"A simple Armenian believes that nothing depends on him" - Interview with Gevorg POGHOSYAN

The article is an interview with Gevorg Poghosyan, Doctor of Philosophical Sciences, Director of the Institute of Philosophy, Sociology and Law of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia, devoted to the state of Armenian academic science and a sociological analysis of the transformation of Armenian society after the collapse of the USSR.

Introduction and Methodology

The material is structured as a conversation, supplemented by the author's citations from G. Poghosyan's sociological research conducted over recent decades. The interviewee draws on data from long-term public opinion polls, comparative international studies (including a study of the concept of "democracy" in 40 countries), and his own experience of directing the republic's leading research center.

The State of Academic Science

Poghosyan describes the institute as one of the few surviving centers to have weathered the personnel and financial decline of the post-Soviet period:

• the halving of the Academy of Sciences' staff due to "brain drain";
• a generational gap, while continuity between the older and middle tiers has been preserved;
• the threat of abolishing the academic system in the course of reforms modeled on the European (Bologna) system.

The key thesis here is the idea that any institutional reforms must be adapted to local realities rather than mechanically borrowed from Western models.

Transitology and Public Consciousness

The central part of the interview is devoted to an analysis of the Armenian "transit" — the transition from the Soviet model to a market-democratic one. Poghosyan points out that:

• independence was initially met with wariness by society, and disillusionment came not from the collapse of communism but from the unfulfilled expectations of liberal reforms;
• "legal relativism" is entrenched in public consciousness: the law is treated as a conventional rather than a universal norm;
• a conflict persists between the idea of a strong state and distrust of it.

Paternalism and Perceptions of Power

Special attention is given to the phenomenon of social passivity: the ordinary Armenian is convinced that his voice and initiative decide nothing, and that responsibility for everything lies with the authorities. This is explained by the absence of historical experience of independent statehood and the perception of power as an external, "alien" force.

Social Structure and "New Poverty"

Poghosyan records a radical transformation of the social structure: the disappearance of the working class and the Soviet intelligentsia, extreme polarization (5–7% super-rich alongside 15% middle class), and the emergence of the unique phenomenon of "new poverty" — the impoverishment of previously well-off, educated segments of the population, a phenomenon without parallel in world practice.

Conclusion

The key conclusion of the interview is that Armenian society is in a state of "semi-reformedness": it has partially absorbed the modernization ideology, but deeply rooted cultural-historical patterns — egalitarianism, paternalism, distrust of the state combined with respect for private property — hinder the full integration of the liberal-democratic model. In Poghosyan's view, a successful transition is possible only on the condition that universal reforms are adapted to ethnocultural specifics, rather than blindly copied.