The Invisible Past on the Ballot Box: Latent Structures, Collective Memories, and Voting Preference in Post-Soviet Russia

Zheng Zhang, University of Wisconsin-Madison

This paper examines how collective memory structures shape voting preference in post-Soviet Russia. While most research treats collective memory as a dependent variable, this study analyzes it as an independent factor influencing political behavior and identify the structures of collective memory with discrete-factor latent class analysis (dfLCA). Using survey data from Schuman and Corning (2000), I find that collective memory is multidimensional rather than organized along a single axis. A discrete-factor model identifies three key dimensions of memory orientation: cultural-social experiences, political historical events, and memories of repression and dissent. I then estimate a weighted multinomial logistic regression predicting voting preferences in the 1993 Russian parliamentary election. The findings show that individuals with stronger political and repression-oriented memory profiles are significantly more likely to support democratic parties and less likely to abstain from political participation. These results demonstrate that collective memory operates as an autonomous and multidimensional influence on political attitudes, highlighting its importance for understanding political behavior in post-authoritarian contexts.

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 Presented in Session 48. Collective Identity, Memory, and Nostalgia