Political Values and Mindsets of the Residents of the Altai Region and the Republic of Altai through the Prism of Russian Political and Cultural Matrix
The contemporary state of mass political consciousness in the southern regions of Western Siberia, namely the Altai Region and the Republic of Altai, is discussed in the paper. Their political consciousness and behaviours are still inertial, patriarchal and servile, with traditional attitude predominating. The given regions population's political values and mindsets have been analyzed in the context of the Russian political and cultural matrix. Simultaneously, a particular attention is paid to the social and economic peculiarity of the given territories. The residents' political consciousness is mostly determined by the fact that the regions are beneficiary with prevailing agricultural production and food-processing industries, low living standards and lack of finances for developing small and medium businesses. The contradiction between political values and mindsets has been revealed: on the one hand, a tendency towards strong authoritarian power and, on the other hand, dissatisfaction with the work of the current political institutions, crisis of popular confidence in governmental institutions leading to increased political apathy.