Ethnology 

A number of indicators of changing values of rural populations during the transition from a traditional society to an industrial one are examined through the lens of modernisation theory. These indicators include the deve-lopment of social health care initiatives of rural communities in Tobolsk Governorate in the late 19th — early 20th century, other new elements in everyday life of the peasants and the new methods of land evaluation they applied. Relying on archival and published sources, we reveal the participation of rural communities in the creation and funding of rural hospitals and feldsher’s clinics. The significant growth in the number of registered patients and the increase in the sale of non-prescription drugs in the villages show that the trust of the people in official health care provision was growing. Giving a suburban village as an example, we demonstrate the changes in the peasants’ everyday life, such as new occupations, changing patterns of consumption, new leisure activities and a shift in faith from Old Belief to the official church. We also describe new approaches to land evaluation used by the rural population. Thus, when selling land, the members of the peasant communities in the suburban settlements were evaluating it not according to the quality of the land, its fertility and the prospect of large crops, but according to a market price dictated by the development of transport systems, industry, trade and the city growth.

Key words: traditional worldview, social initiative, health care, feldsher’s station, sale of non-prescription drugs, daily life, Tobolsk Governorate, rural community.

DOI: 10.20874/2071-0437-2019-44-1-120-128