How do Russians interpret elite signalling via tropes like “Gayropa”? How homophobic are Russians? How does intolerance reflect a developing relationship between citizen and the state? Using long-term ethnographic fieldwork materials in this talk Jeremy Morris will reflect on the substantive meaning of intolerance among ordinary Russians. Starting from a discussion of homophobia, and attitudes towards upbringing, or ‘vospitanie’, he will argue that an interpretation of elite hailing of ordinary Russians as traditionalist and socially conservative has limitations. From there, he will move on to reflect on his wider research project – state-society relations at the micro-scale, social reproduction, and the intensification of dispossession in Russia today.
