National Cultural Сode: Moral and Ethical Aspects

This article attempts to determine whether certain moral norms are part of the Russian cultural code, as well as the specific features of these norms and the extent to which Russians agree on them. To answer these research questions, large-scale AI language models (ChatGPT, Gemini, etc.) were used to generate a picture of the diversity of approaches to studying the cultural code of nations in global scholarship and conduct a global bibliometric analysis, the results of which are also presented in the article. Based on these results, an empirical analysis of survey data from 2000, 2015, and 2024 from the Institute of Sociology of the Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, as well as data from the 7th wave of the World Values ​​Survey (WVS), was conducted. It demonstrated that Russians are characterised by a specific system of moral norms that differ both from those typical of nominal West and those characteristic of the "global majority”, suggesting that a number of these norms can be considered a separate element of the national cultural code. According to the study, these include: a persistently negative attitude toward homosexual relations and related lifestyle aspects (same-sex marriage, etc.) while allowing for a relatively high degree of freedom in heterosexual relations; a categorical rejection of treason, which is complemented by the prevalence of norms that ensure peace in a multiethnic and multi-religious country; and a denial of the permissibility of enrichment at the expense of others. A widespread as compared to other countries moral relativism regarding the fulfillment of one's obligations to the state (paying taxes, etc.) was also revealed, although at the normative level, the majority of Russians still recognise the inadmissibility of evading these obligations. Dynamic analysis demonstrated the consistent, widespread prevalence of these norms, while cluster analysis demonstrated the heterogeneity of Russians´ perceptions of moral norms and confirmed that some of them are stable enough to be included in the nation's cultural code. It can also be considered proven that the category of cultural code itself can be applied in sociological research.