Ukrainians are afraid to look like successful businesspeople
The Day is fond of challenging readers and experts with various questions. Once, when asked whether he was satisfied with the way he lived, Never Mkhitarian, CEO of the Pozniakyzhytlobud Co., said ironically that under the Soviets those feeling content with the way they lived were closely watched by the Directorate against the Theft of Socialist Property and those that did not, by the KGB. These days one can see a leftover of that period; people are afraid to look like successful businessmen.
Yevhen Holovakha, a prominent Ukrainian sociologist, compared the Ukrainian and US living standards at the turn of the 1990s and arrived at a stark conclusion. Although the Ukrainian respondents pointed to their wallets dramatically quickly losing weight, there was a noticeable increase in the purchase of cars, dachas, and household appliances. This illogical picture was nothing but an understatement of the Ukrainian lifestyle, a habitual playing down of one’s achievements while glorying those overseas.
This Ukrainian mentality is often pointed to by ethnic psychologists, specifically the Ukrainian habit of complaining about how one lives, while most people in the West, when asked how are things, automatically reply fine, thanks, so that responding by launching a discourse on just how bad things are would in most cases be regarded as mauvais ton. A poll carried out by the Ukrainian National Academy’s Institute of Sociology shows that, over the years, the number of people considering themselves poor has decreased, while that of those setting their living standard at the medium mark has increased.
Thus, in 2002, compared to 2001, the number of respondents claiming their family material status poor or meager had dropped by 21.5%, while another 21.4% considered themselves belonging to the middle class. Interestingly, there were more respondents stating they lacked the self-confidence and determination in reaching the goals they set, that they did not know how to live in the new social environment, and of those otherwise generally satisfied with their way of life. Such attitudes are also characteristic of the Ukrainian state in general, and of its foreign policy course in particular. First a promising independent national state, then one acting like a defense counsel’s client, victim, and orphan, with Poland and even Lithuania acting as guardians. The Day prompted by the photo asked psychologists, sociologists, and economists just how adequate this Ukrainian self-assessment was.
Oleksandr HUBENKO, Candidate of Science in psychology and Editor-in-Chief, Practical Psychology and Social Work:
Quite a few specificities of Ukrainian conduct, self-assessment, and mentality become easier to understand if we consider the history of Ukraine. Historically, Ukraine has suffered a number of private property expropriation onslaughts, especially under the autocracy and during the Soviet period. This formed a syndrome of being thrown out like a kulak, such that it was best to pretend to be poor against the collective background, lest they come and expropriate you. In addition, there were historical circumstances providing an impact on the national character, fostering the human estrangement syndrome. In other words, Ukrainians had for hundreds of years been denied private property, beginning at the period of serfdom and ending under totalitarian state socialism. Ukrainians had no levers to pull to control their life, meaning property, or to influence any social decisions. All this was finally reasserted under the totalitarian socialist regime, with the process of estranging the individual from society reaching its peak. The individual was now the victim of circumstances, his superiors, and so on.
Property always has a protective function. It protects the individual from government arbitrariness and that of other individuals. Protected by private property, one is protected from the pressure of external circumstances, so when this shelter disappears, the individual becomes destitute, a person completely dependent on external circumstances. This makes one feel unsure, completely exposed to the elements, and results in self-understatement, such that one tends to regard everything one has as inferior, while that owned by others as superior. We often hear in Ukraine that everything is wonderful abroad, that even beggars are better off in the West; that their housing construction, cooking, consumer goods, health care are better than what we have here. In Ukraine, everything is a priori considered inferior, regardless of circumstances. The general attitude is that everything has been and will most likely remain bad. Another specific of the national mentality consists in negativism with regard to the nation’s state and society, as revenge for ignoring the individual’s needs. In other words, people here tend to disparage almost everything — the state, politicians, and managers — people even try to damage public property if and when they think they can get away with it. We see this attitude in the graffiti on the walls of our apartment buildings. Note that this is done by the people who live there. The impression is that they are not owners or even tenants, but drifters who scorn their temporary abodes, that they do not even feel like citizens of their country.
The next trait stemming from the human estrangement syndrome is a witch hunt of sorts, trying to find someone outside to blame for one’s own failures: freemasons, Muscovites, even some international conspiracy against Ukraine. From this comes the trend to burden others with one’s own problems and shifting responsibility. There must always be a barrier between people, a certain distance to be kept. Yet once a couple of Ukrainians start discussing how they live, it comes out very much like a confession, especially over drinks. Something psychoanalysts have a hard time extracting from their clients in the West is easily spelled out here when sharing a bottle of vodka, often between perfect strangers; they share stories of childhood, very personal experiences like problems relating to the family, sex, work, or such The absence of that psychological distance is the result of the absence of that social distance acquired by owners of private property and their inherent respect for others’ private life and attendant discretion.
It should be noted, however, that this syndrome is becoming less evident. Little by little it is being replaced by healthier, more rational trends in terms of the adequate assessment of oneself and others.
Naturally, the traits innate in our people are also manifest in our state. An ancient philosopher once said that every people deserves the kind of government it has. Our political leadership, form of government, our domestic and foreign political courses are in many ways a mirror reflection of our national mentality. Therefore, we should not look for anyone to blame anywhere outside. Prof. Preobrazhensky says in Bulgakov’s Dog’s Heart: “Disruption is in the head.” Positive changes in society begin with positive changes in the individual mentality.
Yaroslav ZHALILO, President, Anticrisis Study Center:
Unfortunately, Ukrainians often tend to understate their financial status. There are several reasons why. First, the specifics of the national mentality, fostered over a long period of hardships. This mentality was formed in the course of centuries. Second, such an attitude is perhaps explained by the absence of market economy criteria in evaluating one’s own financial status. An individual owning an apartment [here] these days fails to regard himself as an owner of certain capital. In the West, this ownership is regarded as a rather high social standing. Self-assessment is further connected with the population’s buying power. If one is employed and paid regularly enough to secure an adequate living standard, this causes a certain kind of self-assessment. Third, it is the specifics of doing business in Ukraine, often on the wrong side of the law due to the well-known shortcomings of the Ukrainian legislation, especially in terms of taxation, meaning that the process cannot be properly assessed and analyzed.
This national tradition of ours will probably persist. It is not an inferiority complex, rather a degree of aloofness, with people trying to conceal their well-being [lest they be pounced on by the tax people. Indeed, this is a traditional trait and I think that this self-assessment will be upgraded if and when we develop our economy, with the government taking a progressive stand in regard to taxation. Actually, time seems the only way for our fellow citizens to begin to see themselves for what they actually are.
Oleksandr STEHNIY, Director, Social and Political Study Center, SOCIS:
To say that all Ukrainians tend to play down their achievements would be erroneous. We have various population categories in terms of age and material status. We have millions of pensioners, most of them truly impoverished. Therefore any mention of understatement with regard to these people would be manifestly improper.
As for people representing the junior and medium age groups, their material wants have noticeably increased. Things that would seem a matter of luxury only five to ten years back is currently regarded as a matter of adequate living — a car, an apartment, modern household appliances, a dacha... Material wants also address payroll. Quite often higher education graduates want to be paid way over their parents’ material needs. If they are paid less they consider themselves cheated. When polled and asked how they assess their material status, pensioners receiving UAH 150 a month reply not bad, for this money is enough to them feed them. On the other hand, a 32-year-old with a [monthly] income of UAH 1,200 says it’s not enough, stressing that it means living in misery.
The overall picture is that most Ukrainian residents are impoverished, primarily because of the large share of the disabled: pensioners (12 out of some 48 million of population). People working in the state sector of the economy, are also part of the low-income categories, as they practically stand no chance of earning on the side [except officials who are paid little but earn a lot by having envelopes discretely slipped into their pockets]. In other words, the well-being pyramid rests on the large base of the low-income strata. A totally different category of the population causes long lines at supermarkets, hustle and bustle at bazaars, and housing market booms.
