Since the beginning of Russia's military actions in Ukraine, its
perception by Russian citizens has been one of the central issues
discussed by scholars and the public alike.
First of all, the level of support for the invasion among the
population underlines the government's capacity to continue the war.
Second, the war is followed by many changes within the country.
These changes can radically transform Russian society, which is
already changing before our eyes. Surveys allow us to trace the
dynamic of support for and criticism of the invasion in Russian
society. However, many citizens do not have a clear, measurable
opinion about the war and related political processes. Instead of
opinions, they exchange emotions, experiences, and justifications.
Consequently, to fully understand how they perceive the war, one
needs different methods: long conversations ("in-depth interviews")
and observation of everyday life, which includes private discussions
about the war ("ethnography").
The Public Sociology Laboratory and a group of volunteers are
conducting such a study. This project does not seek to objectively
represent the proportions of different opinions on the war in
Ukraine. Our goal is to capture and qualitatively describe the range
of existing ways Russia's military action in Ukraine is perceived
and to understand the logic behind the evolution of these
perceptions. We rely on in-depth sociological interviews collected
via face-to-face or online conversations, as well as ethnographic
observation of people in situations that are natural for them.
We have already completed three waves of data collection
(Spring 2022, Fall 2022, and Fall 2023). These waves
focus on Russians' perceptions of the war. We have also been
conducting interviews with those citizens who are potentially
eligible for the draft and those who protest against mobilization.
Currently, our dataset includes around 400 anonymous sociological
interviews and more than 500 pages of ethnographic observations. The
new data is being constantly collected.
As a group of researchers committed to the values of public discussion, we consider informing the public as one of the crucial goals of our project. While the project is ongoing, we publish short articles and pieces in the media describing the progress of the project and our preliminary results. The links to these texts can be found below on this page. We publish these texts in different media outlets including those which might not share our political views, if they do not impose any censorship.
This project is not funded or commissioned by any external body or organization. It is united by people who believe that knowledge can help us change the world or at least help us to understand it better during such dramatic moments
Academic Publications
- Imperialist ideology or depoliticization? Why Russian citizens support the invasion of Ukraine (HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory, 2023)
- Propaganda, authoritarianism and Russia's invasion of Ukraine (Nature Human Behaviour, 2022)
- Online patriots and traitors: The war, authoritarianism, and state-sponsored digital vigilantism in Russia (Mediapolis: A Journal of Cities and Culture, 2022)
Reports
- Resigning to inevitability: How Russians justified the military invasion of Ukraine (fall-winter 2022). Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies (George Washington University, 2023)
- The war near and far: How Russians perceive the invasion of Ukraine (February 2022 through June 2022) (Berlin and Amsterdam: Lmverlag, 2023)
Media
- (A)moral war: How Russians use morality to justify differing positions on the war (Russia.Post, 2024)
- Unpopular war: Russian opponents and non-opponents of the invasion of Ukraine. Part 2. (Re:Russia, 2024)
- Unpopular war: Russian opponents and non-opponents of the invasion of Ukraine. Part 1. (Re:Russia, 2024)
- Parallel Cheremushkin: The absence and presence of 'war' in a provincial Russian city (Re:Russia, 2024)
- Putin has a 'factchecking' operation, and so do other dictators – but they use them to twist the truth (The Guardian, 2024)
- From condemnation to inevitability. How passive support for the war emerged in Russia (Russia.Post, 2023)
- 'With each day, you realise that you're not to blame for anything' (Novaya Gazeta Europe, 2023)
- The Chinese dream for Russian people (POSLE, 2023)
- Accepting the Inevitable (POSLE, 2023)
- What Goes On in Your Mind? (Russian Reader, 2023)
- Nicht Befürworter:innen und nicht Gegner:innen: Wie verändert sich bei der Bevölkerung in Russland mit der Zeit die Wahrnehmung des Krieges in der Ukraine? (Russland-Analysen, 2023)
- 'Once we've started, we can't stop': how Russians' attitudes to the war in Ukraine are changing (Re: Russia, 2023)
- 'For me it's easier that way': Why facts won't beat propaganda (POSLE, 2022)
- New research suggests 'turmoil' in Russian society over Ukraine war (OpenDemocracy, 2022)