This is a study of change in anti-American attitudes among Russian elites and masses during the post-Soviet period. We find that the share of people who consider the US a threat to security and order in Russia has significantly increased over the last 20 years in both groups. We explain this trend using the ressentiment theory proposed by Liah Greenfeld. According to the ressentiment hypothesis, growth of anti-Americanism in Russia results from the disappointment in consequences of political and economic reforms of the early 1990s. We perform quantitative analysis of the data from the New Russian Barometer and William Zimmerman’s survey of Russian elites to support our claim. Logistic regression models confirm the ressentiment hypothesis. However, it is worth noting that some other factors also affect attitudes of Russians toward the US, including elite’s propaganda and occasional tensions in the US–Russian relations.
1981