These are conclusions of a recently published survey entitled "Citizens of the new Russia: how do they perceive themselves and in what society do they want to live?" The survey was taken by the Institute of Complex Social Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which took samples of public sentiments twice, in 1998, before the notorious default, and in 2004. The polls involved over 3,000 people from different regions of Russia. The main impression the social scientists got was that there is less disappointment in society, people now have more incentives for pursuing creative activity and are prouder of their achievements in life than they were six years ago.

Apparently, this is a direct effect of the relative stability

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Russia has witnessed in recent years. Russians feel that the near future has become more predictable, and they can plan their lives further than just a day or a month ahead. Ordinary families now know how to make better use of their opportunities and means. And this is gradually making public sentiments in the country more upbeat.

In particular, peoples negative perception of the level of their income has fallen by over two times. In other words, far fewer citizens believe today that everything "is going to pot." A third of the population believes that their life is on the whole good, and another 58% say it is "satisfactory". Yet three years ago 19% of respondents said they had poor nutrition, and 30% that they had poor clothes. Now these figures are 8% and 13%, respectively. General dissatisfaction with living standards has also fallen significantly: far fewer Russian families say they have poor housing conditions or poor vacation opportunities.

Sociologists maintain that the reason for these positive changes is simple: higher incomes. In summer, the average per capita income in Russia was $135. The incomes of the most active and qualified section of the population were growing the fastest. The first to figure in this group are, naturally, businessmen. They are followed by humanitarian intelligentsia, engineers and specialists, qualified workers. The least lucky are traditionally disadvantaged categories: retired and unemployed people and rural residents.

The fact that most Russian citizens are more satisfied than not with their incomes suggests that for the first time in the years of market reforms societys social structure is approaching that of stably developing countries. In this sense, Russia seems to be leaving the group of outsiders.

Remarkably, almost half of the countrys population consider themselves belonging to the middle class. However, it would be premature to conclude that the middle class, which was almost completely eliminated in the 1998 economic crisis, has really reemerged. It is a biased assessment of people, tending to place themselves on a worthy level in the social hierarchy. If the tough criteria used in the West to define the middle class are applied, 25-30% of Russians will conform to them. This is not a bad result for six years of the countrys development either.

A key indicator of the state of the Russian mind has always been the attitude toward the wealthy. In the last six years, the number of those who believe that we should be genuinely happy about the increase in the number of affluent people has doubled. Now fewer people hate new millionaires like personal enemies. Most people, however, prefer to stay somewhere in between. They say, "A rise in the number of the rich is all well and good, but urgent measures are needed to prevent poverty from spreading."

Interestingly, 36% of the respondents seem to have remembered the old Russian proverb that goes that "money isnt everything". Strangely, but they do not want to be wealthy. They have other values: family, friends and an interesting - not necessarily highly paid - job.

Over 70% do not want to hold a post in the authorities: access to power is no longer the biggest dream of most Russians. This raises a concern: can Russia, with such public sentiments, quickly raise a class of political managers? To all appearances, everything will come good with time. People may become interested in politics after satisfying their primary social needs.

On the whole, Russia seems to be recovering morally. The recent acute shame for the country is no longer fashionable. It is best proved by the growing number of people who remember national achievements and feel patriotic pride. Regardless of whether they are teenagers or elderly people, men or women, the hierarchy of things to be proud about is approximately the same. It is the victory in World War II, which Russians call the Great Patriotic War, the countrys postwar development, Gagarin, the first man in space, the legacy of the Russian literature, and achievements of great athletes.

However, other landmarks in Russian history against this backdrop are now perceived more guardedly. Only a fifth of Russians feel proud about Russias education system and the Russian army in 2004. Moreover, people are increasingly disappointed about the state of the health system and sports. And there are very few people who are proud of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. Its rating among all age groups has fallen almost twice in the last six years.

How do people regard the Soviet era? Most people say that the history of the Soviet Union and Russia does not boil down to "a 70-year nightmare." The absolute disavowal of the Soviet past is gradually being replaced with a more rational assessment of history. This fosters a remarkable variation of beliefs about a desired society. According to the survey, 8% of Russians would like to live in pre-Revolution Russia, 4% in the Stalin era, 36% in the Soviet Union under Brezhnev and only 1% in Yeltsins Russia.

However, most importantly, 45% said they would not exchange the present day for anything.

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Vladimir Simonov)