MOSCOW, 28 December 2022. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the findings of a survey on the Russian perceptions of the Russian culture cancellation; the survey was commissioned by the Social Research Expert Institute (EISI).
Not only culture
The outgoing year has been full of various events and ordeals. The Russian economy has been exposed to countless sanctions and the withdrawal of foreign brands. Apart from the economic sphere, other areas, such as art, music, sport and education have also been “cancelled”. An overwhelming majority of Russians are aware that restrictions touched many Russian researchers, culture figures, composers, musicians and students (89%; 94% in April). Eleven percent of respondents have not heard about that; this response was often given by young Russians aged 25-34 (20%).
Exclusion, ban, rejection
This year cancel culture has been a widely discussed topic. Over the recent six years the number of Russians who are familiar with the term has considerably increased (43% today vs.25% in April 2022; +18 p.p.). Similarly, more Russians understand what the term means. In December, 77% of Russians could answer the open-ended question (vs 62% in April). What most of Russians interpret as “cancel culture” is the exclusion of a person from the society/ignoring (24% of those who are aware). A vast majority of respondents gave interpretations related to Russia (“banning Russian culture” — 21%, “banning anything Russian” — 9%). Value judgements were less common (“it’s stupid/wrong”— 5%).
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Cancel culture manifestation
In Russian views, over the recent half a year cancel culture towards Russia and its citizens has not been more pronounced: 42% noticed something similar (39% in April 2022); 43% did not notice anything (47% in April 2022). So opinions are equally divided. In everyday life much fewer Russians faced this form of discrimination (11%); most of respondents were not touched by “cancel culture” (86%).
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Who is to blame and what to do?
Russians find it difficult to point out the consequences of the cancel culture policy (62%; 57% in April 2022). The percentage of those Russians who point to “no consequences” is twice as large compared to April this year (6% vs. 3%). Other popular answers are as follows: “restrictions on sport events” (5%), “by doing this the unfriendly countries harm themselves” (5%), “less communication in the cultural sphere” (4%). Some respondents expect negative consequences in general, restoration of Nazism / anti-Russian xenophobia and fewer tourists (3%, each).
Russian authorities should seek to change the policy of “cancel Russia”, to fight cancel culture, according to half of Russians (53%; 60% in April 2022). Thirty percent of respondents share an alternative view – they say Russia should not do anything to combat cancel culture (+7 p.p. by April 2022).
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VCIOM-Sputnik Russian nationwide telephone survey was commissioned by Social Research Expert Institute and conducted on December 21, 2022. A total of 1,600 Russians aged 18 and over took part in the survey. Survey method: telephone interviews, stratified random sample based on a complete list of mobile phone numbers in use in Russia. The data were weighted according to social and demographic characteristics. The margin of error at a 95% confidence level does not exceed 2.5%. In addition to sampling error, minor changes to the wording of questions and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.
Key effectiveness indicators, December 21, 2022: cooperation rate (CR)* = 0.8090; minimum response rate (MRR)** = 0.0209; response rate (RR)*** = 0.1199. Calculations are based on the corporate standard: https://profi.wciom.ru/principy_standarty/korporativnyj-standart-po-izmereniyu-rezultativnosti-oprosov-sputnik-vciom/ * CR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews and b) non-interviews with eligible respondents. ** MRR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews, b) interrupted interviews after successful screening and c) all the respondents where it is unknown whether they meet the selected criteria or not. ** RR is calculated in the same way as MRR, with the only difference that the number of respondents with unknown eligibility decreases proportional to the percentage of eligible cases in the total number of respondents with identified eligibility or non-eligibility.
Do you know/have you heard that apart from economic sanctions the Western countries also introduced restrictions for Russians in various areas such as: participation in international competition for the Russian athletes, studying in the Western universities for the Russian students, cancellation of concerts of the Russian musicians and performers, et cet.)? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | ||
| IV.2022 | XII.2022 |
Yes, I heard about that | 94 | 89 |
No, I didn’t hear about that | 6 | 11 |
Do you know/have you heard of “cancel culture”? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | ||
| IV.2022 | XII.2022 |
Yes, I heard about that | 25 | 43 |
No, I didn’t hear about that | 75 | 57 |
Based on what you know/ have heard about, can you tell how you interpret that? (% of those who heard about “cancel culture”; open-ended question; no more than 3 answers; answers that gained >2%) | ||
| IV.2022 | XII.2022 |
Excluding a person from society / ignoring subjects and/or objects in the society | 15 | 24 |
Cancelation of the Russian culture (including exhibitions, tours, etc.) | 9 | 21 |
Banning anything Russian | 8 | 9 |
It’s stupid / it’s wrong | 1 | 5 |
Condemnation/accusing someone | 2 | 5 |
Rejection of someone and/or something | 5 | 4 |
Fascism /nationalism | 1 | 4 |
Studying the history and culture of other nations / taking the best from the culture of other peoples / friendship between the countries | 3 | 4 |
Banning an alternative opinion | 4 | 2 |
Refusal to recognize achievements | 3 | 2 |
Other | 8 | 3 |
Don’t know | 38 | 23 |
Are you witnessing any manifestation of “cancel culture” with regard to the Russian Federation and Russian citizens? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | ||
| IV.2022 | XII.2022 |
Yes | 39 | 42 |
No | 47 | 43 |
Don’t know | 14 | 15 |
Speaking about you personally, have you experienced any cases of “cancel culture” in relation to yourself as a Russian citizen? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | ||
| IV.2022 | XII.2022 |
Yes, I experienced it | 13 | 11 |
No, I didn’t experience it | 84 | 86 |
Don’t know | 3 | 3 |
In your opinion, what will be, or what are the consequences of the cancel culture policy carried out by the Western countries against Russia and its citizens? (% of total respondents; open-ended question; no more than 3 answers; answers that gained >2%) | ||
| IV.2022 | XII.2022 |
No consequences | 3 | 6 |
Restrictions on sports events | 1 | 5 |
By doing this the Western countries harm themselves | 4 | 5 |
Less communication in the cultural sphere (including cancelled concerts, tours, exhibitions, etc.) | 2 | 4 |
There will be negative consequences | 5 | 3 |
Restoration of Nazism/ anti-Russian xenophobia | 1 | 3 |
Restrictions for the Russian citizens to leave Russia / decreased number of tourists | 2 | 3 |
Isolation of Russia | 1 | 2 |
Sanctions/lower trade volumes / broken supply chains | 3 | 2 |
Other | 12 | 2 |
Don’t know | 57 | 62 |
In your opinion, how should the Russian authorities respond to the cancel culture policy carried out by a number of countries towards Russia? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | ||
| IV.2022 | XII.2022 |
To fight that; to strive to change this policy towards Russia | 60 | 53 |
Not to pay attention to this policy; to do nothing | 23 | 30 |
Don’t know | 17 | 17 |