The Patterns of Interaction Between Russian Citizens and NGOs in The Context of Institutional Change

Abstract

The article analyzes the institutional transformation of the sphere of social services in the context of the development of the non-profit sector. The institutional transformation in the field covers the issues of changing public attitudes, the level of public trust and prevailing stereotypes. Besides, online interactions that are spreading while providing and receiving services influence the processes of the individual choice under constantly changing market conditions. The results are based on two sociological surveys devoted to studying the attitude of citizens towards the non-profit sector of social services. The surveys were conducted in Russian regions in 2019(n=1204) and 2020 (n=2047). Among the factors influencing public attitudes towards NGOs are citizens' understanding of the meaning of social services, awareness of non-state service providers and the opportunities of NGO social service sector. During the COVID-19 pandemic, people tended to resort to online services more often, we assume that this hastened the transition to the online format of interaction in the analyzed field. The revealed relationship of attitudes towards state and non-state type providers has demonstrated that the attitude of citizens towards one type of social service provider has an impact on the formation of attitudes towards another type of provider confirming that public trust is systemic. We have identified the key stereotypes that determine the choice of the type of provider by the recipients of services. It has also been found that the personal experience of interaction with social services organizations plays an important role for establishing trust in state and non-state social services organizations. The dynamics of the public trust in the non-profit sector of social services has been analyzed based on the identification of age subgroups.