Stereotypes in Perception of Russia by Foreigners: Comparison of Italy and Republic of Korea

The following paper is devoted to the research on comparison of stereotypes in perception of Russia and Russian people by foreigners, specifically citizens of Italy and Republic of Korea. The study is considered relevant due to the globalization processes and necessity to build on a healthy relation with other countries based on cross-cultural communication. Such communication is impossible without knowing how the other side portrait our country and what kind of intention it has. So, the purpose of this study is to take a look at micro-level of such perception – to compare how a certain group of citizens perceive Russia depending on a country and on the age of a studied group of citizens. . The theoretical background of the work contains both classical, starting from 1922, and more modern studies of social stereotypes. The qualitative method of 19 semi-structured interviews, followed by categorical analysis of received data was used. The analysis identified the major stereotypes of Russia as well as the stereotypes that are specific to the interviewees, depending not only on their country of residence, but also on their age.