Romanians’ perception of responsibility

The findings of a sociological survey on how Romanians perceive their own sense of responsibility.

Christine Leșcu, 05.09.2018, 12:30

In order to gain an accurate picture of how people see the idea of financial
responsibility, the Romanian subsidiary of Raiffeisen Bank decided to look at
it in the broader context of responsibility in general. To this end, the bank
commissioned a sociological survey on responsibility, the findings of which
have revealed, once again, paradoxes and disparities in the way Romanians
perceive themselves. For example, according to the survey, 97% of Romanians see
themselves as responsible people, and 89% of them feel responsible towards
society. However, only 8% of respondents said Romanian society on the whole is
responsible. The sociologist Barbu Mateescu tells us how these figures can be
interpreted:

What we see here is a very strong dissonance, and we
have seen this before, in other anthropological surveys on Romanians’
perceptions of common sense. This dissonance may be summarised as follows: I
have a given characteristic or value, but very few people share it, apart from
myself. As far as responsibility is concerned, just as in other cases as well,
there is this perception that I am responsible and I do my job, whereas the others
don’t.

The sociologist Barbu Mateescu also explains how this
perception has taken shape:

There are two factors. The first one has to do with
the communist era and its effects, which include, in all the countries that
experienced it, a weakening of people’s confidence in the idea of community.
Under the communist regime, all communities were structures devoid of meaning.
They were established and controlled from the outside, rather than by their own
members. The second element is a combination between a highly critical view of
society, where things are seen as going very wrong, and a very good opinion on
oneself.

A good illustration of this comes from the data on
environmental responsibility: 95% of the people feel responsible towards the
environment, although their country was fined by the European Union for its
defective waste collection and management system. The sociologist Barbu
Mateescu explains:

Responsibility towards the environment is viewed as
more important than responsibility towards one’s friends, colleagues, superiors
and subordinates. It only comes second to responsibility towards one’s family.
And this responsibility towards the environment is considered to be
particularly important in Romania’s large cities. In fact, the bigger the city,
the more important is the sense of responsibility considered to be. This
probably indicates the effects of pollution, which are more severe in a big
city like Bucharest than they are in a small one, like Falticeni. But at the
same time, most Romanians see environmental responsibility as limited to a very
basic level. For example, they may see it as simply the effort to find a bin to
throw a piece of litter instead of throwing it on the street. Romanian
environmental NGOs have not been particularly active, and there have been few
large-scale public debates on environmental topics. Instead, we have only seen
isolated topics getting to the forefront of public debate in Romania.

However, these data may also be interpreted in a
different key. Responsibility towards the environment is perceived as important
by Romanians in the context in which responsibility towards others, such as
society, family, people in difficulty, etc, is already high. As many as 98% of
Romanians feel responsible towards their family, 92% towards their friends, 91%
towards people who are unable to help themselves, 88% towards their colleagues
and 85% towards their superiors. Moreover, according to the survey, 98% of the
respondents believe being responsible is important in order to be successful.
As such, the concept of success itself is understood through the lens of
responsibility towards the others, says Barbu Mateescu:

The Romanian society’s main reference point is family
and the relationship with its members, parents, spouse and children. Therefore,
family cohesion, even in its formal version, and ensuring children’s education
to help them gain a decent social and financial status as adults are seen as
some of the components of success. When it comes to the financial aspects and the
definition of financial success, most Romanians are prudent, perhaps due to the
latest economic crisis. They believe that having a cautious lifestyle, without
debts or with debts that can be paid quickly, is enough for a successful life.

The survey also reflects Romanians’ preference for a
cautious and responsible lifestyle. Thus, 9 out of 10 Romanians say they pay
their dues on time, 8 out of 10 say they only spend as much as they can afford,
6 in 10 people say they plan to make savings and only one third manage to
actually save. The sociologist Barbu Mateescu comments:

I believe responsibility is defined differently
depending on specific circumstances. For example, it has a certain definition
in a Transylvanian village with considerable local resources and without big
unemployment problems and a completely different one in an apparently similar
village in Moldavia where there are no jobs available. This situation has led
to a massive migration of people from Moldavia to the EU. There are many different
situations, therefore responsibility is difficult to define in just a few
words. Nevertheless, the attachment to family continues to be a fundamental
characteristic. Family is the thread linking all responsible action.