The Demand for Stability and Generational Differences in Perceptions of Happiness in Russia

Abstract

The article focuses on the study of perceptions of happiness among 4 generations of Russians. It also considers the differences in their “request for stability”, voiced while discussing the role of the state and social institutions in achieving happiness and planning the future. Based on 130 interviews, similarities and differences in the perceptions of happiness among representatives of different generations were revealed. The results obtained were interpreted through the lens of the AGIL functional theory of T. Parsons. It was revealed that the internal mechanisms of societal regulation (L and I), functioning in the institutions of family and culture, stably transmit values and sources of happiness — close relationships, family, and material well-being. At the same time, there is a similarity of requests in relation to the state — a request for social stability and peace. The results of the analysis of external mechanisms of societal regulation (A, G), functioning within the framework of economic and political institutions, reveal contradictions in the expressed means and goals of achieving happiness, as well as different expectations towards the state among 4 generations of Russians. Representatives of all generations formulate requests to the state aimed at ensuring the foundations of happiness, using the word “stability”. However, they interpret this concept in different ways: as maintaining a balance between social guarantees and non-interference in private “quiet” life (boomers); as a basis for legitimising their ideas about social justice (generation X); dissatisfaction with ongoing conflicts (millennials), decline in technological progress, and the limitation of their opportunities for self-realisation (zoomers). As a result, this conventional word allows different social groups and generations to legitimise their demands and expectations through external assent to a normative cultural attitude that is endowed with different socio-communicative meanings.