Russian culture is different than other countries. Russians seem to have more of a pessimistic view in comparison to Americans. The people tend to expect things to go wrong and have learned to deal with misfortune. The religion has been Russian-Orthodox for almost 1000 years. The country is now growing to be more of a Western culture, although it will take time to get there completely. The main language of Russia is Russian. Russia has a different education system and the children are taught in a very black and white manner. The answer is right or wrong and never an explanation to why? Students aren't able to think for themselves and Higher Level thinking skills is out of the question (Goehner). Russian people are said to be, patient, compassionate and sensitive but also can be very cruel and untrustworthy. When meeting people Russians are very laid back, one wouldn't expect a bunch of smiles. Handshakes are appropriate when meeting and leaving although one must remove their gloves before shaking hands and one must not shake hands over a threshold or it usually leads to an argument (Ediplomat.com). .
Russia's social stratum hasn't evolved much since the late 19th century. During that time (1897) Russia's social groups were divided into 4 categories; upper class, middle class, working class and peasants. The upper class made up 12.5% of the population, middle made up 1.5%, working made up 4% and the peasant class made up 82% of the population (ALPHAHISTORY). Meanwhile in recent news, Russian inequality reaches a new record high for having the greatest gap between the super rich and the poor, greater than any other major country in the world. Billionaires usually account for 1-2 percent of total household wealth, but in Russia today, 110 billionaires own 35 percent of all wealth (WSWS.ORG). Russia still has those divided categories with 40-59.7 percent of the population being poor or "has little" and 12.
