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A gopnik (Russian: гопник, romanized: gopnik, Romanian: гопник, romanized: gopnic; pronounced [ˈɡopnʲɪk]; Ukrainian: гопник, romanized: hopnyk; Belarusian: гопнік, romanized: hopnik)[1] 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 working-class background who usually lives in suburban areas[2] and comes from a family of poor education and income.[3]
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.[4][5] It was the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, during the collapse of the Soviet Union and its associated rise in poverty, that saw the gopota subculture truly come to fruition and flourish.[6]
These years—between the late 1980s and roughly 2001—were the time when the gopota subculture was at its greatest extent, though it remained prevalent, albeit in decline, throughout much of the former Soviet space into the 2000s. As of the late 2010s, the subculture has faded for the most part, although youth gangs (such as the A.U.E.) that resemble gopota still exist in Russia and in other Slavic and Baltic countries.
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