DOI: 10.17072/2078-7898/2017-4-632-642

INTERPERSONAL ALIENATION OF THE REGION’S POPULATION
(CASE STUDY OF THE VOLOGDA REGION)

Smoleva Elena Olegovna
Researcher of the Department for the Studies
of Lifestyles and Standards of Living

Institute of Socio-Economic Development of Territories of RAS,
56a, Gorkiy str., Vologda, 160014, Russia;
e-mail: riolenas@ramber.ru
ORCID: 0000-0002-6452-1441

The aim of the research work is to study interpersonal alienation and to identify factors having a major impact on its formation among the region’s population.

The empirical basis of the research is a survey of the population of Vologda region carried out by the Institute of Socio-Economic Development of Territories of the Russian Academy of Sciences on a representative regional sample in 2017.

The problem of interpersonal alienation appears to be rather acute in Vologda region: people have little trust in other people, they are susceptible to interpersonal alienation and feel loneliness. Interpersonal trust plays a major role in interpersonal interaction or alienation of Russians, a wide range of factors influencing it, the strongest among which is age. The studies detected the dependence of the indicators of interpersonal alienation on age and financial wealth. With a decline in the subjective assessment of income, the proportion of people who spend their time with friends or relatives gradually reduces. High exclusion rates are characteristic of low-income groups.

The article traces the links of alienation with employment, family status and education. The author assumes that the age, marital status and social status influence the degree of interpersonal alienation through the communication practices established in society for social groups. The state of interpersonal alienation is associated with mental health and is accompanied by manifestations of symptoms of neurosis, anxiety and depression.

With the help of CHAID analysis the author has established that age was the strongest factor for the «frequency of meetings». Based on the combination of characteristics having the strongest impact on the target variable, the research paper draws up approximate profiles of the population of Vologda region experiencing interpersonal alienation in the sphere of interpersonal relations.

The category with high risk of alienation in the sphere of interpersonal relations are people older than 60, living without a partner, pensioners; residents of district settlements with incomplete secondary and secondary education; population with low self-esteem in the purchasing power, with an average per capita income of less than 7 thousand rubles. per month; unemployed.

Keywords: alienation, interpersonal interaction, interpersonal trust, age profiles, income level, region.

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The date of the manuscript receipt 28.06.2017

Please cite this article in English as:

Smoleva E.O. Interpersonal alienation of the region’s population (case study of the Vologda region) // Perm University Herald. Series «Philosophy. Psychology. Sociology». 2017. Iss. 4. P. 632–642. DOI: 10.17072/2078-7898/2017-4-632-642