Rural way of life: the experience of studying the example of small villages in the Leningrad region

Annotation The article discusses some aspects of the formation of a modern rural lifestyle, their manifestation, taking into account the peculiarities of the geographical location, transport accessibility and a number of demographic parameters. The results of field studies of three rural settlements of the Leningrad region are presented. A large role in collecting information for this work was played by the use of the tools of the social network “Vkontakte”. With the help of open information from the communities of rural settlements, it was possible to compile an initial description of rural settlements, to conduct an online survey of residents of villages and summer residents. Also, through a social network, the authors managed to contact summer residents and local residents of the rural settlements, who subsequently agreed to a personal meeting and interview. Based on the results of cameral and field studies, portraits of studied rural settlements were compiled, current trends in the rural way of life were revealed: employment, life, behavioral habits, self-determination of permanent residents and summer residents. A comparative assessment between the real and official data on the population of these villages in winter and summer is given; the types of the studied rural settlements are determined taking into account their socio-demographic characteristics: rural settlements intelligentsia of average wealth, rural settlements of summer residents of prosperity above average and rural settlements with a mixed composition of residents. Several categories of summer residents of the studied rural settlements were identified: 1) relatives of permanent residents of rural settlements; 2) people living and working in the city who have acquired leisure property on the territory of rural settlements and have not been associated with it in any way; 3) people living and working in the city who continue to housekeeping their deceased parents and 4) guests of permanent residents and summer residents staying for a certain period of time (from 3 days or more) in the rural settlements, as well as tenants.