3 years in 2000 to 71.4 years in 20158, which is certainly an evidence of both physical and mental recovery of the population. However, lack of will to live and motivation to creative work and personal development, and partly unfavorable living conditions suggest a very high level of mortality from external causes9, a wide scale of various addictions – alcohol, drugs, nicotine, toxic substance abuse, gambling, “digital” addiction.

Thus, in 2015, the number of deaths from external causes per 100 thousand people in Russia amounted to 112.3 people, including suicide – 17.1 people per year¹⁰. This is much lower than in previous years ( Fig. 2 ), but 2–2.5 times higher than in the developed countries [5].

Primary incidence of alcoholism and alcoholic psychosis per the same 100 thousand people accounted for 74.6 people, which, of course, does not reflect the real scale of the problem11. The level of mental and behavioral disorders remains high and accounts for about 2.5% of the total population. There is an acute need to improve speech and communication culture, reduce the use of bad language which is resorted to by two out of three Russians12.

Family well-being

There are some significant improvements in this sphere, as evidenced, for example, by the increasing birth rate: during 2000–2015 – from 8.7 to 13.3 births per 1000 people a year. However, the level of natural reproduction only slightly exceeds zero (0.2–0.3‰13) and, according to forecasts, within the next few years may again become negative. This is explained by many various reasons: objective socio-economic issues, small number of people born in the 1990-s, Russia’s transition to a modern “small family” type of population dynamics, as well as insufficient motivation of the population to continue the line and enrich their own kind, uncertainty about the future, focus on short-term selfish interests. Some of these factors are reviewed in detail in the works of L.A. Popova, for example, [11].

The divorce rate remains extremely high without any sign of improvement. During 2006–2015 there were 8.5 marriages and 4.7 divorces a year recorded in Russia per 1000 people. Despite inaccurate direct comparison of these figures due to age shifts it is still obvious that more than a half of all families break up. The reason the marriage principle “once and for all” is violated is the vagueness of moral foundations of patience and loyalty, alcohol abuse or other bad habits. Family breakdown usually demoralizes both spouses and negatively affects the mental development of children, creating fear and anxiety as evidenced by large-scale sociological studies [18]. Common-law marriage is very widespread due to which almost every fourth child is born out of wedlock14, about the same number are further raised in single-parent families15.

In Russia, there are 770 thousand children (i.e. every thirtieth; on average, one child from a regular school class or a kindergarten group) left without parental care16, the vast

Figure 3. Number of births and abortions a year per 1000 women aged 15–49 years in Russia in 2000–2014*

□ births □ abortions

* Compiled by the authors according to: Russian demographic yearbook. Pp. 64, 72.

majority of them are “social orphans” whose fathers and mothers are deprived of parental rights due to deviant behavior and failure to fulfil their duties. There is a number of cases of abuse against children, including those from wealthy families. Due to the ongoing prevention of family problems and child neglect the number of families in socially dangerous situation and registered at social services is currently reducing. But their number remains rather large: in 2011, there were more than 65 thousand families and about 120 thousand children being brought up in such families17.

The large number of abortions raises serious concern: in 2014 – 5 abortions per 10 births per year – more than 800 thousand small shower ( Fig. 3 )¹⁸.

A good point is that the scale of the phenomenon is declining every year; however, Russia remains one of the world’s “leaders” in the number of abortions19. The roots of infanticide lie in unawareness of the value of human life, promiscuity, disregard for one’s health in the long term, irresponsible attitude to contraception, and sometimes in financial and family problems. Most Russians consider abortion an acceptable though undesirable means of preventing health pathologies, single motherhood, poverty20 etc. Professionals are well aware of its distant negative consequences for physical and mental health of a mother and the whole family.

Social well-being

Positive features of social well-being include a high level of population’s support for the government at the election, rising national identity and patriotism against the background of political turmoil. Despite the economic recession, the “index of happiness” of Russians has for several years been the highest in the past 25 years: more than 80% of people are happy21. Attention of authorities is now given to public sentiment, introduction into the school curricula of the Basics of Religious Cultures and Secular Ethics, increasing wages in the social sphere, etc.

However, no full social solidarity has yet been achieved. Both implicit and explicit confrontation between the authorities takes place along with aggressive dissatisfaction with the country’s internal and external policy, tensions in interethnic and interreligious relations. From time to time it is manifested in major social unrest and protests.

However, analysis of protest activity requires the distinction between two components. The first – constructive (evolutionary) caused by actual problems and implemented by legal methods. The second – destructive (revolutionary) led by artificial slogans and myths and relying on illegal mechanisms of power. It has been noticed that antisocial behavior of the second type is often determined by distortions in upbringing and family life of the “rebels” rather than by actual external difficulties [19]. Clarification of the correlation between these two components requires a separate in-depth study, so we do not present digital data.

A major problem is the high crime rate – more than a thousand criminal offences per year per 100 thousand people including almost 8 murders (global average22 – around 6). This is explained by problems in the population’s socio-economic well-being, especially in single-industry towns and rural areas, dysfunctional family relations, upbringing and children’s socialization, long neglect of education and culture, and often – by negative media influence. In 2015, for

Figure 4. Number of registered crimes in Russia a year per 100 thousand people

Source: Interdepartmental Information-Statistics Service Rosstat. Available at:

the first time after a decade of crime rate reduction a10% increase was noted ( Fig. 4 ). More than 50% of criminal offences are economically motivated: theft, burglary, robbery, fraud, drug trafficking. Almost every fifth crime is committed under alcohol influence.

An important factor in social unrest is an extremely high economic inequality resulting from dysfunctional income distribution system, underpaid low-skilled labor, inefficient measures of social security, people’s passivity and breakdown, and often – from lack of solidarity and compassion in the society. Each tenth person has incomes below living wage, every twentieth person of working age is unemployed, the R/P 10 ratio (the ratio of the average income of the richest 10% to the poorest 10%) amounts to

15 or 16 (according to some expert estimates, taking into account hidden incomes – twice as much23) with the unwritten international standard not more than 10. During 2000– 2015, the population’s per capita debt on loans increased in comparable prices from 1.1 to 72.6 thousand rubles, i.e. 65 times24 (!). All this justifies the sense of injustice, creates an atmosphere of discontent and hostility, breeds personal and family problems.

Suggestions

The figures indicate a deep spiritual and moral decay of the Russian society. Of course, in many cases crisis phenomena are associated with poverty or depression caused by difficult life situations. Yet the main cause of this decay lies in the destruction of the most important centers of personal, family and social consciousness, i.e., erosion of the system of values, attitudes and behavioral motivations. Indeed, as evidences by practice, the cause of social deviancy is the loss of the meaning of life and moral degradation of rather wealthy and successful people.

However, it should be noticed there is a strong trend in spiritual recovery society starting from 2000. This suggests the awakening of people’s inner forces, activation of self-preservation and purification mechanisms after critical situation of the 1990-s. Such cyclical nature of social consciousness is well known and is an object of study in the framework of the civilizational approach, in particular, in the works by B.N. Kuzyk [8]. Academician O.T. Bogomolov writes: “restore Russians’ belief in noble ideals, revive the sense of pride in the history and great achievements of the past, awaken the spiritual and moral forces of the society – this is the most important task facing the country today”25.

History indicates that the moral health of the society is a key factor in its survival and further development at critical moments.

Population surveys confirm the citizens’ concerns with the issues of psychological conditions in the country and the understanding of the need for positive transformations in this sphere26.

In our view, the most important goal of fundamental development of Russia and each of its region and municipal unit is the preservation and strengthening of the longterm physical, social and spiritual health of the country’s citizens. Russia must become a state where with joint effort of every citizen, the government and all organizations a high level of spiritual and moral well-being of a person is ensured, approaching best world indicators and exceeding them. The achievement of this goal will be evidenced by the country’s stable position in top ten or twenty most prosperous countries by each of the target indicators discussed above (see Fig. 1) and/or the compliance of these indicators with threshold scientifically substantiated standards. Only in this case the nation’s commitment to leadership on the international arena is justified.

It is necessary that the list of goals of the federal government, regional and local authorities include more vitals of human well-being rather than abstract economic indicators; for them to be used primarily for evaluating the success of the socio-economic development. A remarkable change would be the shift of the issues of human development in the structure of strategies, forecasts and programs of the socio-economic development from secondary and auxiliary positions to priority and target. In our view, it is useful to introduce into public administration one or more integral coefficients characterizing the public sphere. Attempts to develop and implement such indicators are made by many domestic researchers, for example, by V.V. Kossov [7], F.M. Borodkin and A.S. Kudryavtsev [2], M.V. Morev and V.I. Popova [10], E.V. Vasilyeva [4], O.A. Kozlova, T.V. Gladkova, M.N. Makarova, E.H. Tukhtarova [6]. Best known are the index of moral state of the society, composite index of macro-psychological state of the society developed by RAS Institute of Psychology under the coordination of A.V. Yurevich [15]. However, these indices do not reflect the blocks personal, family and social well-being separately; therefore they can be improved in this direction.

It is also necessary to conduct an in-depth study of people’s moral and psychological condition based on both statistical indicators and public opinion polls and expert estimates, with further continuous monitoring (for example, an international scientific project of this kind – [20]). A number of scientists and public figures, in particular V.M. Terebikhin, advocate for the development of a full concept of spiritual and moral well-being of

Russia and each of its regions separately27. It should be noted that in some countries, for example in Kazakhstan, the development of such programs is an important area of the public policy [17]. It may be also useful to estimate the total economic damage from the manifestations of moral ill-being in the society for a more compelling justification of priority areas of the state policy in this sphere.

In each area of spiritual and moral wellbeing of the Russian population (personal, family, social) a series of certain objectives (actions to implement them) should be achieved. Some of them are reflected in Figure 5 . These, in turn, must be implemented in the form of specific activities performed by the authorities in cooperation with public organizations.

Interaction with religious organizations

However, it is clear that growing material wealth and the efforts of public authorities alone do not ensure people’s genuine joy of life. Both millennial religious experience of the mankind and latest neurobiological studies indicate the importance of the spiritual component in the human nature, its inseparability with the Divine [22]. It is no accident that abroad when the training professionals, in particular doctors, these issues are currently given more and more attention [21].

Figure 5. Goals of the policy of raising spiritual and moral well-being of the Russian population*

Goals

Personal well-being

• •    In-depth study of causes and features of personal ill-being in the country based on constant monitoring and scientific research;

• •    limiting destructive information impacts on the population;

• •    expanding the cooperation between public authorities and non-profit organizations

in terms of spiritual and moral recovery of the society;

у • consolidation and activation of the potential of psychological support system at educational, healthcare and social support establishments.

Family well-being

• •    promotion of high principles of family relations in education culture, and information and communication environment;

A • enhanced social security for children, young families, single parents and elderly citizens;

• •    improving the system of family ill-being, child neglect and homelessness prevention;

• у • deevlopment of volunteering for family value protection;

• • decreasing the number of abortions based on additional measures opf social support and educational work on birth promoting culture and on dangers of abortion.

Social well-being

• •    development of the charity system, promotion of compassion;

• •    improving business culture and teh degree of social corporate responsibility;

• •    focus on studying liberal arts at educational establishments;

• •    improving the system of support and rehabilitation for convicts released from prison.

* Compiled by the authors (first published with slight differences: Styrov M.M., Tikhomirova V.V. Dukhovno-nravstvennoe blagopoluchie naseleniya Komi: nuzhna ser’eznaya strategiya [The spiritual and moral well-being of the Komi Republic: in need of a major policy]. Region , 2015, no. 7, pp. 2–4).

Therefore in Russia it is also impossible to “heal” people’s souls without comprehensive interaction between the secular authorities with traditional religions. For example, about half of the population positively evaluate and wish more influence of the Russian Orthodox Church on the moral and spiritual life of the whole society, without considering that it interferes with political affairs28.

Indeed, a religious person constantly strives for freedom from passions and addictions, for good relations with family and all other people, for proper implementation of public duties. The Church considers the root of all social problems in disbelief, violation of certain biblical Commandments: “give honor to your father and to your mother” (Exodus 20:12), “do not put anyone to death without cause.” (Exodus 20:13), “do not be false to the married relation” (Exodus 20:14), “do not take the property of another” (Exodus 20:15), “be full of pity” (Luke 6:36), “do not take overmuch wine” (Ephesians 5:18), “ ..... Let everyone put himself under the authority of the higher powers” (Romans 13:1), etc. “… let us put off the works of the dark, arming ourselves with light, with right behavior as in the day; not in pleasure-making and drinking, not in bad company and unclean behavior, not in fighting and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not give thought to the flesh to do its desires”, urges Paul the Apostle (Romans: 13:12–14). His Holiness Patriarch Kirill says: “Transfiguration is the goal that God assigned to the human race; our whole life should be focused on our own transfiguration, transfiguration of the world around us, transfiguration of personal, family, social relations, transfiguration and embellishment of the face of the Earth”29.

These objectives mostly coincide with the government’s interests. Although public authorities do not deal with a soul in the afterlife, they give priority to the issues of material prosperity and international competitiveness; however they want to see a free intelligent personality, a good family man/woman, an honest worker, and a good citizen in every person.

Of course, the improvement of the society can only be achieved with joint effort. The goal of the Church lies in preaching and in practice to demonstrate the ideal of moral and spiritual purity, testify to the divine destiny of every human being. “Fulfilling the mission of salvation of the human race, the Church does this not only through direct preaching, but also through good deeds aimed at improving the moral and material state of the world. A Christian’s life must be based on the idea that the world, the society, and the state are the objects of God’s love, for they are designed for transformation and purification based on the principles of God-commanded love”30. Public authorities are responsible for helping people achieve this ideal through education, healthcare, culture, social security, and the media. But one must not forget that “the relations between the Church and the state should take into account the difference in their natures... The goal of the Church is eternal salvation of people, the goal of state is their well-being on earth”31. “A situation where the teachings of Christ are transformed into the state ideology is dangerous for both the Church and the state. Any ideology unites and divides people at the same time, opposes different community to each other” [3, p. 41].

Thus, when thinking about human fate must it is necessary to take care of both external conditions of human existence and internal strengths and weaknesses of human mentality. This will require significant changes in the current system of socio-economic administration. It is faith in the high calling of a human being in general and in Russian people in particular that was the main pillar of Russia as a civilization for millennia. It means that firm commitment to this belief can both transform the life in the country and proclaim right ideas to the world in the 21st century.