Interesting that you say that, for two reasons. One, our last Russian user used to complain from time to time how many of his friends and family members take on a quasi-fatalistic world view. As in, they'd have many things in their life that they complained about that's easily fixable, but wouldn't ever get around to fixing. Two, I'm starting to notice a similar attitude starting to crop up in some of my social circles and I wonder if there might be an underlying reason behind it. I'm thinking economics. For example, easily fixable things aren't fixable if you don't have the money to fix them, so you learn to put up with them. Soon, this attitude starts creeping into other areas of your life. Relationships, personal health, etc.My groupmate once noted that Russian people "like to suffer".
"Fatalistic" is not a bad way to describe it. I think Russians are resistant to change, even a good one. Living in harsh environment would make you so. You'd rather fight the daemons that you know than close the portal, and who knows what comes out of that. It's one thing, certainly: like the phrase that cropped up in a conversation with another groupmate goes, "Money don't buy happiness, but having them certainly relieves tension in life". The article also points out that freedom — of choice, of expression — matters in one's happiness. If you feel stuck in life — the kind of modernized serfdom — even immense amount of money may not be more than a quick fix, to distract you from the cage one finds oneself in. Maybe the two are related. Imagine wanting to move from the Soviet-era house to a better, modern apartment (there are новостройки — the new housings — all over the country) but not being able to afford it. There's a phrase in Russian: "morally outdated", meaning something's behind the technological progress in a big way. Many of the Khrushchev-era flats are this: there were built in the 60s.I'm thinking economics.