Russia’s Unified Information Space: Sociological Research Experience

The relevance of this study is due to the technical and technological possibility of creating a unified information space in the Russian Federation.

The purpose of this study is a sociological analysis of the attitude of the Russian educated community and students to the possibility of creating a unified information space in our country, identifying sociological dependencies and correlations in relation to its creation on the age, level of education, and specific competencies of respondents. The success of the existence of a unified information space and a unified state information policy depends on the attitude of society towards alternative information, on the functional-semantic orientation of the assessment of closed and prohibited content, on the critical analysis of Western information. Materials and methods. The research was conducted in December 2023 and February 2024 among students of secondary vocational and higher educational institutions. The research methods used were a mass sociological survey of Russian students from 29 constituent entities of the Russian Federation (n = 513) and a correlation analysis of the obtained digital data.

Research results. The study revealed that more than half of the respondents assessed the creation of a unified information space in the Russian Federation as technically and technologically possible and socially important. One third of respondents believe that the formation of a unified Russian information space is politically necessary during real geopolitical challenges. There is no sociological correlation between the type of region and the negative attitude of respondents towards the creation of a unified information space.

Conclusions. It was revealed that the older the respondents are, the more often they take the position that the creation of a unified state information space without the influence of enemy propaganda is necessary for the harmonious development of society. The higher the level of foreign language proficiency of respondents, the greater their interest in alternative anti-state foreign or Russian-language opposition content. The conducted research allows us to conclude that there are certain instrumental prerequisites for the formation of a unified information space. 

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