A gopnik (Russian: гопник, romanized: gopnik, pronounced [ˈɡopnʲɪk]; Ukrainian: гопник, romanized: hopnyk; Belarusian: гопнік, romanized: hopnik) 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 Russian suburban areas and comes from a family of poor education and income. 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, but it was in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, during the collapse of the Soviet Union and its associated rise in povert