[SOUND].
[MUSIC].
Now, let's get back from the education and, you know, kids issues to more general
aspect of public discourse as related to family values and to the family structure.
We need some general explanations.
well, there won't be explanations for everything, but something that relates the
specifics of generational and gender discourse to
the social changes, to the social history of the Russian Nation.
If I already said a few words about the gender discourse,
how it is [UNKNOWN] with gender issues in the modern
Russia as it is related to the history of the 21, 21st Century.
Then something that is related to the generational
problem discourse and the family relations in terms of
generations, it needs to be said, if you, there
are a few words that need to be said.
I mentioned this because cultural values as they are seen in public discussions
actually reflect the this family level of
culture this family communications and generational discourse.
Which means interactions between younger and old generations,
both in the family and in the on
the social, in the social situations, but mainly
in the family, reflecting the structure of the family.
They are, they very much depend on the social changes
that take place in the society in the last 20 years.
There was soviet social structure, so to say, where, which at
that time, Soviet Union was often called [FOREIGN] which mean that it was
the state where very old people were on top,
and there was even a lot of jokes in the late Soviet period about, about this.
In a way though there, the slogan was that we respect the old,
but we give the way to the young, if we translate this from Russian.
[FOREIGN]
That was the slogan that I just translated.
But it wasn't true.
Young people actually were looked down suspiciously, because
it was a, this traditional culture where age
was important, because it was very much based
on the tradition at that time, Soviet tradition.
But everything changed in the 90, 90's because we had a revolution at that time.
And the culture of revolution is usually a young, a culture of young.
Revolution adores young people; it adores youth culture.
And everything in this culture became if we
talk about the, those parts of the society and
the social life that were new, that were
emerging part, as part of the free market economy.
Something you see Moscow, St. Petersburg and other big cities, everything
there, especially in the 90s, was targeted at young young people.
movies, fashion, restaurants, you wouldn't see old people
in the restaurants, for instance, in the 90s at all.
First, because there was big disproportion at that
time between the incomes of young people, who
had their jobs and professions and older populations,
senior citizens, who were living on their pensions.
And even people in their 40s and their 50s who either lost their
jobs or were, were sort of working old jobs, not so much paying.
That was very dramatic difference which is which is not absolutely the,
it's which is opposite of what you see in the established economies in the countries
with their, sort of, established social history
where usually young people are kind of
poor, students who don't own much money in they're young beginning of their careers.
And then eventually, people build their careers during their life
and when they reach the age of, you know, midlife and
they already have some, they have income; they have, you
know, they own properties, and they enjoy more materially rich environment.
In this country at that time, it was just the opposite.
It was young people who had money, and there are
often the cases where the 20 year old student who
was also working part time as a programmer was supporting
his parents who were probably between their 40s and 50s.
But they were engineers who lost their jobs or who
were paid meager salaries as teachers at school or as university
professors or engineers at some the state enterprise that was
actually going to, to, to die to go out of business.
That was as, as, as something the characteristic of this time.
Now we have a much more structured and
more typical of other countries situations again, because already
these people who were young, 20 year old
in the 90s, supporting their parents as young students.
They already grew up, and they themselves are now
at the height of their careers and their mid-life period.
So this became much more balanced.
But as in all other parts of the world, population gets older all
other parts of developed country, country world population gets old.
We have over 40 million people who are considered to
be in the age of retirement, who get retirement compensations.
Not all of them reach the age of retirement.
At least, 10 million of this 40 probably
are getting their pension, pensions but not because of
their old age but because of some professions
that they worked where their retirement is really early.
Also, Russian retirement age is very, very
early as compared to other developed countries.
In this country, women can go to retire on,
to retirement when they're 55, and men when they're 60.
And it's a huge issue, because economically, it's not very beneficial
and our pension system will have, will have its problems in a few years but still
it's such socially, social [UNKNOWN] topic that
probably this government this under this President
will never be changed because it will create a social upheaval if it's changed.
So this is a controversial issue in the public discourse.
But it is this, this controversy and this
protest is based also on the idea that Russian
medical care is not so good, that people
actually don't live long lives after their retirement age.
Which, in a way is a myth.
If you look at the statistics, you see
that the high mortality rate among Russians because
this is, because Russians really, especially men, have
very high mortality rate as compared to developed countries.
So this high mortality rate is due to the factors that
happened in the during that period of life when people still worked.
So if a, so to say Russian man surv, lives up to the
their his retirement age, he has very good prospects to live further on.
The, more or less the same prospects as for since,
a, a, a man of the same age in the Europe.
It's the early age before 60 that really take here a lot of
men's lives due to drinking heavy; it's due to, to the conditions both in the work
environment and pollution and other illness of the developing economy.
When we say that there is that there
will be problems for Russian pension system, it's not
only because of economic reason but also, but because
of the demographic pit of the 2005, 2010 approximately.
It is due, it is a reflection of what happened in the early 90s.
In the early 90s, after the collapse of the previous
system, previous state, everything, people were not giving many births.
At that time, very few children were born.
And it was just visible even in the landscape.
When you live in your neighborhood and you see how many people
with kids, with young kids, you see at that time, it was
really terrible, and now we have the reflection of this demographic situation
in, because those people who are now between the 20 and 25.
This is really a population, which is, which does have very high numbers in it.
So, in a way, we can say that in
terms of generational situation between, you know, between generations in
terms of, you know, of this problems of age
and retirement and the discourse that accompanies this social situation.
Russian context is special in a way, but
we have all the illnesses of the western societies,
you know, with families having less children, with
the population getting older plus the specific Russian context.
That is that involves the, you know, the recent history and
the not fully developed economy now and
the huge disproportions between the regions of the Russian Federation.
Where you see different economic and social
situations which reflect, also which immer, immediately
reflected on the structure of the family and in the way that senior citizens feel.
Still as I say, this is a social state that pays a lot of attention to what we
understand as, you know, treating generations and generational issues.
>> [SOUND] I am both Russian and American, and I would
say that the group that I am closest connected
to my, my Russian, Jewish, American
diaspora, is is that's, that's who I am.
>> Mm-hm.
>> Most of my friends, even though I grew
up in California, most of my friends are Russian.
>> Mm-hm.
>> And growing up with them, I can tell you that,
you know, we lived the American dream, the typical American dream.
We worked very hard.
We went to really good schools.
We all had three jobs.
Our parents helped.
We helped our parents.
We lived the typical American dream with the Russian diaspora twist.
And that twist I think, is the typical immigrant twist.
You know, you feel like you have to work really, really hard to prove
that your parents and what they did for you was worth it, and their sacrifice
was worth it, so I would say that, you know, my experience growing up in
the States was very typical where I felt that I had to work really hard.
I went to a really good school; I graduated with really
good marks, and, you know, I would say that my friends that
had the same experience are still there, you know; they all
have property; they all have great jobs and then our experience diverges.
>> Mm-hm.
>> So whereas most of them have stayed in the States, I have made my
way slowly back, back to, to Russia, and for that, you know, I have to
be in many ways thankful, because they
think that the experience that I am currently
having is incredibly unique and I am a
unique thing, a unique person here in Russia.
>> Yes.
>> Because I speak both languages and that's something that it, it really
gives me an extra point I would say, and extra boost of, of
abilities and in many ways it really helps me in terms of business, being able
to speak English, bring business acumen, bring fresh ideas from the west.
But also I really understand the
Russian businesspeople and the Russian culture here.
[MUSIC]