The Study of the Narrative Identity of Russian and Chinese Students

Abstract

Objective. The article is devoted to the analysis of the narrative identity of Chinese and Russian students. It was assumed that the reflection of the socio-political situation is more obvious and manifests itself in the main themes and attitudes, reflecting both the content side of the narrative and its structure, while the identification of cultural influence requires additional analysis. Background. Cross-cultural studies point to the need to analyze the narrative at the individual, political, social, economic and cultural level. In theory, each of the levels has its own influence on the structure and content of the narrative. Nevertheless, there is an extremely small amount of practical data on the comparison of various types of analysis and the peculiarities of their manifestation in narrative. Study design. The article analyzed the features in the presentation of fragments of biography, the manner of presenting information and mentioning the main topics of the citizens of countries with a different socio-political system. Participants. The sample consisted of 80 people: 35 narratives of students from the PRC (19 male and 16 females from 19 to 26 years old) and 45 narratives of students from the Russian Federation (PFUR) (17 male and 28 females from 20 to 23 years old). All participants were born between 1997 and 2000. Measurements. The article used the analysis of narrative identity of K. McLean and D. McAdams both as a theory and as research method. Statistical analysis included the calculation of differences between the two samples (Mann-Whitney U test) and hierarchical cluster analysis. Results. The narratives of Russian and Chinese students reflect inconsistency and a high degree of uncertainty of the socio-political situation in Russia, as well as great social pressure and high competition in China. Conclusions. The structure of narrative identity primarily reflects the socio-political situation as related to the direct experience of students. Cultural experience affects more fundamental personality constructs and is not read in ordinary narrative analysis.