The socio-cultural space of a capital megalopolis in the residents’ value orientations

The aim of the study is to analyze the population's value system as an indicator of the socio-cultural space of a capital megalopolis – a space that reflects the dynamic, and often polarizing, vectors of global transformation. The principal research method is a survey of Moscow residents based on the standard methodology “The Sociocultural Evolution of Russia and Its Regions”. The scientific novelty lies in identifying the degree of fragmentation of Muscovites' moral bonds. This fragmentation manifests itself, above all, in the lack of a widely shared value base and in the blurred nature of any integrating axiological core. The paper traces both common and distinctive features in the value structures of the capital's residents across socio-demographic characteristics such as gender and age. The data obtained for Moscow are compared with the findings of analogous studies of value systems conducted in other Russian regions using the same methodology. Based on the dominant value attitudes that shape the vectors of social behavior – such as migration intentions, social well-being, job satisfaction, and interaction priorities – three groups of respondents are identified: “individualists”, “traditionalists”, and “voluntarists”. The empirical results are further distributed and analyzed across functionally orienting value clusters. An attempt is made to uncover the reasons behind the findings, which include the homogenizing impact of globalization and the rapid development of virtual, mediatized spaces – alternatives to the real world, replete with axiorhizomes, consumerism, and the cult of pleasure. The authors' own position on the issue is also articulated. Its essence is that the preservation of Moscow's role as a global city, a center of consumption and consumerism – a “Tower of Babel” – runs counter to the task of restoring the capital's role as the spiritual heart of the country. In the context of Russia's development as a civilization-state, the moral foundations of all Russian society, and especially of the capital's residents, need to be further strengthened.