What is youth in modern society? Youth in the modern world
Youth as the “future of the nation” has at all times been of particular value to society. It occupies an important place in social relations, the production of material and spiritual goods. The position of young people in society and the degree of their participation in the development of the social environment depends both on the state and on their own active life position. On the one hand, young people plan and build their future, therefore they must take into account the experience of generations and not make mistakes and mistakes. On the other hand, society and the state must rethink how to rediscover youth as a subject of history, as the main factor of change, as a social value. In modern Russia, the concept of state youth policy has been built, which represents the purposeful activities of government bodies, public associations and other social institutions aimed at solving the problems of young people in all spheres of their life. Today, the state offers a system of measures and programs in order to create conditions for the realization of the social, intellectual, cultural and economic potential of the younger generation. On the one hand, modern authorities are interested in the development of the “youth sphere”, motivating the younger generation to cooperate in the development of society. On the other hand, young people carry out innovative activities and contribute to the creative potential of the development of society. Using their creative abilities, thoughts, proposals, young people create new organizations, associations and movements. For example, in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, with the support of the federal and regional authorities, they were formed; Krasnoyarsk regional student teams, Yenisei Patriots, Union of Professionals, Young Guard, KVN, labor teams of high school students, volunteers, voluntary youth squads, regional youth congresses, summer youth camp “TEAM Biryusa”. Thanks to their creation, hundreds of young residents of our region join the ranks of active youth every year. In the field of leisure, media (television and radio), artistic life, pop music, cinema, fashion, young people are an important factor in the formation of tastes. Its spiritual values spread throughout the world. Her views are increasingly influencing those in power. Young people have a special interest and feel involved in solving problems of socio-economic development, independence, democratization and peace. She demonstrates enthusiasm and ability to strengthen international understanding and participates in the movement for the ecology of the planet. Speaking about the role of youth and the state in the development of the social environment, one cannot remain silent about the other side of this issue. At the moment, the role of youth in social development is much lower than it should and can be. In addition, society and the state have not yet completely overcome the consumer attitude towards youth, which in turn negatively affects the position of the younger generation. Today, the subjectivity of young people is just being formed, based on the principle “what I did for my country, and not what the country did for me.” This principle requires appropriate approaches from the state and society, the creation of a new system of youth work. The future cannot be built without the conscious and active participation of young people themselves. The problem of the participation of younger generations in social development is a question of the pace, nature and quality of human development. A significant part of young people are alienated from the process of participation in all spheres of life, which complicates their integration into society. Failures in social adaptation and alienation of young people from society and the state are manifested in youth crime, drug addiction, alcoholism, homelessness, prostitution, the scale of which has become unprecedented. The formation of a young person as an individual, the process of socialization of youth occurs in very difficult conditions, the breaking of many old values and the formation of new social relations. Modern youth must adapt to new requirements, master a system of knowledge, norms, values and traditions in the labor, political and legal spheres of life. The role of youth in the development of society is great. She is smart, proactive, energetic, and thanks to this, she is a driving force in strengthening and modernizing society. The model of youth participation in all spheres of society has changed. In many countries, young people support the changes and social reforms that are taking place. Russian youth are an important subject of social change. It is with this that the reforming country associates possible future changes. In general, students have enough strength and knowledge to take on many problems, but they still need to show an active position in life.
Youth is the main bearer of the intellectual and physical potential of society; it has great abilities for work, technical and cultural-artistic creativity, productive activity in all spheres of human existence;
Young people have a great social and professional perspective; they are able to master new knowledge, professions and specialties faster than other social groups of society.
The fundamental issue when considering the role of youth in society is the question of youth as the subject and object of social change. Entering life, a young person is subject to the influence of social conditions, family, educational institutions, and later, in the process of growing up and transitioning to more mature phases of development, he himself begins to significantly influence society. That is, youth acts as a subject when they influence society, giving away their potential, at the same time they are an object, since social influence is directed at them with the aim of their development. Young people act as an object both to society and to themselves.
Without a doubt, youth are a very important part for Chuvashia and for Russia as a whole, since they are the most active component of the state. Young people are best suited to introduce new technologies, innovations and reforms. They are mobile and full of strength, so the Russian state is interested in the younger generation being involved in the economic life of Russia and the political... More recently, our country has passed the economic crisis, and is now at the stage of stabilization, so young specialists in the field of economics are simply necessary for Chuvashia. It follows that the state should be interested in the formation of a viable and healthy new generation, because youth are the “salvation” for the state in terms of creating a family and eliminating the demographic crisis.
In a word, Chuvashia in our time is doing everything for the successful development of the younger generation - the rest depends on us. Determination and ambition are the main components of a happy life and a prosperous future, so it is important to choose your path correctly now, because Youth is not eternal and goes away every day... Giving up bad habits, doing something worthy, finding a job you love will help change your life for the better . The future of Russia is in the hands of young people and this should always be remembered.
YOUTH is a socio-demographic group identified on the basis of age parameters, characteristics of social status and socio-psychological qualities.
One of the first definitions of the concept of “youth” was given in 1968 by V.T. Lisovsky:
“Youth is a generation of people going through the stage of socialization, acquiring, and at a more mature age having already acquired, educational, professional, cultural and other social functions; depending on specific historical conditions, the age criteria of youth can range from 16 to 30 years.”
Later, a more complete definition was given by I.S. Konom:
“Youth is a socio-demographic group, identified on the basis of a combination of age characteristics, characteristics of social status and socio-psychological properties determined by both. Youth as a certain phase, stage of the life cycle is biologically universal, but its specific age framework, the associated social status and socio-psychological characteristics are of a socio-historical nature and depend on the social system, culture and the patterns of socialization characteristic of a given society.”
In developmental psychology, youth is characterized as a period of formation of a stable system of values, the formation of self-awareness and social status of the individual.
The consciousness of a young person has a special sensitivity, the ability to process and assimilate a huge flow of information. During this period, they develop: critical thinking, the desire to give their own assessment of various phenomena, the search for argumentation, original thinking. At the same time, at this age some attitudes and stereotypes characteristic of the previous generation still remain. Hence, in the behavior of young people there is an amazing combination of contradictory qualities and traits: the desire for identification and isolation, conformism and negativism, imitation and denial of generally accepted norms, the desire for communication and withdrawal, detachment from the outside world.
Youth consciousness is determined by a number of objective circumstances.
Firstly, in modern conditions the process of socialization itself has become more complex and lengthened, and accordingly the criteria for its social maturity have become different. They are determined not only by entering an independent working life, but also by completing education, obtaining a profession, real political and civil rights, and financial independence from parents.
Secondly, the formation of social maturity of young people occurs under the influence of many relatively independent factors: family, school, work collective, media, youth organizations and spontaneous groups.
The boundaries of youth are fluid. They depend on the socio-economic development of society, the achieved level of well-being and culture, and people’s living conditions. The impact of these factors is really manifested in the life expectancy of people, the expansion of the boundaries of youth age from 14 to 30 years.
Since ancient times, the formation of society has been accompanied by the process of socialization of new generations. One of the main problems in the socialization of young people is that they either accept the values of their fathers or completely abandon them. More often the latter happens. Young people believe that the social values that their “fathers” lived by lose their practical significance in any new historical situation and, as a result, are not inherited by their children.
Today, the main task of the survival of Belarusian society is to solve the problem of maintaining social stability and transferring cultural heritage from one generation to another. This process has never been automatic. It always assumed the active participation of all generations in it. It is necessary to remember that it is at a young age that a system of value orientations is formed, the process of self-education, self-creation of the individual and establishment in society is actively underway.
In today's rapidly changing, dynamically developing world, young people have to decide for themselves what is more valuable - enrichment by any means or acquisition of high qualifications that help them adapt to new conditions; denial of previous moral norms or flexibility, adaptability to new reality; unlimited freedom of interpersonal relationships or family.
Values are a relatively stable, socially conditioned attitude of a person to the totality of material and spiritual goods, cultural phenomena that serve as a means of satisfying the needs of the individual.
Core values include:
1. Humanity;
2. Good manners;
3. Education;
4. Tolerance;
5. Kindness;
6. Honesty;
7. Hard work;
8. Love;
Young people have acquired a number of new qualities, both positive and negative.
The positive ones include:
1. The desire for self-organization and self-government;
2. Interest in political events in the country and region;
3. Concern for the problems of national language and culture;
4. Participation in organizing your leisure time;
5. Focus on self-education;
Negative qualities such as:
1. Tobacco smoking, drug use and teenage alcoholism;
2. Doing nothing;
3. Sexual experimentation;
4. Infantility and indifference (nihilism);
5. Uncertainty and unpredictability;
Several important sociocultural conditions for successful personal socialization can be identified:
1. Healthy family microenvironment;
2. Favorable creative atmosphere at school, lyceum, gymnasium;
3. The positive impact of fiction and art;
4. Media influence;
5. Aestheticization of the nearest macroenvironment (yard, neighborhood, club, sports ground, etc.)
6. Active involvement in social activities;
Social adaptation is a controlled process. It can be managed not only in line with the impact of social institutions on the individual during his production, non-production, pre-production, post-production life, but also in line with self-government. In general terms, there are most often four stages of personality adaptation in a new social environment:
1. the initial stage, when an individual or group realizes how they should behave in a new social environment, but are not yet ready to recognize and accept the value system of the new environment and strive to adhere to the previous value system;
2. the stage of tolerance, when the individual, group and new environment show mutual tolerance to each other’s value systems and patterns of behavior;
3. accommodation, i.e. recognition and acceptance by the individual of the basic elements of the value system of the new environment while simultaneously recognizing some of the values of the individual and group as the new social environment;
4. assimilation, i.e. complete coincidence of the value systems of the individual, group and environment; Complete social adaptation of a person includes physiological, managerial, economic, pedagogical, psychological and professional adaptation.
Specific points of social adaptation technology:
* it is only human nature to create special “devices”, certain social institutions, norms, traditions that facilitate the process of his adaptation in a given social environment;
* only a person has the ability to consciously prepare the younger generation for the process of adaptation, using all means of education for this;
* the process of “acceptance” or “rejection” by individuals of existing social relations depends both on social affiliation, worldview, and on the orientation of upbringing;
* a person consciously acts as a subject of social adaptation, changing his views, attitudes, and value orientations under the influence of circumstances;
Social adaptation is the process of an individual’s active mastery of the social environment, in which the individual acts both as an object and as a subject of adaptation, and the social environment is both an adapting and adaptable party.
Successful social adaptation of the individual requires the maximum expenditure of the individual’s spiritual energy.
Youth is the path to the future that a person chooses. Choosing the future, planning it is a characteristic feature of young age; he would not be so attractive if a person knew in advance what would happen to him tomorrow, in a month, in a year.
The general conclusion: “Each subsequent generation of young people is worse than the previous one in terms of basic indicators of social status and development.” This is expressed, first of all, in the trend of a reduction in the number of young people, which leads to an aging society and, consequently, a decrease in the role of youth as a social resource in general.
The demographic situation is complicated by something new in Belarusian reality - an increase in murders and suicides, including among young people. The reason is the emergence of difficult personal and life situations. According to data, 10% of graduates of state institutions for orphans commit suicide, not being able to adapt to living conditions.
Firstly, the unresolved socio-economic and everyday problems.
Secondly, there is a tendency for the health of children and adolescents to deteriorate. The growing generation is less healthy physically and mentally than the previous one. On average, in Belarus, only 10% of school graduates can consider themselves absolutely healthy, 45-50% of them have serious morphofunctional abnormalities.
Recently, among students there has been a clear increase in the number of diseases such as:
1. mental disorders;
2. peptic ulcer of the gastrointestinal tract;
3. alcohol and drug addiction;
4. sexually transmitted diseases;
Some young people, due to an unbalanced diet and decreased physical activity, gain excess weight, spend little time outdoors, and do not participate in sports and recreational activities.
Thirdly, there is a tendency to expand the process of desocialization and marginalization of young people. The number of young people leading an asocial, immoral lifestyle is increasing. For various reasons and to varying degrees, these include: disabled people, alcoholics, tramps, “professional beggars,” persons serving sentences in correctional labor institutions who strive to be socially useful citizens, but due to social conditions cannot become one. There is lumpenization and criminalization of youth. * students consider themselves to be low-income.
Fourthly, there is a trend towards decreasing opportunities for young people to participate in economic development. Statistics show that the share of young people among the unemployed remains high. The labor market is characterized by a significant flow of labor from the state to the non-state sector of the economy.
By moving into the field for positions that do not require professional knowledge, young people risk their future well-being without ensuring the accumulation of intellectual property - professionalism. Moreover, this area of employment is characterized by a very high degree of criminalization.
Fifthly, there is a downward trend in the social value of labor and the prestige of a number of professions important to society. Sociological research in recent years has stated that in work motivation, priority is given not to meaningful work, but to work aimed at obtaining material benefits. “Big salary” - this motive turned out to be decisive when choosing a place to work.
Modern youth have a trait that shows that most of them want to have a good income, while having neither a profession nor the desire to work. This happens due to the fact that young people lack incentives to work.
The problem of criminal influence on young people has recently been of concern to the Belarusian public. Among criminal offenses, every fourth is committed by young people and teenagers. Among the offenses, mercenary crimes attract attention - theft, extortion of money, fraud. When analyzing statistical data, the volume of acquisitive crimes is currently growing rapidly. This depends on the fact that differentiation occurs among young people and for the majority of young people, parents cannot give what they would like, taking into account their needs. But they themselves cannot get this due to the fact that they do not have a specialty or work skills. Young people do not want to get an education just because they have no prospects after receiving an education. Currently, more and more young people are using drugs. Maybe this comes from the hopelessness of realizing their potential or from the fact that, due to a lack of understanding of the seriousness, they were involved in this by people interested in selling drugs.
“The role of youth education in the modern world”
“We understand by education that which leads to virtue from childhood, making a person passionately desire and strive to become a perfect citizen, able to justly obey or justly rule.”Plato
Today's youth are the future of the country and the education of the younger generation is one of the most important issues facing the state, and the future of our country depends on the level at which the education of youth is carried out. We must use all available resources to ensure that true values come first in society. So that young people know and appreciate our centuries-old traditions, respect and love their family and friends.
Over the past fifteen years, we have observed the influence of many different factors that are obviously harmful to the mental and mental health of our fellow citizens, especially children. Young people today are different compared to past generations. They already have different values, morals, interests, hobbies, everything else. But she should never forget about the eternal universal spiritual and moral values, without which the formation of a full-fledged personality is impossible. There are a lot of factors that influence a person’s consciousness and the development of his personality, starting from what kind of parents he has and in what environment he lives and develops.
Youth issues are one of the most discursive and strategically significant for the successful development of modern society.
The current situation in Russian society is characterized by a state of a certain ideological and ideological vacuum, when some social ideals and values have already become a thing of the past, while others have not yet been formed.
The lack of ideals and goals in life negatively affects the development of young people, who are always critical of various kinds of ideals, even in a stable social situation, and on the other hand, they must have certain ideals and goals in order to carry out their personal development, especially in the area of professional development and citizenship.
The relevance of studying the value orientations of young people is determined, first of all, by the problems of the formation and development of society, the need to preserve traditions and reproduce normative rules of behavior.
The practice-tested idea that the components of a person’s civic development are labor, patriotic and moral education began to fall into oblivion. But very soon it became clear that these areas in working with youth cannot be ignored. What is happening to our youth at the beginning of the 21st century? What life values and social attitudes do young people prefer, what models do they follow?
Research has shown that the main life values of young people are family, friends and health, followed by interesting work, money and justice (the importance of the latter value is currently increasing). Religious faith closes the top seven main values in life.
It should be noted that the value orientations of young people have undergone noticeable changes in the last 30-40 years; This is especially true when it comes to the importance of work.
The image of an honest worker, a leader in production, and, in general, every working person, has disappeared in the media. It has become unprestigious to be a worker, technician, or engineer. There was a replacement of “heroes of labor” with “idols of consumption” (pop stars, comedians, parodists, astrologers, fashion journalists, sexologists, etc.).
An unfavorable factor in the modern value structure of young people is the lack of a clear connection between work and money. If in Soviet times this connection was weakened due to the manifestation of “equalization”, now it is completely absent. Because some get “mad” money through adventures and manipulations, while others, literally working hard (sometimes in several jobs), have an inadequately small salary. Teenagers and young people capture this perfectly.
A person’s value system is the “foundation” of his relationship to the world. Values are a relatively stable, socially conditioned selective attitude of a person towards the totality of material and spiritual public goods.
Academician D.S. Likhachev, in an interview given by him shortly before his death, spoke about the bitterness of people and the decline of culture throughout the world and that he sees a way out of the situation in which our country finds itself “in education with an educational bias. We must do everything to save the younger generation from lack of spirituality and moral decline.” We are talking about creating a unified educational and pedagogical sociocultural space. It is clear that such activities cannot be done without a significant number of specialists working with youth.
From the above, we can conclude that in line with youth policy and the education of the younger generation, a lot of spiritual and moral work remains to be done on the upbringing and socialization of the younger generation, the consolidation and unity of youth, all its groups, the entire society on the basis of patriotism and citizenship, the establishment of the principles of social justice and morality.
Many value orientations are formed precisely in adolescence, since young people are most susceptible to social and cultural changes in society. The value orientations of young people have changed largely in recent years due to the aggravation of the problem of their socialization.
Young people are the so-called middle ground between people. Youth plays a very important role in the modern world. After all, this is a new generation on which the future of all humanity depends. Youth needs to be taught a lot, and if you educate youth correctly (and this is manifested in patriotic education, in studies and in holding public events, etc.), then they will become a reliable future. Today, in many countries, youth education is the main task.
One thing is certain, that it is the youth today that occupy the leading position among other groups, since they are the most educated. And it is precisely this that in the near future will constitute the intellectual resource of our country.
Research on this issue is important for Russian society, as it shows the social and cultural changes that are taking place among young people, and, consequently, in the country.
Bibliography:
1. Nikandrov N.D. “Spiritual values and education in modern Russia.” - Pedagogy.-2008.
4. Vvedensky, V.N. Continuous professional education / V.N. Vvedensky // Social and humanitarian knowledge.
3. Vildanova, F.Z. Educational space as a source of self-development of students’ personality / F.Z. Vildanova // Applied psychology. – 2002.
4. Semenov, V.E. Value orientations of modern youth / V.E. Semenov // Sociological studies. – 2007.
5. Sorokina N.D. Changes in education and the dynamics of students’ life strategies / N.D. Sorokina // Socis. – 2003.
6. Tyukulmina, O.I. Problems of social work with youth: Textbook / O.I. Tyukulmina. – Tomsk: TPU, 2006.
7. Shcheglova, S.N. Features of adaptation of school teachers to the values of informatization / S.N. Shcheglova // Socis. - 2006.
8. Vashilin, E.P. Creative youth of modern Russia: features of socialization / E.P. Vashilin // Social and humanitarian knowledge. – 2003.
Application
Case study
I conducted a survey of a small group of classmates. The questionnaire asked 6 questions. The content of the question and the answers are given below in the form of diagrams. The purpose of the questions is the modern attitude of young people to issues of education, as well as to identify their value orientations.
1. Who has more influence on the upbringing of youth: family, society, both?
2. Does modern society need to educate young people: yes, no?
3. Are today’s youth well-educated: yes, no?
4. Does the successful future of our country depend on the education of youth: yes, no?
5. What methods can be used to improve the education of youth: the creation of youth organizations, the involvement of the state in education, the involvement of educational institutions?
6. In what order would you place the following life values: family, friends, health, work, money, justice?
Modern Russia is a rather specific country in which there has been a sharp change in the main vector of development. It is no secret that changes in the political and social fields most affect those who have not yet made a decision in life, in whom there is still no solid core laid down by upbringing and education, that is, the youngest.
The problems of modern youth are very different from those that their parents had at the same age. Moreover, they differ in all aspects - moral, social, and economic. The striking differences between their lives and the lives of the previous generation often made constructive dialogue impossible, much less the exchange of experiences between generations - these experiences are too different.
The moral problems of modern youth, according to psychologists, are caused by two main difficulties: laziness and lack of purpose. Many parents, having themselves gone through difficult times of lack of money and “initial accumulation of capital,” strive to make sure that their child does not need anything. And they succeed - the younger generation really does not need anything - neither money, nor family, nor love. By the time they graduate from school, most of them have everything they could dream of (this is especially true for children from big cities - it is more difficult to achieve financial well-being in the provinces), and all they can do is thinklessly. Morality as such is of little interest to them - they have completely different things on their minds , they simply don’t think about it. And parents, who have devoted their entire lives to ensuring that their child is the best, realize with horror that they missed the main thing - they did not teach him to love, respect and appreciate friends, parents, and loved ones.
Modern youth are determined, first of all, by the fact that today’s society sets one task for the guys - to have as much money as possible. But at the same time, everything that happens around teaches the younger generation exclusively that there is no need to earn money - there are many other ways to get it, much easier and simpler. Therefore, in the eyes of young people, things that had significance for their ancestors lose their value. School, education, family and even the state are worthless, because the meaning of life is not in them at all. Such problems of youth in modern society inevitably lead to the gradual degradation of social and loss of communication between generations and a primitive existence devoid of a spiritual component.
The financial problems of modern youth are due to the lack of a clear state policy in this area. The level of scholarships and salaries for beginning specialists today is such that there is no need to talk about any kind of decent existence. At the same time, subsequent employment seems to be very problematic due to the fact that higher education has long been producing an overabundance of specialists, and there are no vacancies for them in their specialty. At the same time, in cities with developed industry, there is a clear shortage of blue-collar professionals, but there are no young people willing to take these positions.
Also, many of the problems of modern youth are caused by the information field in which they live. The Internet and television do not aim at the new generation; their main goal is entertainment. Moreover, most of this entertainment is thoughtless and devoid of any meaning. This is another factor provoking degradation. In other words, the entire surrounding reality, under the influence of which a young personality is formed, influences it not creatively, but destructively, which leads to the emergence of a number of problems and difficulties.
A generation of young people has formed in Russia that is very different from their predecessors. The image of a young careerist, clearly depicted in Megafon advertising - “The future depends on you” - remained in the 90s. The 2000s generation is indifferent to a career, rejects mass culture and rampant consumerism. For some of today’s youth, the slogan “The future does not depend on you” is more relevant.
The word “youth” should be written with two letters “w”. The Internet “Live Journal” (LJ) has become a habitat for thousands of young people. There they argue about the structure of the world and complain about yesterday's hangover. Revolutions are being prepared there and marriages are being destroyed... Virtual diaries are a real treasure for sociologists. Where else can you find such an array of texts created by a “common man”?!
I decided to use this unique material. I present to your attention the conclusions I have drawn. In some ways they can be considered controversial. But at the very least, this study makes us think about what the “LJ generation” represents. And certainly this method of study is much more productive than endless surveys on the topic “What is more important to you - high earnings or spiritual harmony?”
I myself defined the subject of my research as follows: “I set the task of studying the most advanced part of young people. But not “golden” and not “bohemian”. Such groups were, are and will be, regardless of the blogosphere. They can be called trendsetters, that is, people who broadcast cultural innovations to the wider masses. I proceeded from the fact that the blogosphere has become the main channel for the dissemination of trends. In Moscow, St. Petersburg and cities with a population of over a million, trendsetters are in one way or another connected with the blogosphere.”
Trend 1
From careerism to indifference
The 90s generation worked extremely hard. Plans for building a career were hatched at a very young age - they thought about it already in the tenth grade, and even more so in the first year of college. Any job was assessed, first of all, from the point of view of its prospects for a future career, and the transition from one job to another - from the point of view of what a new line on a resume would look like.
Of course, there were many exceptions, but that was the general mood. Many young people were willing to work 20 hours a day. Positions of top managers in leading corporations or the coveted business of their own loomed ahead.
Today's youth are indifferent to a career. She does not accept work that is motivated solely by making money and does not provide opportunities for self-expression, does not want to work in an office, on a strict schedule, and is generally not ready to devote most of her time to work.
“The people who are concerned about money are mostly older generations who have experienced poverty. I like people who earn money themselves within the limits of what is affordable. If you have money - good, if you have no money - bad, we will try to earn money. I'm one of them"
Young people of the 90s dreamed of becoming bankers, lawyers, commercial and financial directors. The professional ideal of youth of the 2000s is a journalist, designer, programmer, PR manager. Freelancing has become a bright sign of the times.
Creating your own business is perhaps the only thing that today's young people want as much as their peers did 10 years ago. However, if the youth of the 90s tried in every possible way to develop their own business in order to eventually turn it into a large enterprise and enter the business elite, then today’s young people do not want to waste time and energy on this. They are quite satisfied with small business, which gives them financial independence and the opportunity to do what they love on a free schedule.
Young people of the 90s took on any business - from selling diapers to private delivery. Modern young people are not ready to dramatically change their lifestyle and social circle, even if this promises considerable profit. As a rule, they create their own small businesses in areas that are familiar to them and where they do not need to spend time establishing relevant connections.
“I devote my free time to the same things I devote my working time to, only these are no longer custom projects, but for the soul, so to speak. That is, when it appears, that is, time, I either take a photograph, or process what has already been photographed, or draw, since the easel is always at hand, or go to paint plaster casts in the studio, or read, or glue something...; It’s extremely difficult for me to sit still for a long time...”
The main reason that the “career” option began to lose its attractiveness for young people was the awareness of the “limits to growth.” In the 90s the skies seemed open. Ten years later, most young people understand perfectly well that there is a very definite “ceiling” above which it is almost impossible to rise. The “social elevator,” which provided rapid vertical movement in the 90s, stopped in the 2000s.
Economic stabilization also contributed to the decline in the attractiveness of the “career” option. Modern young people are not afraid of being left without a livelihood. They understand that they can always find some kind of work. The generation of the 90s faced an alternative: work or vegetation and poverty. The generation of the 2000s is characterized by another alternative: exhausting and energy-consuming work to build a career or calm, “relaxed” creative work for pleasure.
The devaluation of the value of a career in the minds of young people is indirectly related to the growth of the value of freedom. For the youth of the 90s, freedom also had a certain value, but it was interpreted very narrowly - as the opportunity not to depend on anyone financially, to buy various goods and services, etc.
Young people of the 2000s understand freedom as independence from any circumstances and as spontaneity - the opportunity to change work, place of residence, lifestyle. For modern young people, freedom is one of the key values, and a free lifestyle is the direct opposite of “corporate slavery.”
Trend 2
Escape from popular culture
On the one hand, modern young people are children of mass culture, and they are well aware of this. On the other hand, they do their best to distance themselves from this culture.
Modern young people are clearly aware of their cultural “advancement”; this is a source of pride for them. From their point of view, all other “average” inhabitants are distinguished by a low level of education and culture, a lack of interests and hobbies, with the exception of primitive consumerism. The attitude towards them is quite arrogant.
For the youth of the 90s, the object of constant irony was the so-called scoop, that is, a very limited, conservative, unenterprising person. For young people of the 2000s, the objects of ridicule are “gopniks”, “glamorous pussies” (girls whose meaning of life is entertainment and consumption) and “office plankton” (managers of all stripes who spend most of their lives in the office, doing routine and uninteresting work) .
The negative attitude towards these three socio-cultural groups is caused not only by rejection of their way of life and values, but also by their absolute stereotypedness and lack of any individuality.
Television (especially humorous programs, series and reality shows) is considered an example of “dullness,” mass production and stereotypedness. The vast majority of modern young people watch TV quite rarely, and even then solely for the purpose of laughing at the “stars” of the airwaves.
"Modern culture. Well, firstly, the culture of conformism and absorption of the individual by the masses. Availability of music, art, etc. makes it not the property of a few, but the lot of many. This is where the devastation of art comes from.”
The genre of parody of television programs and their characters is extremely popular among young people. For example, one of the largest blogging communities is the foto_zaba community, whose members use the graphic editor Photoshop to remake pictures from popular TV shows and movies. Evgeny Petrosyan, Ksenia Sobchak and Vladimir Putin enjoy special “love” from the “gills”.
Another topic for mockery is advertising. Logos, commercials, and slogans are being redesigned. An example of such a transformation was the new corporate identity of MTS. The number of adaptations, parodies and jokes on the theme of “red eggs” exceeded a thousand.
Parodies of popular culture are sometimes extremely cynical, but this is a reaction to the falsity of popular culture itself. A certain vague feeling is being formed among young people, which can be called a longing for romanticism and true values.
Being often ostentatiously cynical, young people try with all their might to avoid insincerity in relationships with loved ones and friends. Hence the extremely negative attitude towards the “secular” style of communication a la “Dom-2”, as well as towards advertising, which uses lofty words to cover up the banal desire to sell a product or service.
“Now in our world, unfortunately, there is a lot of insincerity, and very often people hide some selfish goals and interests behind the concept of “friendship”. Plus, it seems to me that people are so preoccupied with their own problems, of which we all have a great many, that sometimes there is no time left to just ask a friend how he is doing.”
Another evidence of the “longing for romance” is the mythological image of the Soviet past that has formed among today’s young people. The USSR appears in an idealized form, as a society where there were no national conflicts, terrorism and drug addiction, where feelings were sincere, and people were naive and selfless.
“If you were a child in the 60s, 70s or 80s, looking back, it's hard to believe we managed to survive until today... Our cribs were painted with bright, high-lead paints. There were no secret lids on the medicine bottles, the doors were often not locked, and the cabinets were never locked. We drank water from the water pump on the corner, not from plastic bottles. No one could think of riding a bike wearing a helmet. Horror"
The theme of the pre-perestroika period is also closely related to the search for one’s own identity, since the answer to the question “who am I?” worries modern bloggers quite a lot.
Trend 3
Politics without politics
The attitude towards politics also reflects the desire to distance oneself from the “mass”. Young people simply ignore any form of political activity. They do not participate in elections because, in their opinion, the outcome of the elections in no way depends on their participation.
“I am only concerned with those world problems that are directly related to me, and in general, the expression “even a flood after us” is quite practical.”
Any form of political activity - both right and left - becomes the object of satire no less acute than in the case of television and pop music. For example, the pro-government youth association “Nashi” is ridiculed for its adherence to pretentious slogans.
Left-wing political activists of the National Bolshevik persuasion evoke a little more sympathy. The readiness for self-sacrifice, the real, and not ostentatious, suffering of the National Bolsheviks for the idea evokes respect among young people. As a rule, “leftists” are not mocked, but their convictions are not shared. After all, left-wing activists are also captives of mass culture. Nationalist movements are quite sharply rejected. The vast majority of members of the blogging community are internationalists. Their ideal is “citizens of the world,” children of different national cultures who move freely around the world and communicate with each other. Nationalists, and especially their aggressive wing, are associated with savagery and barbarism.
Some bloggers attend various political events, but they go there mainly to “have fun”, in other words, to have fun, and not at all to defend their point of view.
Young people prefer to observe political life, make caustic criticisms, but not interfere in anything. Unlike the traditional Russian and Soviet intelligentsia, who observed political life with a sense of tragedy, modern youth joke and have fun. Absurdist flash mobs became an expression of this easy attitude.
A flash mob is a collective action, which, as a rule, is of a ridiculous nature, from the point of view of most citizens. For example, several dozen or hundreds of young people may gather and begin to squat or repeat the same word at the same time.
Once in Novosibirsk on May 1, representatives of various political parties gathered in the main square of the city to hold rallies. About a hundred flash mobbers came there. Young people began to lead a huge round dance around the protesters, holding posters like “No to the colonization of Mars”, “No to the exploitation of the theme of Siberian savagery in modern art”, etc. Some of the posters were written in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.
Neither the protesters nor the police knew what to do. The organizers of the May Day demonstration could not understand what it was? If a movement, what are its goals? If the protest is against whom and what?
In fact, the flash mobers did not have any specific goals. In general, this is characteristic of the entire young generation of the 2000s - the absence of long-term goals and a “research” approach to one’s own destiny (“life itself will tell you what goals to strive for”). Nevertheless, in addition to simply the desire to shock the public, there is a certain, albeit not always conscious, protest in flash mobs. This is a protest against stereotypes, “correctness,” and the pollution of political and social life. But the protest is precisely in that inactive, ironic form, which is extremely characteristic of “fugitives” from the society of mass culture.
Trend 4
Traveler, but not a tourist
Entertainment and leisure also demonstrate the ardent desire of young people to stand out, “not to be like everyone else.” For example, special types of travel are becoming increasingly popular among young people.
These are long trips, often with stops for several months in the place you like. Travelers of this type strive to live the same way as the local population lives: eat the same food, dress in the same clothes, speak the same language and generally not look like tourists in the eyes of locals. They find some kind of job (or remotely, via the Internet, continue to do the same thing they did in Russia, for example, computer design), rent an apartment or room, and make local friends.
In recent years, a “movement to the south” has begun - to India, Thailand, Vietnam. Since life in these countries is extremely cheap, it is not difficult for young people from Moscow or St. Petersburg to save up an amount with which they then live in the tropics for a year, enjoying the warm climate and a carefree existence. Such Russian travelers appeared in America, Africa and even Australia and New Zealand.
“We belong to the last generation of travelers. The world is rapidly becoming the same; asphalt, democracy and dollars are quickly spreading across the entire surface of the planet.”
The hobbies of modern young people are varied. The very fact that a person has some kind of hobby is important. If in the 90s it was considered normal for young people to have no time for anything other than sleep, then for today’s youth such a lifestyle is completely unacceptable. It is believed that people who do not have hobbies outside of work live unfulfilling lives. Representatives of the “office plankton”, who after a hard and stressful day barely have the strength to crawl to the sofa and, while drinking beer, look blankly at the TV, evoke sharply negative feelings among the modern younger generation.
“I want interesting events. Now I really want to, for example, stalk somewhere, climb vertically, go on a boat trip.”
Modern young people go in for sports (usually extreme sports), look for abandoned places in the “urban jungle”, climb onto the roofs of high-rise buildings in search of beautiful views (roofers), jump from one roof to another (parkour), go down into underground communications ( diggers), participate in the historical reconstruction of various eras and cultures (role-players) - the list of hobbies is endless.
The main criteria when choosing a hobby are its non-banality and “unpromotedness.” The beginning of “commercial exploitation” of a particular hobby (the appearance of advertising, PR campaigns) reduces its attractiveness in the eyes of young people. This happened, for example, with snowboarding and rock climbing. From “advanced” sports, they quickly turned into mass ones and, in youth parlance, “got populated.”
Trend 5
Refusal of prestigious consumption
Modern young people are not characterized by prestigious consumption. The youth of the 90s were obsessed with status. There was a clear imperative - if you were successful, you had to dress in Gucci or Armani, drive a Mercedes or BMW, drink Hennessey cognac and smoke Davidoff or Parliament cigarettes.
For young people in the 2000s, the value of status is no longer absolute. At least, modern young people are not ready to buy goods just because in the eyes of others they are prestigious and indicate material wealth. It cannot be said that modern youth are completely oblivious to public opinion. However, if ten years ago young people sought to demonstrate their financial success, now they want to emphasize their individuality. A suit for a representative of the 2000s generation can include both expensive brands and very cheap ones, and even non-branded items - the main thing is that the resulting combination is typical for you.
The advent of “individual” consumption to replace “status” consumption has thoroughly mixed the cards for marketers. Ten years ago, young consumers could be more or less clearly structured according to income. Today we can very often meet young people who buy clothes of the same inexpensive brand, smoke the same elite cigarettes, and at the same time their income differs significantly.
Increased interest in shopping is considered a sign of limitations among young people. There are, however, exceptions. For example, attention is paid to the purchase of a computer and computer equipment. Carefully select hobby-related items, such as sports equipment or cameras.
Trend 6
Generation of Skeptics
The generation of 2000s can rightly be called the generation of skeptics. Young people do not believe advertising, do not trust the media, and are extremely skeptical of various PR campaigns. They understand perfectly well that behind all advertising campaigns there is a purely pragmatic desire to sell a product.
“The “battle for consumer consciousness” is perceived as a kind of game: companies strive to gain our favor and bombard us with advertising and PR campaigns - OK, we will watch these attempts with interest”
Some respect is given to elegant advertising campaigns that achieve maximum results with a minimum of funds. Massive campaigns with million-dollar budgets are perceived more skeptically. And advertising that tries to openly and primitively deceive the consumer (for example, “bank loans at 0%”) causes sharp rejection. Moreover, an “expert” attitude towards advertising is characteristic not only of professionals, but also of those young people who have nothing to do with advertising and PR.
And yet, despite the ardent desire to distance themselves from mass culture, modern young people in many ways remain “children of the consumer society.” They physically cannot do without a dozen or two personal hygiene items, without quality products, without sushi, disposable tableware and a host of other delights of civilization.
What will happen to our generation next? Probably, after 30 years, the vast majority of bloggers integrate into various professional communities, get married, and have children. A high level of education and the presence of various social connections will provide them with a fairly high position in society. However, most inhabitants of the LiveJournal space prefer not to think about the future. It's too boring.
Conclusion
“I try not to think about the future, i.e. about such a global future... It’s somehow more pleasant to live today. For me, the future is today Wednesday, tomorrow Thursday, and this is already the future. I live for today, hour, minute. Therefore, almost everything that is a little further is the future for me, I don’t chase after it, that is, I have no desire to “rewind” time forward. Old age is in the future, and I am young, healthy, energetic (as they say, pretty good-looking), I’m afraid of getting old.”
Performer: 5th year student
correspondence F.T.Zh. 03-21z
Head: Alexandrova N.A.
Sources
1. Pearson T. System of modern societies. M., 1997.
2. Fokht - Babushkin Yu.U. Art in people's lives. SP. 2001.
3. Yadov V.A. Sociological research: methodology, program, methods. M., 1995.
4. Yadov V.A. Strategy of sociological research. Description, explanation, understanding of social reality. M., 1999