Globalization, Counter-Urbanization and Archaic Trends in the Rural Communities in Northern Russia

Contemporary technological and social modernization, on the one hand, and various pre-market and archaic forms of social and economic interaction (reciprocation, exchange of gifts, exchange of help, ‘blat’, nepotism, the use of kinship ties, etc.), on the other hand, are still widely present in modern rural communities in Russia. The social life of rural communities is organized as a "multi-layered pie": simultaneously, different models of social interaction and different "epochs" of the past coexist. Among the most archaic patterns one can indicate the relations of reciprocal intra-family and inter-family mutual assistance and reminiscent tribal kinship. Rural people, who find themselves in difficult situations and need help, receive it from their relatives (at no charge) or from their neighbors (on a free and partially paid basis). Such assistance is, as a rule, of a non-monetary nature (assistance with work, provision of services, and voluntary donation of food). However, even in such "archaic" forms of social physical survival, the use of the newest means of communication - cellular communication, the Internet, fast electronic banking transfers become more important. The spread of the newest means of communication in rural areas in Russia has brought into being changes in the relations of reciprocity. For example, more often than not neighbors and non-relatives, but previously unfamiliar people who learned via, say, Facebook or other social networks about the problems and needs of rural families - provide assistance (transfer money, send clothes, food, come and provide on-site assistance). Thus, the development of global capitalism and modern infocommunications in the countryside in Russia, does not always displace pre-market economic relations. New technical and financial resources are organically integrated into the basic reciprocal/archaic economic relations.