Ethnocultural Stereotypes About Russia in the Media of English-Speaking Countries

Abstract

Introduction. At the current point, the geopolitical situation in the world is characterized by the necessity to overcome obvious and hidden political conflicts, which are destined to influence the appearance of interethnic, international and intercultural conflicts. Detecting and analyzing the current ethnocultural stereotypes of one nation about another one seem to be one of the first steps to realizing the problems and to better understanding the causes of their appearance. The goal of the research is to detect the current ethnocultural stereotypes (geterostereotypes) of English-speaking nations about Russia and the Russians. Materials and Methods. The material of the research is 38 news articles in British and American mass media resources. Through the method of continuous sampling were found lexical units that verbalize certain stereotypical ideas of Russia and the Russians. Through the contextual analysis of these lexical units, which are various stylistic devices, were detected the main current ethnocultural stereotypes of English-speaking countries about Russia and the Russians. Results. The main current ethnocultural stereotypes of English-speaking countries about Russia, the Russians, and the president of Russia, in particular, are detected. All the detected ethnocultural stereotypes are negative, which is explained by the current geopolitical situation. Discussion and Conclusions. The research results give prerequisites for prospective diachronic study of ethnocultural stereotypes of English-speaking countries about Russia and the Russians, with detecting tendencies either for replacing some stereotypes with new ones or for fixing some stereotypes in people’s minds.