In this article, the origin of Russian local self-government is analyzed, in which its characteristics and stages are identified through historical-cultural retrospective. The Russian collective perception of local self-government is embodied in Russian social cultural historical experience. We attempt to explain the paradox of Russian collective perception of local selfgovernment, which involves the following dichotomy: high approval ratings of democratic ideas of local self-government and the low citizen activity of modern Russians in answering questions of national importance through the prism of historical cultural analysis.