Religious Identities and Practices in Russia Impacted By Post-Globalization

Religiosity expanded dramatically in the late USSR and post-Soviet Russia. Surveys by the main pollster agencies showed regularly the growth in numbers of people identifying themselves as orthodox Christians and Muslims. Resurgence of religiosity has been mostly symbolic and only in a small part practical. Empirical data provided by recent national surveys reveal the high level of identification with distinct religion (70-80% of respondents) and the low level of involvement in religious practices (10-15% attending temples, praying, fasting etc.).

Now the turn to post-globalization is the change impacting all aspects of social life including religiosity. Post-globalization is a set of tendencies towards: 1) localization of globality in networked super-urban enclaves where flows of things, symbols, and humans made social life really global – open, borderless, mobile, multicultural; 2) widening economic and social gaps between super-urban points of access to networks and flows of resources and surrounding towns and rural areas; 3) rising new barriers (trade wars, sanctions, anti-migrant walls, quarantines, military confrontations etc.) restricting transnational networks and flows.

Post-globalization influences religious identities among Russian people in two ways. Localization of globality in super-urban enclaves is evident in metropolitan areas (Moscow and St. Petersburg) where people (especially the youth) demonstrate relatively weak religious identity being immersed in the intense social life becoming an augmented Modernity. Religious identity is stronger in small towns and rural areas where social life looks like an exhausted Modernity. Facing new barriers and confrontations after Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, people declare stronger identifications with national institutions and traditions including religious ones. The most recent surveys reveal the rising levels of religious identity and more approval of Russian orthodox church. This paper presents the research supported by Russian Science Foundation (project #24-18-00261).