Alcohol in the Bashkirs’ value system

The paper touches upon such a relevant topic as alcohol in the Bashkirs’ value system. The history of alcohol in the life of a traditional Bashkir society shows that they were previously uncharacteristic of drinking strong alcoholic beverages; in addition, it was condemned by the public, elders, representatives of a religious cult, etc. Traditional Bashkir drinks were koumiss, buza, ayran, katyk, less commonly – mead. The study conducted in 1913 on the spread of alcoholism among the rural population of the Ufa province showed that the population of the Mohammedan, including Bashkir, villages had practically no alcoholism. However, with the decomposition of the traditional social system of the Bashkirs, strengthening of commodity-money relations, development of capitalism and urban culture, the alcoholization of the Bashkir population intensified. This process also continued under the secular system; in the middle of the twentieth century alcohol abuse in certain circles was a legacy of the front-line subculture, as well as the introduction of Soviet civilian rituals into the life of the Bashkirs. The paper presents the results of an ethno sociological study conducted by us in 2018–2019 among the Bashkir population. It turned out that almost half of the respondents drink alcohol from time to time or during the holidays; more than 35% indicated that they did not drink at all. These data are almost identical to those obtained in a similar study conducted among the Bashkirs in the mid-1980s. The comparison of the materials obtained on the subject of this study in other Russian regions and in the whole country is also consistent with the data on the Bashkirs and shows that the problem of alcoholization of the Russian population is currently very acute. The materials that we received can be used for further research of the transformation processes of Bashkir society, for the preparation of practical recommendations for state authorities, scientific, educational institutions, public organizations, etc.