Representations of Trust and Distrust in Financial Institutions in Russian Regional Speech Culture

Abstract

The article is devoted to a comparative analysis of the representation of trust and distrust in financial institutions in the language and speech culture of the Russian province. The use of the constructivist methodology of P. Bourdieu made it possible to interpret trust as an internal component of the practices of an agent involved in the current situation in the financial market. The content analysis of 55 semistructured interviews with three generations of residents of the region showed that the conservative model of financial behavior continues to be reproduced in the speech culture. The difference between generations is less noticeable against the background of a significant difference between residents of rural and urban settlements. The study revealed a high level of resentment associated with the collective memory of the collapse of the USSR and privatization. All generations in rural settlements showed a low level of assessment of their own financial situation, while both rural and urban informants had a rather pessimistic representation of social change. Semantic analysis revealed the dominance of the image of the state as a “collector of payments” in their consciousness, and to a lesser extent, an “assistant” supporting a person in their relationship with financial institutions.