A Psychosemantic Analysis of the Dynamics of Russian Life Quality (1917 to 1998)

This articles concerns the perception by Russians of the social aspects of Russian life after the October Revolution of 1917. The methodology of research is the construction of subjective semantic spaces on the basis of the evaluation by Russian citizens of the quality of life under the different governments. The authors analyze the influence of respondents' age and political orientation on their assessment of the past and the present. This research proposes to reconstruct the system of categories (superordinate personal constructs in the terminology of G. Kelly, 1955) through which people perceive life in Russian society and assess the governments of the USSR and its legal successors (1917 to 1998). Another aspect of the research is the evaluation of Russian life quality under the various governments within this time period.