Rural way of life: The experience of studying the example of small villages in the Leningrad region

Abstract

The article discusses some aspects of the formation of a modern rural lifestyle, taking into account the peculiarities of geographical location, transport accessibility and a number of demographic parameters. The results of field studies of three rural settlements in Leningrad Oblast are presented. A large role in collecting information for this work was played by the use of the social network Vkontakte. With the help of open information from the communities of rural settlements, it was possible to compile an initial description of rural settlements and to conduct an online survey of permanent and summer residents. Also through the social network, the authors managed to contact summertime and permanent residents of the rural settlements, who subsequently agreed to a personal meeting and interview. Based on the results of camera and field studies, portraits were compiled of the studied rural settlements and current trends in the rural way of life were revealed: employment, life, behavioral habits, self-determination of permanent residents and summer residents. A comparative assessment was conducted on the real and official data on the population of these villages in winter and summer; the types of the studied rural settlements were determined, taking into account their socio-demographic characteristics: rural settlements of intelligentsia of average wealth, rural settlements of summer residents of above-average prosperity, and rural settlements with a mixed composition of residents. Several categories of summer residents of the studied rural settlements were identified: 1) relatives of permanent residents of rural settlements; 2) people living and working in the city who have acquired leisure property on the territory of rural settlements and were not associated with it in any way prior; 3) people living and working in the city who continue to maintain property of their deceased parents and 4) guests of permanent residents and summer residents staying for a certain period of time (from 3 days or more) in the rural settlements, as well as tenants.