ETIQUETTE INTERACTIONs ON PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: TRANSFORMATION OF NORMS AND PRACTICES AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE IN CONTEMPORARY RUSSIA

Liliya Likhacheva¹*, Maria Kapkan^2
1Prof. Dr., Ural Federal University, RUSSIA, likhacheva08@rambler.ru
²Assoc. Prof. Dr., Ural Federal University, RUSSIA, mnemozina9@gmail.com
*Corresponding author

Abstract

This paper explores the behavioural strategies employed by the young residents of Russian megalopolis when using public transportation.
Contemporary Russian society is marked by a manifest contradiction between a need to preserve and transfer common behavioural norms required for a coherent social order, and a devaluation of traditional normative systems especially apparent in youth culture.

Traditionally, rules of public transportation behaviour have constituted an important part of etiquette. These etiquette situations are characterized by the communication between the members of different social groups who do not know each other personally. This creates a situation of pure status interaction free from any other factors (such as personal attitudes to a specific individual communicator, mutual obligations, role interference, etc.). These considerations have allowed us to interpret human interaction on public transportation as a case that provides information on the importance of status differences in everyday communication.

The authors propose a hypothesis that today we witness the gradual unravelling of the traditional etiquette norms and models of interaction based on the importance of social distinctions (gender, age, social status, etc.). These differences are becoming obsolete within the practices of everyday interaction.

To test this hypothesis, we have conducted a participant observation of the behaviour of college-age young people on public transportation. The observation was conducted in 2018. To compare gathered data on behavioural practices with the existing etiquette rules, we have turned to the etiquette guides published in the 1980s–2010s.
The results of our research demonstrate that Russian society experiences change in value attitudes used in everyday communication. Value-oriented motivation of etiquette behaviour is being replaced by a pragmatic motivation. Young people do not see ascribed statuses of the interaction participants as sufficient grounds for following an etiquette norm. Symbolic meaning of public behaviour is also changing: traditionally it used to reflect respect towards seniority status, while today we witness the increasingly overt insistence on status equality.

Keywords: Etiquette, social interaction, behaviour in public transportation, youth, social status.