Население региона о препятствиях на пути эффективной модернизации (на материалах социологических исследований в Красноярском крае)

– 1142 –

Journal of  Siberian Federal University.  Humanities & Social Sciences 8 (2013 6) 1142-1154 
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УДК 316.334.52

Population of the Region about Barriers  
to Effective Modernization  
(on the Materials of Social Research  
in Krasnoyarsk Krai)

Valentin G. Nemirovskiy*
Siberian Federal University  
79 Svobodny, Krasnoyarsk, 660041 Russia

Received 18.07.2013, received in revised form 22.07.2013, accepted 30.07.2013

Basing on the content analysis of in-depth interviews, conducted with the residents of Krasnoyarsk Krai, 
the article studies the opinions of the respondents about the factors impeding effective modernization 
in the region. It is shown that the majority of the respondents, in general, understands the essence of 
modernization adequately and names a number of obstacles to its implementation. In the first place 
among these obstacles there are the factors connected with distortion of social institutions of power: 
inactivity of the authorities, corruption, incompetence of officials, their focus on their own interests. 
Many respondents mention insufficient funding and the impact of the “human factor”: negative moral – 
psychological and professional qualities of the population of the region. In the light of this approach 
the role of regional elite and its main characteristics in the mass consciousness of the respondents are 
studied. It has been found that the main criteria according to which the respondents define the elite in 
the region are money and power. Such characteristics of the elite as education, culture, contribution 
to the development of the society play a secondary role. The conclusion is made that the analyzed 
obstacles to effective modernization of the region are a complex symbiosis of institutional and sociocultural factors. 

Keywords: modernization, region, obstacles to modernization, elite, socio-cultural factors, the 
distortion of social institutions.

This work was conducted with the financial support of the Russian Foundation for the Humanities as part 
of the research project “The dynamics of socio-cultural processes in East Siberian region in the context 
of contemporary modernization of Russia (on materials of sociological research in Krasnoyarsk Krai)” 
project № 13-03-00379.

 
© Siberian Federal University. All rights reserved
* 
Corresponding author E-mail address: nemirovskijv160@gmail.com

Introduction

The majority of domestic and foreign authors 
have no doubts that effective modernization in 
Russia faces serious difficulties. In most general 
terms, there are two main types of obstacles to 
effective modernization in the region (krai): 

socio-cultural and institutional. Of course, they 
are closely connected and have considerable 
mutual influence. The regional authorities and 
their activity can be classified as institutional 
obstacles, although they exist in a certain 
socio-cultural context. Certainly, the following