Baikov M.D. —
Trust and the Russian Orthodox Church: the dependence of dynamics on the socio-political context and the problem of accurate measurement
// Sociodynamics. – 2024. – ¹ 8.
– P. 60 - 74.
DOI: 10.25136/2409-7144.2024.8.71267
URL: https://en.e-notabene.ru/pr/article_71267.html
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Abstract: The subject of this article is the dynamics of change in the Russian society's trust in the Russian Orthodox Church in the period from 2009 to 2022. The article analyzes the data of the largest sociological services in Russia, studying the polls of the All-Russian Center for Public Opinion Research (WCIOM), the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) and Levada Center* to trace the trends of fluctuations in the level of trust in the Russian Orthodox Church over the specified period of time.
Along with studying the data of mass sociological surveys, it is noted that it is necessary to assess trust not only through sociological surveys, but also through in-depth interviews. This allows to identify to a greater extent the individual characteristics of respondents and their religiosity, which makes it possible to determine the true attitude to the Church, rather than the declared solidarity with a public institution with ties to the state.
The study is based on the use of open sociological data and their comparative analysis, on the comparison of statistics and socio-political context.
The article traces the connection between the dynamics of trust and the socio-political processes taking place in the country, as well as with the social work of the Church itself and its activities against the background of various scandals, public discussions and the problem of the fight against the pandemic COVID-19.
Trust in the Russian Orthodox Church is subject to significant fluctuations, closely linked to the current socio-political agenda. Trust assessment should be conducted comprehensively, using quantitative and qualitative methods, in order to obtain a more complete and objective picture of Russian society's attitude towards the Church as a social institution.
Baikov M.D. —
The connection of religiosity and political preferences: the experience of foreign and domestic research
// Politics and Society. – 2024. – ¹ 1.
– P. 7 - 15.
DOI: 10.7256/2454-0684.2024.1.68945
URL: https://en.e-notabene.ru/psmag/article_68945.html
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Abstract: The subject of the study is the relationship between religiosity and political preferences of the voter; the object is actual statistical and scientific research on the problems of electoral behavior in Russia, Eastern Europe and the United States of America. The article summarizes the most popular research approaches in the study of the influence of religion on politics, the author presents a brief summary of the materials of influential scientific papers, on the basis of which he makes his own conclusions. The article presents a comparative analysis of domestic and foreign experience in the study of the relationship between religion and politics. The author notes that foreign studies in this area have a more extensive database, thanks to a long study of the problem of the relationship between religiosity and political preferences. Nevertheless, Russian researchers also continue to develop this topic and emphasize the increasing role of the religious factor in the politics of the modern Russian Federation. The results obtained by the author are achieved through the use of the methodology of review and critical analysis of statistical research and scientific literature. It is concluded that religiosity and political preferences in the United States and European countries have an impact on the final electoral field. In Russia, scientists recognize the insignificant influence of the religious factor on the general trends of political behavior. Nevertheless, among the believers of Russia, the connection between their religiosity and preferences exists and differs depending on the degree of this very religiosity. It is important to note that the use of data from polling stations and in-depth interviewing in the Russian reality can significantly distort the databases of sociological data. These features of the Russian research field create understandable limitations that are often ignored by researchers, and therefore the data are incomplete. In the conclusion of the article, the author notes the possibility of interaction of religiosity and political preferences through the construct above them.