Suchergebnisse

The article analyzes the views developed and positions taken by young people from the so-called "Finno-Ugric republics" of the Russian Federation. This analysis is based on a series of surveys conducted in the five republics in 2020, as well as on official statistics and other materials. It is shown that the multilateral crisis that takes place in these republics has a serious impact on the positions and orientations of the young people and it results in an increase of their protest sentiments, a decrease of their trust in regional and federal political institutions as well as other negative phenomena. The mass migration of young people away from their republics represents the main form of their protest. At the same time, a rather high degree of the young people's readiness for active protest actions has been recorded. The significance of ethnicity for the social and cultural positioning of the young people is minimal. Ethnic conflicts do occur, but they are mostly of a routine and latent nature. Generally, young people support the idea of equality of representatives of all ethnic groups in the political and social life of the republics. The few ethnic prejudices present among the youth are more likely to be a consequence of the lack of an active integration policy in the regions rather than a result of an ethnic nationalist ideology or propaganda spread by ideologists and activists of ethnic movements. The majority of young people are not interested in ethnic organizations, and the influence of the older generation and its values (including the values of traditional culture) is limited, because the cultural environment of young people is formed primarily under the influence of information communication networks and Internet resources. Ethnic ideals and values do not fit into this space, which explains why the ethnic movements of the Finno-Ugric peoples lack a youth audience.

The article presents the results of the comparative study of the neighboring countries' images in the perception of the Russian student youth. In the first part of the article, the authors emphasize the importance of public opinion as one of the key social institutions in the contemporary society though it is often manipulated by state and political organizations to ensure the public support of ambiguous decisions. There are two basic mechanisms to form social representations including the images of different countries in public opinion: spontaneous and purposeful (when officials and media use special techniques to create an image of either a dangerous enemy or the best geopolitical friend). Today in Russia the former seems to dominate for except the key geopolitical powers other countries seem to attract the state attention rather sporadically, which is supported by general political indifference, wide dissemination of information technologies, and freedom of travels all over the world, etc. The second part of the article focuses on the methodological consequences of thus developing images in the Russian public opinion. The authors explain the thematic structure and techniques of the questionnaire developed for the study of the images of China, Kazakhstan and Serbia in the Russian student youth' worldview, which were applied in the sociological survey of 2010-2011 in the project supported by the Russian Foundation for Humanities, and then again in 2016 for the comparative analysis. The last part of the article presents the results of these surveys in the comparative perspective and focuses on a few indicators to reconstruct the persistent stereotypic elements of the neighboring countries' images in the student youth worldview though there are some changes that are difficult to interpret. © N.P. Narbut, I.V. Trotsuk, 2017.

My dissertation is based on fieldwork conducted in Latvia. Latvia is frequently introduced with a demographic statistic which characterizes 60% of its population as Latvian and 40% as Russian. The ensuing discussion focuses on nationalism and ethnic tensions--terms central to scholarship on Eastern Europe. Below, I problematize the ubiquity of these terms in accounts of post-socialist politics. Drawing on ethnographic research with Latvia's Russian youth organizations, I argue that these terms obscure a phenomenon that has an important empirical bearing: the fact that actors, who are by no means marginal in electoral politics, have a stake in remaining legible within a sphere of action characterized by ethnic division; and, at the same time, challenge forms of action based on ethnic solidarity.Recent events in Ukraine have once again brought to the fore the problematic role of ethnic Russians in post-Soviet republics. In much of political commentary Russians living outside of the Russian Federation appear as pawns of Kremlin's attempt to regain its dominance over the post-soviet world; as subjects injured by nationalizing elites' attempt to undo effects of Soviet Russification; and, fundamentally, as reactionary supporters of a (pro-) Russian autocracy. In fact, over the last decade policy makers from the European Union have spent a great deal of effort working with Russian activists in Eastern Europe in a hope to shift their political allegiances; to teach them the value of national sovereignty; and, fundamentally, to get them to differentiate between democratic freedoms (inherent in European institutions) and selective privileges (held over from the Soviet period). In my dissertation, I challenge the assumption that Russians living outside the Russian Federation are pawns of Muscovite expansion, and, in the same vein, critique the hope that they make become agents of European democratization. Analyzing Latvia's Russian youth activists' ambitious for meaningful elected office, I argue that despite having different geopolitical and ideological orientations, EU- and RF-programs are equally likely to perpetuate parliamentary gridlock, voter apathy, and anti-political sentiment. In a related vein, I explore how youth activists turn to late-socialist practices in an attempt to create viable alternatives to both "pro-Russian" and "pro-European" positions; and how these alternatives have immense potential to draw together young people of different ideological persuasions, ethnic identities and life styles.

Purpose of the study: In this study, we analyze citizenship in the structure of socio-political orientations of Russian youth and explore the youth role in strengthening statehood and formation of civil society institutions. The development of active citizenship values in sociopolitical orientations of Russian youth is determined by the need to change relations between the state and society. The citizens shall develop civic responsibility and civil initiatives and control the institutions of power. Methodology: The theory of social anomie and the concept of socio-cultural crisis serve the methodological basis for this study. This theory explores the eclectic nature of citizenship ideas in the youth environment. The civilizational approach makes it possible to investigate features of citizenship idea and practice information of Western European and Russian cultural traditions. All that is methodologically significant in tracking citizenship specificity of the Russian youth. The integrated approach becomes a conceptual one in this study as it treats the citizenship of Russian youth as a complex multi-component phenomenon. This phenomenon includes moral, legal and socio-political attitudes reflecting the various aspects of relations in the "man-society-state" system. Results: We conclude that in the citizenship of Russian youth there dominate two main attitudes: liberal and paternalistic. In the liberal aspect, the young people consider citizenship to be awareness of their civil rights and responsibilities, a kind of rational and active behavior corresponding to democratic political system. Paternalistic attitudes are manifested in loyalty to the state. Paternalists consider the state to be the political institution that is solely responsible for the present and future of the young people. Applications of this study: The results allow us to understand the significance of citizenship as an ethic-legal quality of personality that strengthens Russian statehood and the importance of agreement (contract) between government and society. The results discovered the need for the citizens to be engaged in solving the state's socially significant problems. The state shall also develop a favorable institutional environment for civil socialization and self-realization of the young people. Novelty/Originality of this study: The eclectic nature of Russian youth citizenship points at hindering factors in the development of active and responsible citizenship as the youth ability to self-organize and solve socially significant problems. The main factors hindering the process of civil activity formation among the young people are the stable etatist-paternalistic traditions of political culture and institutions of Russian civil society. Although, development of youth citizenship is a well-managed process. It requires the youth policy to be the stimulating and guiding force. This force is necessary to solve the problems of legal personality type formation. Such a personality is characterized by politically and socially active civic-mindedness.

The paper analyzes the current state of youth employment. Findings of 2019 representative sociological study of youth cohorts show that early entry into labor market is a social norm commonly followed by all groups of young people.
The paper studies characteristics of jobs taken up by young people. About one third of graduates works in the field of their specialization (major), their share is relatively higher in the social sector and among them, there are more those who have high quality educational resources. The paper covers an integral estimation of job satisfaction, showing that one third of young people are satisfied with their job above average, while 24% of surveyed are not satisfied with their position on the labor market. It shows that young people find the prospects of career progress (48%) and income development (64%) rather realistic. The factors that contribute to the prospects on the labor market are living in major cities and availability of high-quality educational resources.

The study contributes to defining the impact of digital communication on civic and political participation, explaining how social media mediate public activism. Based on the concept of the 'digital citizenship' the paper reveals the political aspect of the public activism of Russian youth online. The empirical model is based on a combination of methods and procedures of applied research in order to reveal the details of civil and political participation, and protest activism of youth online. The research model includes analysis of social media and a large-scale online survey of the younger audience. Based on the analysis of social media information flows, the paper states the prevalence of the youth's civic participation over political participation, as well as the fact that the dynamics of social activity depend on the events and the current agenda. The authors describe the level of civic and political activity of youth online based on sociological data. They also divide the audience of the protest theatre according to the following models: leaders, activists, followers, and spectators. In general, the study reveals the status and details of the younger generation's communication activity online, where communities establish and implications of linking actions appear.

The article is dedicated to the analysis of the of modern Russian youth labor behavior specifics, namely: focus on the meaning and content of professional activity; desire for self-realization; the growing demand for social guarantees of labor provided by law; the importance of the financial component; the importance of fair job evaluation; special requirements for the team, which should be based on a partnership type of relationship and be a set of friendly relations. Particular attention is paid to the difference between young people and the previous generation in the field of attitudes towards money. Young people tend to quickly spend what they earn on pleasure in its various manifestations, which is largely dictated by the trends of the consumer society, where public opinion has undergone a transformation, within which it has ceased to be condemned to want to be saturated with all possible goods, services and travel. A generalized description of such a phenomenon as instant culture, erasing and forming the traditional hierarchical boundaries of a professional career and forms the attitude "here and now, everything at once" is given. In this regard, young people are extremely unhappy when they do not see the quick results of their work. The essence and the reasons for the career trend "quiet quitting" when an employee is limited to performing only his direct duties stipulated by the employment contract, are revealed. The main content of the article presents the expertise affecting the relevant subject area, and the results of sociological surveys of the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion, as well as data from other studies. The article may be useful for employers, human resource managers, specialists in the research field on the attitude of modern youth to professional activities.