New Russian politeness: Marketization, westernization or individualization of discourse?

Marketization, westernization or individualization of Discourse?

Since perestroika changes in the area of verbal politeness have been observed in Russia, particularly in public inscriptions and dealings with information and customers in the service sector. Material has been collected from major Russian cities since the 1990s. A series of qualitative semi-structured guideline interviews were conducted with residents of large Russian cities in February 2006 as an extension of the empirical surveys. Analysis of this material suggests three factors influencing the spread of the new Russian politeness: the transition to a market economy, the influence of Western European and American politeness models, and individualization in the perception of the Russian people. The second part of the empirical research consisted of quantitative verification respectively falsification of the results of the interviews using a questionnaire survey.

Project management: Renate Rathmayr

Duration: 2004-2008