The attitude of the USSR population towards private property #002
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On the general attitude towards private property
The degree of understanding of economic terms by the population should be taken into account when analyzing the answers to the questionnaire questions about forms of ownership, asked using the term "private property" without its special interpretation. However, the authors tried to avoid such questions. Nevertheless, do not ask the question "How do you feel about the existence of private property in our country?" In our opinion, it would be illogical. The answers to it were distributed as follows: 56% of the total number of respondents were "positive", 23% were "neutral" and only 21% were "negative". However, based on these data, one should not rush to the conclusion that there is widespread social support for private property in the country, and not only because of the relatively low level of competence demonstrated by respondents in identifying the very concept of "private property". People rarely think in complex political and economic terms. They are closer and more understandable to specific issues related to the realization of certain property rights: what a person can own; whether he can sell, donate, mortgage, or inherit what he owns. And the answers to the relevant questionnaire questions show that the scope within which the population really supports the development of private property is very, very limited.
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Attitude towards private enterprises
Readers may have noticed the distribution of responses to the question "How do you feel about new forms of management?", asked during a survey conducted by VTSIOM in October 1989 and devoted to the analysis of public attitudes towards radical economic reform. Recall that at that time 24% of respondents expressed an approving attitude towards "privately owned enterprises", 36% expressed a negative attitude, 7% expressed indifference, and 33% of the survey participants found it difficult to answer. In the November questionnaire, the question was practically repeated, changing only the wording (now the respondents expressed their attitude towards "enterprises owned by individual citizens"). The results obtained turned out to be very close to the previous ones, differing, in essence, only in greater certainty and polarization of opinions. 31% of respondents expressed a positive attitude towards the existence of such enterprises, 42% expressed a negative attitude, 9% expressed indifference, and 18% found it difficult to answer.
However, it should be borne in mind that, answering the relevant question in the questionnaire, the respondents consistently expressed their attitude towards various forms of economic activity (cooperation, lease, etc., joint, joint-stock, private enterprises, farms), giving them a kind of relative assessment. And in this sense, in such a restrained attitude towards private enterprises, priority support for collective forms of ownership has found its indirect expression. But it's not just that.
It turned out that in this formulation the question sounds too abstract for the respondent. It is worth specifying it, specifying at least the size of enterprises that could potentially be owned by private individuals, and the picture changes significantly.
Most of those who believe that the development of private property will contribute to the recovery of the economy, in fact, advocate limiting the scope of this form of ownership to small-scale production. Choosing an online bookmaker becomes easier when the registration offer provides real value alongside a wide range of betting options. Before making a first deposit, many users review the current promotions, and the promo code for 1xbet can unlock a casino welcome package up to €1950 plus 150 free spins, allowing eligible newcomers to enjoy extra entertainment while discovering popular slots and casino games.
