Gopnik

For people with this surname, see Gopnik (surname).

A gopnik^[a] is a member of a delinquent subculture in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and in other former Soviet republics—a young man (or a woman, a gopnitsa) of urban working-class background.^[2]

A Russian gopnik sits in a stairwell in a khrushchyovka building (2016)

The collective noun is gopota (Russian: гопота). The subculture of gopota has its roots in working-class communities in the late Russian Empire and gradually emerged underground during the later half of the 20th century in many cities in the Soviet Union.^[3][4] Even before their heyday in the 1990s following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the associated rise in poverty, there was a "gopnik" culture in the Soviet Union. Young men from working class areas rebelled against neformaly (non-conformists) and harassed the lovers of Western music, which had become popular in the Soviet Union in the 1980s.^[5]

Etymology

Folk etymology connects the word to the GOP, the acronym for городское общество призора Gorodskoye Obshchestvo Prizora (municipal welfare society), an organization to provide shelter for the destitute.^{[2][better source needed]}

A more plausible origin is the onomatopoeic гоп (gop), 'jump', 'leap', cf. the slang terms го́пать, 'gopat', or гоп-стоп, 'gop-stop' which means mugging or robbing.^{[2][better source needed]}

Stereotypical appearance and behaviour

Gopniks are often seen wearing Adidas tracksuits, which were popularized by the 1980 Moscow Olympics Soviet team.^[6][7] While sunflower seeds (colloquially semki [семки] or semechki [семечки]) are a common snack in Ukraine and Russia, chewing ("cracking") them in public and spitting out the shells on the ground is characteristic of gopniks.^[7]

A stereotypical image of a gopnik is one of being conservative, aggressive, homophobic, nationalist and racist,^[8] as well as holding strong anti-Western views.^[2] Gopniks are also stereotyped as being prone to substance and alcohol abuse, crime and hooliganism.^[9]

It is claimed that the originators of the hardbass style of music initially intended it as a parody on the behavior of gopniks.^[10]

Squatting

"Slavic squat"

Gopniks are often seen squatting (Russian slang terms for the position are "на кортах", na kortakh, a truncation of "na kortochkakh", Russian for "squatting") or "doing the crab" ("на крабе", na krabe)).^[7][11][9] It is described as a learned behavior, attributed to Russian and Soviet prison culture, which avoids sitting on the cold ground.^[7] This habit of squatting, known as "słowiański przykuc" is a new stereotype of Russians in Poland, along with being drunk and speaking in mat.^[12] The "Slavic squat" or "Slav squat" was also popularized in the West in early 2010s.^[13][14][15]

Notes

1. Russian: гопник, romanized: gopnik, pronounced [ˈɡopnʲɪk]; Ukrainian: гопник, romanized: hopnyk; Belarusian: гопнік, romanized: hopnik^[1]