Mentality is a system of uniqueness of the mental life of people belonging to a particular culture, a qualitative set of features of their perception and assessment of the world around them, which are supra-situational in nature, conditioned by the economic, political, historical circumstances of the development of this particular community and manifested in peculiar behavioral activity. “Mentality” means something common that underlies the conscious and unconscious, logical and emotional, a deep, difficult to reflect source of thinking, ideology, faith, feelings and emotions.

2.1 Religiosity

The main, most profound character trait of the Russian people, distinguished by Russian philosophers, is its religiosity and the associated search for absolute good, therefore, such good that is feasible only in the Kingdom of God. Perfect goodness without any admixture of evil and imperfections exists in the Kingdom of God because it consists of individuals who fully implement in their behavior the two commandments of Jesus Christ: love God more than yourself and your neighbor as yourself. Members of the Kingdom of God are completely free from egoism, and therefore they create only absolute values: moral goodness, beauty, knowledge of truth, indivisible and indestructible goods that serve the whole world.

2.2 Superstition

Despite all the religiosity, the Russian people are characterized by such a trait as superstition. A black cat crossing your path cannot be ignored; try not to spill salt or break mirrors; if you are going to an exam, do not forget to put a nickel under your heel... And this is only a small part of all superstitions, and there are a huge number of them.

The latest fashion is eastern calendars. At the beginning of each year, Russians excitedly ask each other whose year it is: the Tiger, the Horse or the Monkey... Even a completely reasonable lady can seriously declare that since she was born in the year of the Rat, she cannot marry this man, because that his year of birth is not compatible with hers.

2.3 Love of freedom

Among the primary properties of the Russian people, along with religiosity, the search for absolute good and willpower, is the love of freedom and supreme expression her freedom of spirit. This property is closely related to the search for absolute good. In fact, perfect good exists only in the Kingdom of God, it is super-earthly, therefore, in our kingdom of egoistic beings only half-good is always realized, a combination of positive values ​​with some imperfections, that is, good in combination with some aspect of evil. When a person determines which possible ways behavior to choose, he does not have mathematically reliable knowledge about the best way actions. Therefore, one who has freedom of spirit is inclined to test every value not only in thought, but also in deed.

2.4 Panhumanity

Among the constants of the national mentality, it is necessary to note the “all-humanity” of the Russian soul, its openness to other cultures and influences, which Dostoevsky spoke about. This is manifested, in particular, in a very high level of interethnic tolerance, the ability to adapt to different ethnocultural conditions, and a keen interest in the experience of other countries and peoples, accompanied by a willingness to try and apply it at home. Historically, such traits contributed to the successful creation of a huge multinational empire, " building blocks"which cemented the ability of Russians to find a common language with representatives of the most different cultures and religions. The ethnopsychology of Russians has always been characterized by the ability to accept people from any other national groups as “their own,” which gave Russian state expansion a very specific character. In any case, no other empire has ever been built on this.

2.5 Sense of justice

Many Russian thinkers recognized the archetypal feature of the “Russian soul” as the ardent desire to get “to the root”, to find the “real truth”, perceived as a kind of absolute. Moreover, on the way to this absolute, Russians are often ready to mercilessly destroy what until recently seemed sacred, correct, or at least completely acceptable.

2.6 Kindness, responsiveness

Among the primary, fundamental properties of the Russian people is their outstanding kindness. It is supported and deepened by the search for absolute good and the associated religiosity of the people.

3.7 Equalizing aspirations

Over the centuries, this trend has become one of the dominant values ​​in the people’s consciousness, actively resisting individual efforts to strengthen private property- enrichment, without at all stimulating distribution according to work. It is necessary to pay attention to the Russian proverb: “from the labors of the righteous you will not make stone chambers.”

The following can be classified as socially shaped features of the Russian mentality.

1. Collectivism and conciliarity, developed by centuries of life in a rural community. The community did not appear suddenly, but as a historically formed necessity of existence, as a reaction to low soil fertility, low agricultural yields and harsh climatic conditions, in which it was easier to survive, being in a community and using mutual assistance, than alone. Russian history has shown that its course is not determined by socio-economic theories of change social formations, but the habit of the Russian population to a certain way of life, especially the habit of the rural population to life in the community. At the same time, it should be taken into account that the stability of socially-formed mentality traits is lower than genetic and nature-formed ones, therefore urbanization and the rapid reduction of the rural population in Russia may in the near future lead to the degradation of the mentioned collectivist tradition and the undermining of one of the main foundations of Russian civilization.

2. A heightened sense of injustice among the Russian people, social inequality that infringes on the interests of the poor. This trait can be seen as a manifestation of collectivism. Hence the ancient feeling of social compassion for people who are spiritually and physically damaged: the poor, holy fools, cripples, etc., and the egalitarian tendencies in the Russian understanding of social justice.

3. The religiosity of the Russian people, nurtured by the church and government for almost a thousand years. Religion in Russia has always gone hand in hand with secular power. The Tsar was considered the representative of God's power on earth, and the Russian national idea for several centuries was expressed in the formula “God, Tsar and Fatherland.” The specific form of Russian religiosity was Orthodoxy, introduced into Rus' again by secular authorities in the person of Prince Vladimir. Social essence Orthodoxy, based on the concepts of social justice, goodness, the primacy of the spirit over the flesh, embodied in the church biographies of Orthodox saints, as well as the forms of Orthodox religious rites - fasting, religious festivals, etc. turned out to be most consistent with the historically established conditions of existence, the way of life and the mentality generated by them Russian people. This correspondence explains the stability of the Orthodox faith among the Russian people.

4. Cult of the leader. Deep religiosity, understood as hope for a deliverer from life’s hardships, contributed to the formation of such a socially educated Russian trait as the cult of the leader. All Russian history took place first under the sign of the power of the prince, then the tsar, and in the Soviet period under the flag of the cult of personality of the leader of the Communist Party. In all cases, it was the sole power of the leader (prince, king, general secretary) and the people blindly relied on him. It can be noted that the cult of the leader is also promoted by collectivism, one of the manifestations of which is the subconscious subordination of the individual to the collective, and in his person to the one who expresses collective interests, that is, the leader, personifying the collective in the mass consciousness. Hence the currently observed lack of initiative of the main part of the population, political infantilism, inability to politically self-organize, and reluctance to take responsibility for socially significant actions.

5. National and religious tolerance. Almost one and a half hundred people have lived peacefully on Russian territory for many centuries. different nations. In Russia there has never been racial hostility, religious wars, or bans on interethnic marriages. The country, with few exceptions, has historically been formed as a voluntary multinational association. This could not but give rise to such a socially formed Russian trait as national and religious tolerance.

6. Finally, one cannot help but say about Russian patriotism. Patriotism exists in any country, but the basis of patriotism is different countries different. Russian patriotism is patriotism based on the people's awareness of their community. The rise of the Russian patriotic spirit always arose in years of difficult trials, not for individual people, classes or groups of the population, but for the entire people, when they began to become acutely aware of themselves as a historical community that was in great danger - enslavement or destruction.

135 years ago, French psychologist and neuropsychiatrist Henri Vallon was born, who, based on the works of the famous Swiss psychologist Carl Jung, introduced the concept of mentality.

"Russia is America in reverse..."

In general, many Russian psychologists believe that every nation has a mentality, and it is expressed in patterns of perception and behavior that influence the political and economic life of the country. Moreover, it is based national character based on historical experience. For example, Russians and Americans can see the same event from different angles, precisely because of their mentality. Each nation will have its own truth, and to convince each other will be a lot of work. This is because values ​​are transpersonal in nature. For example, the English-speaking literary critic Van Wyck Brooks, studying Russian literature, said: “America is just Russia in reverse...”

Just like everyone else

They study the mentality of a nation in order to understand who they will have to deal with, or even wage war. For example, the Germans have always been keenly interested in the Russian people. The first detailed description of Russia was made by the German ethnographer Johann Gottlieb Georgi back in 1776. The work was called “Description of all the peoples of the Russian state, their way of life, religion, customs, dwellings, clothing and other differences.”

“...There is no such state on earth as Russian Power, which accommodated such a great variety of different peoples, wrote Johann Georgi. - These are the Russians, with their tribes, like the Lapps, the Samoyeds, the Yukaghirs, the Chukchi, the Yakuts (then there is a list of nationalities on the whole page). ...And also settlers, such as Indians, Germans, Persians, Armenians, Georgians... and new Slavs - the Cossack class.”

In general, ethnographer Johann Georgi noted that it is not unusual for Russians to see strangers. All this, of course, affected the Russian mentality. Already today, psychiatrist Igor Vasilievich Reverchuk, exploring the significance of ethnic self-awareness in the clinical dynamics of various borderline mental disorders, discovered that 96.2% of Slavs living in Russia treat their nation as “equal among others,” while 93% - demonstrate a friendly attitude towards other ethnic groups.

Children of their land

Doctor of Philosophy Valery Kirillovich Trofimov, who specializes in the Russian mentality, noted that in the past “Russia is a country of risky agriculture, where every third to fifth year there were crop failures. The short agricultural cycle - 4-5 months - forced the farmer to constantly rush. Sowing and harvesting turned into a real suffering, a battle for the harvest.” That is why our people tend to work urgently when it is critically important, and the rest of the time they react to circumstances.
The Russian historian Vasily Osipovich Klyuchevsky also highlighted this characteristic feature of Russians in his time. “Nowhere in Europe will we find such a lack of habit of even, moderate and measured, constant work as in Great Russia,” he noted. According to professor of philosophy Arseny Vladimirovich Gulyga, “rushing from one extreme to another is a typically Russian trait: from rebellion to humility, from passivity to heroism, from prudence to wastefulness.”

Daydreaming

Most of our ancestors rarely left their native village. All because Boris Godunov enslaved the peasants by law in 1592. The Russian historian V.N. Tatishchev was sure of this. All this injustice, multiplied by a poor life, led to collective fantasies and dreams of universal justice, goodness, beauty and goodness. “Russian people generally had the habit of living with dreams of the future,” Professor Vladimir Nikolaevich Dudenkov is convinced. - It seemed to them that the everyday, harsh and dull life of today is, in fact, a temporary delay in the onset of true life, but soon everything will change, a true, reasonable and happy life will open. The whole meaning of life is in this future, and today’s life does not count.”

The mentality of a Russian official

It is known that in 1727, petty officials were no longer paid government salaries in exchange for accidents. Later, this rule was abolished, but the habit of the sovereign's servants to live off “feeding” remained and was not actually persecuted. As a result, bribery became the norm in the first half of the 19th century. For example, “resolving a case” in the Senate cost 50 thousand rubles. For comparison, a far from poor district judge had a salary of 300 rubles. Théophile Gautier, a famous writer from France, who visited St. Petersburg in 1858, wrote: “It is believed that people a certain level walking is not becoming, it is not appropriate. A Russian official without a carriage is like an Arab without a horse.”

It turns out that this part of our history can also be related to mentality, however, certain group Russian people. Thus, in the dictionary “Social Psychology” edited by M.Yu. Kondratiev defined the term “mentality” as “the specifics of the mental life of people (groups of people), determined by economic and political circumstances and having a supraconscious nature.”

Endurance and patience

American mentality experts are convinced that national character traits are influenced, among other things, by genetics, in which the behavior patterns of our ancestors are programmed. For example, if the family tree is represented by convinced monarchists, then a person will subconsciously feel sympathy for this form of government or its representatives. Perhaps this lies in the neutral and even loyal attitude of the Russian people towards the political leaders who have ruled the country for many years.

This also has to do with such a mental trait of our people as patience. In particular, historian N.I. Kostomarov noted that “the Russian people amazed foreigners with their patience, firmness, and indifference to all kinds of deprivations of the comforts of life, difficult for a European... From childhood, Russians were accustomed to endure hunger and cold. Children were weaned after two months and fed roughage; the children ran around in their shirts without hats, barefoot in the snow in the bitter cold.”

Many Russian and foreign mentality experts believe that patience is our response to external and internal challenges, the basis of the Russian person.

Famous foreigners about Russians

Foreign politicians and journalists like to speculate about the Russian mentality. Most often, our compatriots are called drunkards. Thus, the French journalist Benoit Raisky wrote that “rude Russians are known for their passion for vodka.” And on the englishrussia portal on October 14, 2011, the article “50 Facts About Russia In The Eyes Of Foreigners” was published; it received a huge number of views. It says, in particular, “A Russian who doesn’t drink is an extraordinary fact. Most likely, he has some kind of tragedy associated with alcohol.”

However, there are other opinions about Russians. For example, Otto von Bismarck considered the Russians to be a united nation. He argued: “even the most favorable outcome of the war will never lead to the disintegration of the main strength of Russia, which is based on millions of Russians... These latter, even if they are dismembered by international treatises, are just as quickly reconnected with each other, like particles of a cut piece of mercury...” . However, history teaches nothing even to pragmatic Germans. Franz Halder, Chief of Staff of the Wehrmacht (1938-1942) was forced to state in 1941: “The uniqueness of the country and the unique character of the Russians gives the campaign a special specificity. The first serious opponent."

Expert opinion

Modern social psychology does not confirm the thesis about the immutability of mentality, notes Vladimir Rimsky, head of the sociology department of the INDEM Foundation. - The conditions in which people live, social relationships are changing - and the mentality is changing along with them. - It can hardly be assumed that people have not changed their mentality since the Middle Ages. This is definitely an illusion. Let's say, in the Middle Ages, the desire to become famous was completely absent in the mass consciousness. Is this really true in today's society? Therefore, I would be careful not to assert that the features of the modern Russian mentality developed in Peter’s or pre-Petrine times.

In Russia, treating mentality as something unchangeable often leads to one purely practical consequence: we are not trying to actually do anything to become different. And this is wrong.

You can, of course, say that the problem is in mentality. But the point is rather that in Russian society conditions have simply not been created for the implementation of civil initiatives.

Or take the problem of corruption - it is really widespread in Russia. It is believed that this is also a feature of our mentality. But I think we need to give people the opportunity to change their social practices. And then, quite possibly, the mentality will also change.

I should note that on a historical scale, mentality can change quite quickly - in two or three decades. This is, in particular, illustrated by examples South Korea or Singapore - states that have changed dramatically over the course of a single generation.

Or take a purely Russian example. The reforms of Alexander II affected, in particular, the judiciary. As a result, quite a lot of lawyers have appeared in Russia, working in jury trials. These jurors were ordinary citizens; I assure you, they perfectly understood what decisions the authorities needed - but often made the exact opposite verdicts. As a result, a completely different attitude towards the court appeared in the Russian Empire - as a fair institution in which one can actually defend one’s rights. Before Alexander II, such an attitude towards the judiciary was not even close.

I think people, of course, have national and ethnic characteristics. But still, one should not deny that a lot is determined social relations and the social environment in which we live. If we were ready to change the environment, the mentality would change. Let me give you another example.

It is generally accepted among us that in Russia, from time immemorial, laws have not been observed, and nothing can be done about it. But I have talked more than once with Germans and Americans who came to Moscow to live and work. So, after a short stay in the Russian capital, almost all of them began to violate traffic rules when driving a car and give bribes to traffic cops. One lady, an American, when I asked why she did this, replied that in America it would never have occurred to her to bribe a policeman, but in Moscow “there is no other way.”

As you can see, the mentality in the head of a particular American changes quite simply - as soon as he adapts to the Russian environment. But this example tells a different story. In America and Germany, for example, everyone began to “live according to the law” relatively recently - about a hundred years ago. We can go the same way, and much faster...

About the mysterious Russian mentality A lot of words are said, both flattering and not so flattering. The mysterious Russian soul has pleasant traits, but there are also dark, unkind ones. Upon closer examination, a rather ambiguous picture emerges, but looking at it is still interesting and very informative, at least in terms of understanding yourself and the environment in which you grew up.

One of the main Russian character trait believe the primacy of society over the individual. A Russian person feels himself to be a part of society and does not imagine himself outside of it. He is just a grain of sand, a drop in the endless ocean of his brothers. The concept of community goes far beyond the boundaries of a few neighboring houses; it traditionally embraces the entire village. A Russian person is first of all “Lukoshkinsky”, “Tulupkinsky”, “Medvezhansky”, and only after that he is Vasily Stepanovich, Ignat Petrovich and so on.

Positive moment in this approach it is manifested in the ability to very quickly cooperate against a common one, to present a united front against the enemy. Negative is the erasure of one’s own personality, the constant desire to transfer one’s own responsibility to the collective, to the “optery.”

Russian world quite polar, in the consciousness of a Russian person there is “truth” and there is “falsehood”, and there are no half-tones between them. Even the processes of modern globalization still cannot level this line, smooth it out by mixing cultures; our people still try to see the world like a chessboard: there are black ones, there are white ones, and all the fields are clear and square.

Of course, everyone worthy member of society strives to live “in truth”, this term is reflected even in legal documents. One of the first legal documents of Kievan Rus is called “Russian Truth”; it regulated trade relations, inheritance rules, norms of criminal and procedural legislation. He explained how to live in truth.

While with Germans traditionally associated with pedantry, strict adherence to rules, discipline, all this is deeply alien to the Russian person. He is rather inclined to the absence of any discipline, he is more attracted to free spirits, sincerity, he prefers deep feeling to reason. This also sometimes leads to troubles, disorder in everyday life and life in general, but in other cases it can become truly strong point. And certainly living with emotions gives a Russian person much more happiness than blindly following instructions written by someone for him.

Generally written by other people instructions by Russian people are greatly despised. Traditionally, such a feature of mentality has been developed as opposition between oneself and society - the state and governing bodies. The state is perceived as an inevitable evil, as a kind of apparatus of oppression. And man, society, survives and adapts under the conditions of the state. That is why a Russian is not as offended by someone who has directly insulted him as by someone who has entered into a conflict with the state. At all times, such people were called various equivalents of the modern word “informer” and were considered outright scoundrels, traitors to the people, and sellers of Christ.

Okay, I'm sure Russian man, achievable, it exists. Somewhere there, far away, but it is there, and one day it will definitely come. Maybe not in this life, but someday it will happen, appear, come a good life. Faith in this warms the Russian people in the darkest times, in war, in famine, in times of revolutions and rebellions. There will definitely be good. And the Russian himself always strives to be a kind person.

On the negative side faith into some higher good that will come one day on its own - personal irresponsibility. The Russian person himself does not consider himself at least to some extent strong enough to bring closer this moment of the descent of good from the heights of heaven, so there is no point in trying. The Russian not only does not take an active part in approaching the hour of victory of good, but does not even think about how to do this.

Love of controversy- another characteristic touch to the portrait of a person. In this, the Russian character echoes the Roman one, in whose culture there was also a sincere popular love for discussions. And in both cultures, an argument is perceived not as a way to show off or convince the interlocutor that one is right, but as an intellectual exercise, exercise for the mind and a form of table entertainment. Contrary to popular belief, it is not at all customary to move from words to fists; on the contrary, Russian people are usually quite tolerant of the opinions of others if they do not see in them direct aggression towards themselves.

Attitude to your own health A Russian person definitely doesn’t give a damn. To be treated or to take care of the condition of one’s body, to engage in physical training, is seen by the Russian mentality as a kind of effeminacy and spoiling.

Well, we can’t help but mention extraordinary loyalty of the Russian man to theft and bribery. As already mentioned, opposing oneself to the state, treating it as an enemy, develops a similar attitude towards bribes and theft. From historical information we can conclude that this has been the case at all times.

It is no secret, however, that with time even the mentality of peoples may be changed significantly. After all, it comes not only from geographical location places of residence of the people, but also on many other factors that determine their consciousness. All this gives hope for a brighter future, for eradicating or mitigating the shortcomings of our mentality and manifold strengthening of its advantages.

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Research work in geography

Mentality of the Russian people

Tynda 2005

• Content
• Introduction
• The riddle and solution to the mysterious “Russian soul”
• Mentality of the Russian people
• About Chinese pragmatism
• China is a land of contrasts
• Poll: Russians about the Chinese
• Misunderstanding of humor in intercultural communication
• Features of the French mentality
• Poll: France is a wonderful country, but the French are unbearable
• Russia and USA
• Russians about their attitude towards Americans and their idea of ​​Americans' attitude towards us
• Conclusion
• Bibliography

Introduction

In my work I will try to answer the following questions:

what character traits distinguish the Russian people (according to the authors of literary sources);

how do the Chinese and representatives of European countries differ from other peoples;

what the peoples of the world think about each other, what they think about themselves;

what needs to be done so that all peoples of the world live in peace and harmony

Basic working methods:

analysis of literary sources (textbooks, media materials)

analysis of Internet materials

conducting a social survey;

I will continue to work on this topic, because... search questions common language between the peoples of the world remains relevant. The fact that human thinking is largely reactive and situational was noted by ancient philosophers. In their everyday behavior, people rarely give an account of why they acted this way and not otherwise. Even Leibniz, long before Freud’s theory of the unconscious, wrote that “in our actions we are three-quarters automata.” R. Chartier, who quoted him, noted that “firstly, there still remains “one quarter” of human actions that are determined by collective determinants. The latter are not necessarily realized by individuals, but, nevertheless, they control and command the actions of people in these cases.” As you know, in difficult historical periods, such as the one we are now experiencing, the volume of significant social information. The collective intelligence of a nation is not always able to efficiently and timely process these overflowing information flows. The importance of mentality among phenomena of this level is difficult to overestimate. Moreover, without analyzing the deep ethno-mental foundations, it is impossible to understand the uniqueness of the spiritual life of a particular people, to explain why the development of democratic and market principles in Ukraine collided with the psychological inertia of the masses, with the unpreparedness of a conservatively oriented person for ideological pluralism.

Secondly, the theoretical relevance of mental issues is determined by the presence of a long period of latent development, when mentality was described and studied without calling it such. Discover the concepts of mentality of this period in the philosophical literature on any external signs impossible: the fact that they are talking specifically about mentality becomes clear only after reading the works.

Thirdly, different authors put different content into the same concept of mentality, which greatly complicates comparative analysis. It is generally accepted that mentality is one of those concepts in scientific and everyday language that are difficult to define in any strict way. If you try to somehow explain its various meanings, you will end up with more of an intuitive image than a logically verified category. Various authors in different time By mentality they understood the contradictory integrity of the picture of the world, and the pre-reflective layer of thinking, and the collective unconscious, and the sociocultural automatisms of the consciousness of individuals and groups, and the “global, all-encompassing “ether” of culture,” in which “all members of society are immersed,” etc. The urgent need for systematization of existing definitions of mentality, which would form the basis of mentality as a doctrine of mentality, its nature, content, its specific manifestations, also determine the relevance of the chosen topic. (1)

The riddle and solution to the mysterious “Russian soul”

Each of the readers has probably heard about the “mysterious Russian soul” more than once. And I read it more than once. Nobody knows what it is (that’s why it’s “mysterious”). Most often it is explained that the mystery of the Russian soul lies in its extraordinary breadth. But what is "breadth"? Not the distance from the equator along the meridian, expressed in degrees! When you understand more thoroughly what exactly is meant by this, it becomes clear - three things.

First. Extraordinarily great kindness.

Generally speaking, there are good (as well as evil) people among every nation. But there are nations where a kind person is rather the exception, and an evil person, like a hungry wolf, is the rule. There are peoples who have a lot of virtues, for example, hard work, discipline, musicality, etc. and only on last place not at all amazing kindness. And there are peoples who have a lot of shortcomings, but it is their kindness that amazes the imagination.

These are the Russians.

This coin also has a flip side - amazing tolerance for oppression, endless suffering from the oppressors.

Second. An unusually humane state of mind, when in the first place in a person’s value system is the fate of humanity, far in the background is the fate of one’s own people, very little is the fate of one’s family, and absolutely zero attention is given to one’s own fate.

It was precisely this mentality that distinguished typically Russian behavior at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 20th centuries. - “intelligentsia” of Russian origin, which has significant differences both from the Western “intellectuals” and from the Eastern “contemplative philosophy”. Today there is little left of the intelligentsia: this breed has been eradicated generation after generation since 1917. However, the tragic fate of Andrei Sakharov, the Russian Robert Oppenheimer, with a remarkably similar life and fate, shows that something of the intelligentsia has survived to this day. What is most striking is that exactly the same mentality is widespread among the common people - down to the last beggar.

There are nations where “everyone for himself - one God for all,” and relations between people are regulated by laws. There are peoples where the feeling of belonging to one’s own people, to one’s own tribe, dominates everything. It turns people into a close-knit pack of animals, and woe to anyone who comes across this pack on the way (there are more than enough examples of how Russians come across different packs on this path). And there are nations where relations between people are regulated not by laws, not even by reason - by the heart. The Russians belong to them.

Extraordinary developed sense asceticism. Not in the sense of complete self-forgetfulness, when, according to the Russian proverb, you need to move a mountain. Russians have no equal when it comes to throwing themselves into a burning house or ice water to save a person. When you need to put out a fire or dig out a rubble. When you have to fight to the death in a besieged fortress or go into a bayonet attack. When you need to lift the unbearable or endure the unbearable. When you need to “dissolve” your life in the life of another person or devote it entirely to the cause you serve.(2)

Just one example. Having heard that one of the leaders of the American communists was blind, one Soviet schoolboy offered him his eyes for a transplant: after all, he needed them more for the common struggle against the villainous American imperialists who oppress the unfortunate American people! Someone can say that skillfully staged totalitarian propaganda is capable of bringing not only a Russian boy to such a state. I just want to emphasize that this is typical for Russians.

And at the same time, any tourist who comes to Moscow never tires of being amazed at the viciousness of the service staff, the thievery of almost everyone he comes across, the shameful laziness encountered at every step. The typical Russian tourist who finds himself before your eyes in a country foreign to him is very far from heartfelt kindness, dedication, selflessness. How to combine one with the other? Is this really the mystery of the “mysterious Russian soul”?

Let's first remove the various husks from this notorious “soul” and take a closer look at its “core”.

In this regard, Russia is distinguished by two significant characteristics.

Firstly, special character Russian community. The Russian village has moved far from that primitive stage of communalism, when a person’s personality literally dissolves in the community, when he turns into a simple detail. social mechanism community, like a warrior of the ancient Greek phalanx, which moved and fought as one. This condition is still typical for rural communities developing countries Asia and Africa (including the Asian republics of the former USSR). It has a number of advantages - mainly in terms of resilience to endure hardships - but is so uncompetitive with respect to the modern urban way of life that everywhere in the world, to one degree or another, it is in a stage of decay, transition to more modern forms of life.

Secondly, this combination was superimposed on those national traits of the Russian character. And this increased the strength tenfold. Actually, it was community (collectivism) that helped and is helping the Chinese, North Korean, Vietnamese, Mongolian, Iranian, Iraqi, Libyan, Cuban and other peoples of the world who fell into this trouble to endure the hardships of totalitarianism.

But it was precisely the imposition of the unique features of the national Russian character on the community that allowed the Russian people to endure not only the burden of totalitarianism, but also the burden of the arms race, which was unbearable for other nations (on equal terms with the much stronger economically the United States of America!) and even to break out of the developing series. developed countries peace - albeit mainly through the military-industrial complex and its infrastructure.

This, in our opinion, is the riddle and solution to the imaginary “mystery” of the notorious Russian soul. We are convinced that there is nothing mysterious about it. Many components of this “mystery” are present among many peoples. Collectivism is even stronger among the peoples of developing countries in Asia and Africa. Latin America. Individualism is stronger among the peoples of the developed countries of the world. Many traits of the national Russian character are also found in the mentality and social psychology of other peoples, who have their own unique character, no worse or better than the Russian. Simply a unique combination of different components, features, characteristics created unique phenomenon, difficult to study and therefore acquired an aura of “mystery.”

But no matter how we feel about this phenomenon of the “Russian soul,” it must definitely be taken into account and kept in mind. Otherwise, it is impossible to understand how, in what way Russia endured Civil War, which was an order of magnitude greater in its hardships, sacrifices and economic devastation than the Civil War of 1861-1965. in USA. How did it endure the complete destruction of agriculture with tens of millions of victims, very similar in its consequences to the most ferocious hurricanes that ever swept over the territory of the southern states of the United States, or to the tragic events in the African Sahara of the 70s, Somalia in the late 80s? early 90s. How did she endure mass terror with tens of millions of victims (affecting almost every third inhabitant of the country in one way or another), very similar to the tragedy of the Jews during Hitler’s Holocaust or the tragedy of Cambodia during the time of Pol Pot. How did she endure the Second World War, when she was caught by surprise, unprepared for war, and had to literally litter the approaches to first Moscow and then Berlin with corpses, when ten Russians were forced to give their lives so that the eleventh could kill one German soldier. Finally, how, and at what cost, did she endure the almost half-century-long Third World War (the so-called “cold”) war against a much stronger economically and technologically powerful enemy.

There is no doubt that the Russian people would have endured the burden of totalitarianism and the arms race for some time to come. It was not he who was defeated in the Third World War. Totalitarianism itself was defeated, which turned out to be uncompetitive in competition with the “democracy + market” system and began to decline and gradually decay from within. And then suddenly it collapsed like a rock and crumbled into sand. (3)

Mentality of the Russian people

The mentality of the people - component national culture. The study of folk mentality is necessary to understand the relationship between nature, culture and society in a certain territory. Man is part geographical environment and depends on her.

S. N. Bulgakov wrote that the continental climate is probably to blame for the Russian character being so contradictory, thirst for absolute freedom and slave obedience, religiosity and atheism- these properties of the Russian mentality are incomprehensible to Europeans and therefore create an aura of mystery, enigma, and incomprehensibility in Russia. After all, for us ourselves Russia remains an unsolved mystery. F. I. Tyutchev said about Russia:

You can't understand Russia with your mind,

The general arshin cannot be measured.

She will become special -

You can only believe in Russia.

The facts indicate that Russian state and the Russian ethnic group were historically, geographically and psychologically “programmed” for opposition from the outside. The Russian ethnos originated in the center of Eurasia, on a plain, not protected from the west or east by seas or mountains and accessible to military invasions, both from East Asia, and from Western Europe. The only way to maintain independence in such conditions is to occupy as much as possible large territory, in which any enemy armies would be bogged down.

Vast spaces, harsh climate and the need to resist the combined forces of many peoples from the West and East at the same time gave rise to the prevailing type of subconscious and conscious psychological attitudes.

The severity of our climate also greatly affected the mentality of the Russian people. Living in a territory where winter lasts about six months, Russians have developed enormous willpower, perseverance in the struggle for survival in climate conditions. Low temperatures for much of the year also affected the temperament of the nation. Russians are more melancholic, slow than Western Europeans.

The Northern Eurasian character of our nation has formed a type of national psychology that not only does not correspond to the prevailing world trends. But exactly the opposite of them. Hence, instead of developing a commercial economy - psychology of care in subsistence farming(saving during the years of foreign intervention, but unproductive for building an intensive economy), instead of independence - habit of paternalism, instead of high material demands - unpretentiousness to living conditions.

Severe Russian winters provided strong influence based on Russian traditions hospitality. To deny a traveler shelter in winter in our conditions means dooming him to a cold death. Therefore, hospitality was perceived by Russian people as nothing other than a self-evident duty. The severity and stinginess of nature taught Russian people to be patient and obedient. But even more important was the persistent, continuous struggle with harsh nature. Russians have long had to engage in all kinds of crafts along with agriculture. This explains practical orientation intelligence, dexterity and rationality. Rationalism, prudence and pragmatic approach life does not always help the Great Russian, since the wayward climate sometimes deceives the most modest expectations. And, having become accustomed to these deceptions, our man sometimes prefers to recklessly choose the most hopeless solution, to oppose the whim of nature with the whim of his own courage. This inclination tease happiness, play with luck V. O. Klyuchevsky called it “the Great Russian avos.”

Living in such unpredictable conditions, when the outcome depends on the whims of nature, is possible only with inexhaustible optimism. In a ranking of national character traits compiled on the basis of a survey by Reader's Digest magazine conducted in 18 European countries in February 2001, this quality was in first place among Russians. 51% of respondents declared themselves optimists (only 3% were pessimists). the rest of Europe won among the qualities constancy, preference for stability.

A Russian person needs to cherish a clear working day. This forces our peasant to rush, to work hard in order to accomplish a lot in a short time. No people in Europe are capable of such intense work in a short time. Such hard work is perhaps unique to Russians. This is how climate influences the Russian mentality in many ways. The landscape has no less influence. IN. Klyuchevsky reveals the landscape determinism of the Russian character as follows: “Great Russia of the 13th - 15th centuries, with its forests and swampy swamps, presented the settler with thousands of small dangers at every step, among which he had to find himself. Which we had to fight every minute. This taught him to vigilantly monitor nature, to look both ways, as he put it, to walk, looking around and feeling the soil, not to venture into the water without looking for a ford, developed in him resourcefulness in small difficulties and dangers, the habit of patiently struggling with adversity and deprivation .

In Europe there is no people less spoiled and pretentious, accustomed to expect less from nature and fate and more resilient. The uniqueness of Russian nature, its whims and unpredictability were reflected in the mindset of Russians, in the manner of their thinking. Everyday irregularities and accidents taught him to discuss the path traveled more than to think about the future, to look back more than to look forward. In the struggle with unexpected hardships and thaws, with unforeseen August frosts and January slush, he became more cautious than precautionary, learned to notice consequences more than set goals, and cultivated the ability to sum up the art of making estimates. This skill is what we call hindsight...Nature and fate led the Great Russian in such a way that they taught him to take the straight road in a roundabout way.” The beautiful Russian nature and the flatness of Russian landscapes have accustomed the people to contemplation. According to V. O. Klyuchevsky, “in contemplation our life, our art, our faith. But from excessive contemplation, souls become dreamy, lazy, weak-willed, and unhardworking.” Prudence, observation, thoughtfulness, concentration and contemplation- these are the qualities that were nurtured in the Russian soul by Russian landscapes.

In many ways, the specific (and often contradictory) features of the Russian mentality are determined by the vastness of the spaces in Russia. A huge sparsely populated territory required for its development special type people capable of decisive action, daring and courageous. And everywhere during their march, the Russians created a network of settlements - fortresses, which also played the role of economic centers for the development of the territory. This population was distinguished by its entrepreneurial spirit, extraordinary love of freedom and rebellion. A significant part of the residents fled beyond the Urals from " the sovereign's eye“, and the authorities themselves preferred to keep such citizens away from the capital.

Russians were not formed nationally - confined space, and in the open plain - the plain of assimilation. They were “boiled” in this cauldron. And we came out of it with two fundamental feelings - a feeling of powerful unity with each other and arising from centuries of life experience a conciliatory attitude towards neighboring peoples - both to those who had to seize lands, and to those who joined based on their own interests; and even more so to those who considered it important for themselves to pass on their knowledge and creative elements of their culture to the Russians.

The spirit of hostility and rivalry was alien to the Russians - precisely because of their obvious predominance, as well as because they had a powerful folk root with its Moscow core. This Russian “root” was so strong that it digested the kings of German blood, and the Baltic bureaucracy, and the Tatar Baskaks and Murzas, and its French-speaking nobility, and the Ukrainian version of Orthodoxy.

The vastness and incomprehensibility of the country's spaces could not but affect its perception by its neighbors. Emperor Alexander 3, in his parting words shortly before the country entered the 20th century, said: “Remember, Russia has no friends. They are afraid of our enormity.”

A long period of careful dosing of deliberate distortion of information leaking abroad did not contribute to the formation of an objective image of the country among foreigners. P.A. Vyazemsky, a writer and friend of Pushkin, characterized similar opinions: “Do you want clever man, German or French, has been stupid, force him to express judgments about Russia. This is an object that intoxicates him and immediately darkens his thinking abilities.”

“Vast spaces were easy for the Russian people, but organizing these spaces into the greatest state in the world, maintaining and preserving order in it was not easy for them. The size of the state posed almost impossible tasks for the Russian people and kept the Russian people in exorbitant tension (N.A. Berdyaev). All this could not but affect the mentality of the Great Russians. The Russian soul was suppressed by the vast Russian fields, the vast Russian snows, it seemed to be drowning, dissolving in this immensity. Long and cold winters reflected a joyless sadness in the souls of the Russian people.

State mastery of vast spaces was accompanied by terrible centralization, subordination of all life state interest and suppression of free personal and social forces, suppression of any initiative coming “from below”. Centralization affected the Russian spirit in two ways: firstly, the Great Russian decided that the one who controls such vast spaces that represent Russia and the great people is almost of supernatural origin. From here - cult of personality, feeling of reverence for« to the Tsar Father» in the soul of the Russian people. Secondly, the feeling that someone stands over a person and controls all his actions resulted in such a quality of the soul as carelessness. ON THE. Berdyaev said: “The Russian soul is bruised by the vastness.” The soul of a Russian is wide, like the Russian land, rivers, fields - the soul of a Russian person can absorb everything, all human feelings and properties will fit in it.

The power of the shire over the Russian soul also gives rise to a whole series of Russian “disadvantages”. Related to this is the Russian laziness, carelessness, lack of initiative, poorly developed sense of responsibility.“The breadth of the Russian land and the breadth of the Russian soul crushed Russian energy, opening up the possibility of extensiveness,” noted N.A. Berdyaev.

Russian laziness (Oblomovism) is widespread among all segments of the people. We are lazy to do work that is not strictly necessary. Oblomovism is partially expressed in inaccuracies, delays.

Seeing the infinity of their expanses, Russians come to terms with the idea that it is still impossible to master such a vastness. I. A. Ilyinsky said: “Russia has endowed us with enormous natural wealth - both external and internal.” Russian people consider these riches to be endless and do not protect them. This creates in our mentality mismanagement. It seems to us that we have a lot of everything. And further in his work “About Russia” Ilyin writes: “From the feeling that our wealth is abundant and generous, a certain spiritual kindness is poured into us, a certain organic, affectionate good nature, calmness, openness of soul, sociability... there is enough for everyone, and the Lord will send more.” . This is where the roots of Russian lie. generosity.

“The natural calm, good nature and generosity of the Russians amazingly coincided with the dogmas of Orthodox Christian morality. Humility in the Russian people and from the church. Christian morality, which for centuries has held the whole Russian statehood, greatly influenced the national character. Orthodoxy brought up in the Great Russians spirituality, forgiving love, responsiveness, sacrifice, kindness.

The unity of the Church and the state, the feeling of being not only a subject of the country, but also a part of a huge cultural community has cultivated an extraordinary culture among Russians patriotism reaching the point of sacrificial heroism. A. I. Herzen wrote: “Every Russian recognizes himself as a part of the entire power, is aware of his kinship with the entire population.” The problem of overcoming Russian spaces and distances has always been one of the most important for the Russian people. Nicholas 1 also said: “Distance is the misfortune of Russia.”

The Russian person has perseverance and thoroughness peasant and nomadic blood ( prowess, the desire to move away from habitable places in search of something better, horizontal structured space, etc..) Russians do not distinguish between Europe and Asia, balancing between two development models.

Comprehensive geographical analysis of ethnocultural and natural environment allows today to reveal the most important features of the mentality of any people and trace the stages and factors of its formation. (3)

About Chinese pragmatism

The sage takes care of the stomach, not the eyes: he takes what is necessary and discards what is unnecessary. (Lao Tzu. “Tao Te Ching”)

The unifying principle in the rethinking and processing of the values ​​of various cultures and religions and their development and assimilation in China is pragmatism. It is this dominant feature of the Chinese mentality that determines the amazing adaptability of the Chinese and their ability to survive in the most difficult conditions throughout the complex history of the Celestial Empire. That is why Chinese civilization, which gave birth to one of the most mystical movements - Taoism, lives very pragmatically, does not talk about benefits, but constantly follows it. Just like any Chinese, he strives to extract his interest even from small things. Obviously, this circumstance determines the realities that a tourist who comes to modern China faces. First of all, what is striking is the amazing diligence of the Chinese, or rather their work in any area, regardless of its type and level. On the way to Cheng De, we observed how the Chinese create artificial terraces in the mountains for agricultural work. Pictures of the distant past literally came to life before us: an ox, a plow, a basket and a man. We saw how workers covered many kilometers of greenhouses for growing the most common vegetables, peas and beans with mats from the night cold, and in the morning, with sunrise, they removed them, putting them in huge piles - and so on every day. Even at a gas station quite far from the central highway, the toilet is washed and deodorized with incense after each visit by a visitor.

But if « workaholism» - famous trait Chinese, their love for trade is amazing. Wherever you are - near a museum, temple, palace, in a parking lot, near a restaurant, theater, hotel, observation deck, everywhere there are a huge number of sellers of various souvenirs, toys, postcards, handkerchiefs.

In China there live more than 500 million “unregistered” people, those who were born into a family in excess of the established “minimum”: one or two children - the second with a special permit. They are not registered and have no documents. But everyone needs to live!

China - country various languages, peoples, cultures. And even in the Chinese language itself there are four tonic stresses. The slightest change in tone - and the spoken word takes on a completely different meaning. Chinese from different provinces may not understand each other at all. Therefore, in China, video information is preferred. Almost all films, performances and programs of an informational and political nature are dubbed with captions - hieroglyphs are read the same way in all provinces and by everyone. But it was the presence of tonic stresses that contributed to the development of high musical culture.

Pragmatism of the Chinese is manifested in everything, in relation to health, first of all. After all, it is health care that underlies Taoism, the flourishing of Chinese and Tibetan medicine, traditional martial arts. Every morning, driving through any city, you can observe groups of people doing qigong breathing and meditative exercises and taijiquan gymnastics. On weekends, parks and gardens are given over to pensioners for recreation.

China is a land of contrasts

... Existence and non-existence give rise to each other,

Difficult and easy create each other,

The short and the long are measured by each other,

High and low are drawn to each other.

(Lao Tzu. “Tao Te Ching”)

However, upon closer inspection classical culture strikes at the same time with a certain stereotyping. In China, everything corresponds to the Taoist canon and is therefore stereotypical. In accordance with the principles of Taoism and its symbolism, architecture will not be dominated by even number“9” is the most beloved, a little less often “7”, and there will never be an even number, especially “4”, because it is equivalent to the concept of “death”. At the same time, symmetry prevails, usually associated with the principle of the unity of opposite principles - feminine and masculine (Yin and Yang). Therefore, in front of all the palaces there will be figures of two lions: on one side, a lion with its paw on the ball - a male symbol, denoting power, and on the opposite side - a lion, under whose paw there will be a child - a female symbol, denoting fertility. All buildings, in accordance with the principles of Taoism, will have a rear wall adjacent to the mountains, and a façade facing a river or artificial reservoir. True, the symbolic elements of the harmony of the Cosmos are intertwined here - earth and water, and in the middle is man, with purely practical, functional ones - protection from enemies, of which the Chinese have always had many.

Chinese gardens - the most harmonious combination of opposites Yin and Yang: nature and architecture, vertical and horizontal, emptiness and fullness. In any garden, three elements must be present in order for a person to live in it: water, rocks and plants. The color scheme will always consist of five colors, according to Taoist ideas about the five elements. In addition, the color scheme also signifies the characters' personalities - as in fine arts, and in sculpture. The color scheme is even used in religious rituals. And, of course, the use of animal symbolism is canonical, in which the first place is occupied by the dragon, personifying water and performing protective functions. Popular ones are tiger, turtle, horse, unicorn. Among flowers, preference is given to the lotus - a symbol of purity. Clouds are also a symbol of the sky, the cult of which occupied a paramount place in the life of pre-Confucian China. From here ancient name China - Celestial Empire. Dragons on the roofs perform a protective function, protecting all living things from the power and interference of evil spirits in their lives. The same functions are performed by the famous curved roofs with tightly sealed tubes of tiles, as well as the peculiar labyrinths of gates at the entrance to the dwelling of the medieval Chinese.

With all the originality and specificity of Chinese history and culture, in contrast to the history and culture of our country, one can also see their common features. These include collectivism - or community, goodwill And hospitality, ability artificially create difficulties and then overcome them (5) .

Poll: Russians about the Chinese

As the survey showed, 42% of Russians, judging by their in my own words, formed positive image of China. In the groups, respondents talked a lot about the fact that the Chinese are hardworking, patient, and wise people:

« Well, everyone knows that the Chinese are the most hardworking people in the world. And they proved with their hard work, their work» (DFG, Novosibirsk).

« The country is civilized. And so - this is a country of hard workers...» (DFG, Novosibirsk).

« Patient people. It seems to me that their whole story<об этом говорит> « (DFG, Moscow).

« Very hardy people» (DFG, Moscow).

« They are very wise people » (DFG, Samara).

« This is an old, wise state...» (DFG, Novosibirsk).

By the way, respondents aged 50 and older speak about a positive image of China much more often than average (48%). This attitude of representatives of these socio-demographic groups, apparently, is largely due to the perception of this country as one of the last “strongholds” of the communist order. Note that modern television pictures from China - not with pagodas, but with a red banner, hammer and sickle - only reinforce such an image, heavily seasoned with nostalgic feelings.

Another group more likely than average to say they have a very positive image of China is those with higher education (53%).

More than a third of Russians (36%) say that they have developed neutral image of an eastern neighbor, and more often than average, this is how young respondents (48%) and people with average general education (41%).

Negative The image of China was formed by 12% of respondents. It is worth noting that residents of the Siberian (17%) and especially the Far Eastern districts (29%) speak more often than others about the negative image of this country. It is there that the problem of illegal immigration of residents of the “Heavenly Empire” is extremely acute.

« 25% of Vladivostok are Chinese. Free passage of the border, free purchase and sale, well, everything! In the center of Vladivostok there are houses, restaurants, everything Chinese. It’s the same in Transbaikalia» (DFG, Novosibirsk)

« We ourselves have many unemployed. Well, why do they come from there, without any visas?» (DFG, Novosibirsk).

Another 10% of respondents found it difficult to answer the question of what image of China they had in their minds.

As for the experts, two-thirds of them have a positive image of China, a quarter has a neutral image, and only one-sixteenth of the surveyed experts speak of a negative image of their eastern neighbor.

The “peaceful expansion” of China in the Far East causes considerable concern among respondents:

« Everyone knows that they inhabit Siberia and that’s it. They export everything... They export timber, furs, and everything. They are introduced, and there is a gradual peaceful seizure of territories» (DFG, Samara).

« They populate our territories... They are slowly occupying our territory» (DFG, Samara).

« In general, if you look at military history, they almost never acted as an attacking party. They acted in a peculiar way: they seemed to let the invader through, and then assimilated them. And the fact that there are now a lot of Chinese in Russia is more likely that they will slowly creep in, creep in...(DFG, Novosibirsk).

Finally, the traditional fear of the “large numbers” of the Chinese, judging by the remarks of the focus group participants, is still present in the mass consciousness:

« And this billion worries me. Causes concern» (DFG, Moscow).

« The fear for the whole world is Chinese expansion. Because it is developing very well, the population is very huge, the army is very strong. So in the future there are fears that it will seize territories» (DFG, Samara).(6)

Misunderstanding of humor in intercultural communication

Misunderstanding of humor as a consequence of insufficient competence in intercultural communication can be divided into several types:

misunderstanding of everyday humor, associated with the lack of similar realities in one’s culture,

misunderstanding of certain accepted etiquette standards,

lack of understanding of the deep values ​​of the corresponding culture.

Misunderstanding of humor, based on ignorance of the realities, is easily removed in the presence of comments. The exception is a play on words: a speaker of another culture understands that, probably, in another language such a random coincidence of homonymous units may turn out to be funny, but since in native language Since these words are by no means homonyms, there is no comic effect. The clarification associated with the form of words actually removes the surprise of the semantic clash that lies at the heart of humor. Likewise, jokes based on rhymes do not cause laughter. Such jokes are not very typical for English culture, and in Russian jokes they are recorded in our corpus of examples, mainly in relation to primitive jokes.

Anecdotes associated with various classifications concerning ideas about other peoples usually make us smile. Even if the essence of the joke is not immediately clear, the bearer of Russian culture can easily guess that the very structure of the joke should suggest its climax. For example, the following anecdote, translated into Russian, does not quite fit into the Russian idea of ​​Italians, but becomes understandable thanks to the context:

How to convince a new skydiver to make his first jump?

The American needs to be told: “If you are a man, you will jump!”

To the Englishman: “Sir, this is tradition.”

To the Frenchman: “This is the lady’s request.”

To the German: “This is an order.”

To the Italian: “Jumping is prohibited!”

The last remark in the joke is based on contrast; this contrast is based on the typical image-stereotype of an Italian in the eyes of Europeans.

More complex is an anecdote with a mixed-up classification:

Paradise is a place where the police are English, the cooks are French, the mechanics are German, the lovers are Italian, and the managers are Swiss. Hell is a place where the cooks are English, the mechanics are French, the lovers are Swiss, the police are German, and the managers are Italian.

The British respect their police officers, the German police are known for their severity, it is also known that French cuisine is famous for its sophistication, and English cuisine is criticized by the French and other Europeans (note that modern English cuisine is largely international). The Germans are known in Europe for their love of mechanics and precise mechanisms, the stereotype of the Italian is a passionate lover, the Swiss are famous for their discipline and good organizational skills, the idea of ​​reliability is enshrined in the concept of a “Swiss bank.” This anecdote becomes clear to Russian listeners after the commentary, but for Europeans who often travel to the countries of their continent, this confused classification causes a genuine smile: they remember that in France no one could fix their car , in Italy they had to spend a lot of time at the airport due to administrative problems and irresponsibility of the staff, etc. In other words, this kind of anecdotes is based largely on personal experience, i.e. on the conscious experience of incomprehensible realities.

Here is another anecdote that plays on the stereotypes of representing foreign ethnic groups:

German, American and Swedish police are participating in a competition to see who is the best at catching criminals. A task is given: a hare is released into the forest, and it must be caught. Swedish police officers place animal informants throughout the forest, interview all plant and mineral witnesses and, after three months of intense search, come to the conclusion that there are no hares in nature. The Americans break into the forest, scour the forest for two weeks, cannot find anyone, set the forest on fire, killing everyone, including hares, and do not apologize to anyone. The Germans get down to business and two hours later return with a badly beaten bear, who screams: “Yes, I am a hare, I am a hare! Just don’t kick me!”

From the point of view of the British and Americans, the Swedish police are overly scrupulous and liberal. In our opinion, the Swedes ended up in this row by accident: it was necessary to construct a unique classification of cruelty and show that there is a people whose police are too lenient towards criminals. The American police are distinguished not by sophisticated brutality (here the priority belongs to the Germans), but by insufficient competence, which is compensated by the manifestation of brute force. Also noteworthy is the lack of tact emphasized by Americans (“they don’t apologize to anyone”), the latter symptom is painful for those cultures where it is customary to observe politeness standards, primarily for English culture. This anecdote is generally understandable to speakers of Russian culture, those who imagine the behavior of American supermen from films and know about the cruelty of the Germans during the war.(7)

The British demonstrated a complete lack of understanding of Russian realities associated with proper names in jokes:

Aunt Valya: “ Dear Guys! First place in our drawing competition on the theme “Vanya and the Bear” was taken by Vova Glazunov from Moscow. He has the most beautiful drawing. True, grandfather Ilya helped him a little..."

The British may not know that Ilya Glazunov is a famous contemporary Russian artist. In addition, the idea of ​​a child submitting a picture that they helped him draw to a children's drawing competition seems strange to the British: this idea violates the British idea of ​​\u200b\u200bfair play. Similarly, the English do not understand the attitude of Russians towards giving a hint during an exam: in our country, a friend who refused to give you a hint during an exam is clearly assessed as a traitor; in English culture, refusal to help in such a situation is not perceived so sharply (punishment for cheating, `cheating at the exam" is quite harsh).

The British had difficulty understanding very specific Russian jokes about the KGB:

A man calls the KGB on a pay phone: “Hello, KGB? You’re doing a bad job!” He ran to another pay phone: “Hello, KGB? You’re doing a bad job!” He ran back to the third: “Hello, KGB? You’re doing a bad job!” He feels a hand on his shoulder: “We work as best we can.”

The specificity of these jokes is that state security is endowed with supernatural abilities and is assessed positively. This attitude towards power contradicts the norms of carnival culture, the inversion of values ​​and the nature of the joke. It is no coincidence that there is an opinion that this kind of jokes were specially invented in the analytical departments of the KGB to create appropriate stereotypes among the population. By the way, the abbreviation “Committee” itself state security"was deciphered jokingly also with a positive connotation `office deep drilling"The idea of ​​the omnipresence of our intelligence services is expressed in the following anecdote, which is not entirely clear to the British (they understand the intent of this text, but do not internally agree with the pathos of the anecdote):

NASA is wondering why the left SHUTTLE solid fuel accelerator exploded, and the KGB is wondering why the right one did not explode...

Even without taking into account the fact that the KGB is attributed in this text with the functions of foreign intelligence, bearers of Russian culture emphasize the ability of our special services to carry out the most fantastic operations. The British perceive such a text as pretentious and partly national chauvinistic.

Frank apologetics for power is no exception in Russian jokes about meetings senior managers. Let's give children's joke Brezhnev times:

Brezhnev arrives in America. American President Reagan says: “Press this button!” Brezhnev pressed and found himself under a cold shower. After some time, Reagan arrives in Moscow. Brezhnev tells him: “Press this button!” Reagan pressed, nothing happened. I pressed it again, nothing happened either. He says: “What is this? Here, in America...” And Brezhnev told him: “Your America no longer exists.”

The British did not find this anecdote funny; the reaction was a polite smile, and in some cases a shrug of the shoulders. It cannot be said that the respondents (and these were citizens of the United Kingdom) felt solidarity towards the United States, but the open praise of the power of the USSR in the genre of an anecdote seemed strange to them. Interestingly, at the same time, jokes were circulating in which Brezhnev was shown as a very weak person; these jokes did not cause misunderstanding among English respondents.

Speaking about the realities of our culture, incomprehensible to the English respondents, we note that jokes about the police are very specific to Russian culture. The attitude of the bearers of Russian culture towards law enforcement officers is sharply negative. The police in the anecdote are characterized by corruption and narrow-mindedness. For example:

A policeman/traffic cop comes home, angry and frozen - he earned little while standing on the highway. His schoolboy son opens the door for him. The traffic cop shouts: “Give me the diary, if you get a bad mark, I’ll flog you!” The boy runs to his mother in tears: “I just got a bad grade today!” “Okay, don’t be afraid,” says the mother and puts fifty rubles in her son’s diary on the page with a deuce. The boy gives the diary to his father with horror. He, frowning, flips through the pages, reaches the page with the banknote, puts it in his pocket, sighs with relief and says: “It’s good that at least everything is in order at home!”

This text seemed difficult for the British, they realized that we're talking about about the inappropriate behavior of a policeman, but the entire system of Russian realities turned out to be closed to them. They had to tell them that the police on the roads, the state traffic police service, now, by the way, renamed the State Road Safety Inspectorate (STSI), are almost always perceived in the minds of bearers of Russian culture as extortionists, unfairly fining drivers for minor traffic violations. It is clear that the tellers of the jokes are victims of the state's unjust control over people. Bearers of modern Russian culture are also familiar with the procedure for presenting a driver’s license to a police officer; usually, a banknote is inserted into the license. The humor of the above text lies in the fact that instead of a driver's license, a student's diary appears - another reality that is absent in English culture. English schoolchildren do not have diaries, which are a strict form of control over children.(8)

The British could only superficially appreciate the following joke:

At the exhibition of fire departments:

- Uncle, why do you need a helmet and a belt?

- Well, kid, when I climb into a burning house, and if something falls on my head, the helmet will save me.

- Ugh, I thought that the muzzle would not crack.

A superficial understanding of this text is the boy’s mockery of the fat fireman. In this sense, we have before us a trap joke. But in this text, the English do not understand the linguocultural presupposition: a fireman is a man who sleeps all the time on duty, so he has a swollen face that needs to be bandaged with a strap so that it does not crack. The boy in many Russian jokes is a trickster provocateur who inevitably baffles an adult. This function is expressed in the most vivid form in a series of jokes about Vovochka (many of these jokes are rude).

The results of our experimental analysis of the perception of jokes showed that the sign of “rudeness” did not appear in the answers of respondents, both from the English side and from the Russian side (however, we did not consider openly obscene jokes, although for the purposes of objective research V special work these should also be taken into account). Whole line English jokes were perceived by Russian respondents as extremely insipid. The British have the same reaction to sophisticated jokes from Southeast Asian countries:

The monkey king ordered to get him the moon from the sky. The courtiers jumped from a high cliff, crashed, and, finally, the most dexterous of them managed to jump to the moon and brought it to his master. Handing the moon to the king, the courtier asked: “Oh, great king, I dare to ask, why do you need the moon?” The king thought: “Really, why?...”

Such jokes are philosophical in nature and make you think about life, perhaps with a smile, but they can hardly be classified as spontaneous jokes.

English respondents found themselves in difficulty when trying to understand an anecdote that featured a value very specific to Russian linguistic consciousness:

Advertisement in a Ukrainian newspaper: I am exchanging a 3x4 m carpet for a piece of lard of the same size.

In the minds of Russians, lard is the favorite food of Ukrainians; the anecdote contains an obvious hyperbole. In this case, the measure of value is the carpet, which in our apartments was often hung on the wall as decoration and was considered as a valuable investment. In English there is no one-word and unambiguous translation of the Russian reality "lard", there are words meaning fat, rendered fat, the British do not understand the hyperbole in the size of an immense piece of lard, and finally, they perceive carpets only as a comfortable floor covering, and not at all as an object of art or demonstration welfare. The British also cannot understand the specific teasing of Russians over Ukrainians and vice versa, although similar relations take place between the English and the Scots, the English and the Irish, etc. Elements of mutual misunderstanding in intercultural contact, presented in a caricatured anecdotal form, are, apparently, an ethnocultural universal, but the qualities of another people that are subject to ridicule are specific. Let us note that the British could not understand a very characteristic anecdote for intercultural misunderstanding between Russians and Ukrainians:

Wife: Why did you hit me, I didn’t do anything!

Husband: If there was a reason, I would have killed him.

The presupposition about the right of a husband to hit his wife seems strange to the British, although in large quantities In anecdotes about mother-in-law, such a presupposition does not raise questions. The British, in principle, do not understand unmotivated action: when faced with a world in which, in principle, there are no cause-and-effect relationships and which Russians perceive for this very reason as cheerful, the British experience a kind of cognitive discomfort. This leads to the conclusion about the orderliness of the world as a value in the English-speaking consciousness.(9)

These kinds of jokes stand in stark contrast to jokes that exaggerate and caricature certain human qualities. In our corpus of examples there is a humorous miniature on the topic of “radio interception”:

Actual radio conversation released by the Chief of Naval Operations (so it says)

Hail: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision.

Reply: Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.

Hail: This is the Captain of a U.S. Navy Ship. I say again, divert YOUR course.

Reply: No, I say again, you divert YOUR course.

Hail: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER ENTERPRISE. WE ARE A LARGE WARSHIP OF THE U.S. NAVY. DIVERT YOUR COURSE NOW!

Reply: This is the lighthouse...your call.

Radio recording from Navy report.

Request: I request you to change your course 15 degrees north to avoid collision.

Answer: I recommend that you change your course 15 degrees south in order to avoid a collision.

...

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