It just so happens that we as a people have become accustomed to tying our personal lives to the life of the country. Our social optimism, as a rule, has a substantial statist component. How else can we explain the results of the last month’s survey by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center?

The survey indicated that the share of Russians who think that their personal situation is good or excellent is 27%. In the previous quarter 3% less believed so. The share of those who consider their living conditions bad or horrible was 11% (compared to 14% the previous quarter). The number of those who assess the general situation in the country as bad declined to 15%, whereas at the start of the year this figure was 23%. What has changed dramatically since the start of the year? The economy does not seem to be doing great. What happened was the return of Crimea to Russia. It was this event, along with other related circumstances, which fueled a wave of social optimism, sociologists say.

This has been so prevalent that according to social monitoring services, there has been a nearly 50% rise in the number of citizens who are satisfied or happy with the work of the social institutions which have always come under acute criticism from the population, such as healthcare and education.

In recent years many have forgotten what it is like to live with a sense of pride for one’s country and some have even become accustomed to believing that the country (no just specific politicians governing the country but the country itself is a prior incorrect in its geopolitical behavior. However, public opinions are shifting, and the sense of our ultimate probity even with regard to issues which the majority of our worldly neighbors disagree with us gives us a confident outlook on the state of affairs within our country. What now remains is to transform this confidence, this surging social optimism, into concrete actions which will further confirm our historical correctness.