Trends in the Study of Cultural-Historical Phenomena on the Internet (based on a study of Russians’ attitudes towards money)

BACKGROUND: The development of information technologies has led to the intensification of sociocultural interaction, allowed the creation of new systems for storing and processing information, and provided space for users to share their opinions, ideas, and standpoints. Thus, the Internet has become a major social-humanitarian scientific space. In this modern scientific space, one can single out a wide range of studies in psychology that show which topics are most popular and most widely discussed, or which moral grounds the participants of radical political movements share. Such studies show, for example, that U.S. working people experience psycho-physiological strain, and that infectious diseases spread more easily under modern conditions. OBJECTIVE: This study focused on the attitude that users of the Twitter social network hold towards money. DESIGN: It was carried out by analyzing the texts of messages posted by Russian and Japanese users (background research) which contained the word “money.” The research methods included program tools for word frequency analysis, semantic grouping of content, and analyzing the emotional nature of informal short messages. To interpret the results, the authors used expert analysis, theoretical justification, and content analysis. RESULTS: We found that Russians’ attitudes toward money can be divided into eight main categories: people, time, country, expenses, economy, philosophical speculations, power, and income. The main economic concerns were centered on the expenses and income coming from salaried jobs. Russians’ major expenses were mainly associated with everyday financial problems. A comparison of Russian and Japanese messages revealed a number of clear-cut psychological differences. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, we point out that analyzing “digital traces” helps uncover a variety of psychological factors influencing human life and behavior. Within the framework of this kind of study, it seems very promising to single out the interconnection between the population’s overall psychological features and a given society’s existing social-economic circumstances.