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This article is devoted to the analysis of the most effective tools for the influence of youth socio-political organizations on the political activity of the youth masses. The main, most popular and effective tools for influencing youth associations on the consciousness and behavior of their target audiences are informational impact (with the help of mass media), impact through specially organized events and actions (“event” impact), the possibility of career advancement and / or participation in the personnel reserve of the authorities, direct and indirect provision of financial resources, as well as the impact of a specific personality of the leader on the behavior of the youth audience. Only the combined use of these tools will achieve concrete results in the work of youth socio-political organizations and associations. At the same time, in modern conditions, it is especially important for youth organizations to put into practice the principles of effective management and strategic planning, segmentation of their own audiences, and implement a competent information policy.

political processes.

civil society

government

political institutions

politic system

political behavior

political activity

youth

Youth socio-political organizations

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2. Koryakovtseva O. A. Management of the development of socio-political activity of the youth of the regions // Proceedings of the 7th international conference of the faculty of public administration of Moscow State University. M. V. Lomonosov. - M: MAKS Press, 2009. - S. 75-84.

3. Youth Parliamentary Movement of Russia [Electronic resource] / Official website of the project "United Youth Parliamentary Movement" - Access mode: http://www.newparlament.ru/ (accessed 20.10.2013)

4. Pastukhova L.S. Problems of political participation of youth / L.S. Pastukhova // Power. - 2011. - No. 6. - P.71-73.

5. Young People in the New Russia: Lifestyles and Value Priorities // Friedrich Ebert Foundation and Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.- Moscow, 2007. -205 p.

Introduction

The study of the current situation in the youth movement in Russia, the features of the formation of the worldview and mentality of youth groups, the specifics of the functioning of youth organizations and associations, as well as the specific social experience of organizational work with youth are necessary to identify new opportunities for integrating the young generation into the social structures of society.

Today, in many socially and economically developed subjects of the Russian Federation, a situation has developed in which the process of self-organization of youth has led to the creation of youth organizations, which, in turn, began to actively influence the formation of youth policy in the regions, to contribute to one degree or another to the development civil society institutions.

The key concept in matters of self-organization of the youth environment is the concept of political activity of the younger generation.

The term socio-political activity should be used to denote varying degrees of intensity and involvement of citizens in the political process. At the heart of the formation of motivation for social and political activity is awareness, interest in information about politics, confidence in one's ability to influence political decision-making. "The degree of management of the socio-political activity of young people is also influenced by the specifics of the institutional context of the political system, which is determined by the type of political regime, the nature of the electoral system and administrative procedures" .

It must be admitted that the political and social activity of modern Russian youth is rather low, especially in comparison with the older generation. Thus, according to the results of a study conducted by the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences together with the representative office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in the Russian Federation, almost every second young Russian polled (49%) has not participated in the socio-political life of the country, region, city in recent years. Among the older generation, this percentage is 37%. More than half of the respondents (51%) do not know anything about the activities of youth social and political organizations, only 18% have heard of them, another 30% found it difficult to answer.

In addition, neither youth organizations nor adult political parties are in the eyes of the majority of young Russians the “social lift” that would allow them to realize themselves. To a directly posed question: “Did you want to become a member of any political party or youth political organization?” - 9% of the respondents gave a positive answer, while the vast majority (70%) categorically refused. Only about 2% stated that they are already members of such organizations.

In our opinion, in many respects, the responsibility for the insufficient effectiveness of interaction between youth organizations and their target audiences and poor information coverage of activities should be placed directly on the leaders and leaders of these organizations, since the success of all work depends on their competent management and building a motivation system.

As a result of in-depth interviews conducted by the author with the leaders of youth parliamentary structures (youth parliaments and governments), commissars of the All-Russian movement "Nashi" and leaders of the NGO "Young Guard" in the subjects of the North Caucasus Federal District, Moscow, Rostov and Tver regions, the city of Moscow became it is possible to identify the reasons for this deficiency.

According to the youth leaders themselves, the main factor holding back the initiative and weakening the effectiveness of work is strict control "from above" over the activities of the youth organization. This is especially true for youth parliamentary structures created under the legislative and / or executive authorities of the region, as well as "youth wings" political parties and pro-government youth organizations, where all activities are subordinated to the interests of the superior leadership.

Another reason for the decline in interest in the activities of youth organizations on the part of the main target audience is the “obvious disappointment in the very political system of our country”, as well as in the “subjective and biased system for selecting young people into youth organizations”. Indeed, young people often become members of youth parliaments or youth governments, whose main motivation is not the desire to work, transforming the reality around them, but people who only strive to receive a membership card that provides a certain political status to its owner. According to the leaders of youth organizations, the interests of such young people are always lobbied by the higher political leadership in the region, but their membership in the organization is of no practical use.

In our opinion, the frequent absence of an effective management system and a strategic plan for the development of a youth organization also negatively affects its perception in the external environment. Perhaps this is due to the lack of managerial experience and the youth of the leaders of youth associations.

Not all leaders give due importance to segmenting their target audiences and building effective feedback with them. It is obvious that the goals, objectives, methods, and, accordingly, the results of working with students, young scientists and intellectual workers, working youth, young people living in rural areas, and the so-called "office proletariat" (office employees of the lower management level) will be completely different. However, such differences in the specifics of the target audience segments in practice are completely ignored by the leadership of youth socio-political associations.

On the whole, the technologies of influence of youth socio-political organizations on the political activity of young people, in our opinion, can be classified as follows.

The first category should include one of the most effective methods of influence in terms of its effectiveness - informational (or “media”) influence. First of all, we mean by this technology the impact with the help of the media and communication.

It should be noted that today the impact on the minds of young people with the help of traditional media is fading into the background, giving way to electronic means of communication - primarily Internet and mobile technologies. The Internet allows youth organizations to solve many problems at the same time with the greatest accessibility and efficiency. First of all, this is the dissemination of information about the events taking place in the field of youth policy, as well as directly about the activities of the youth organizations themselves. At the moment, the vast majority of youth organizations have their own website, as well as official accounts in all social networks - Twitter, Facebook, Vkontakte, Odnoklassniki, Instagram and others, maintain their own blog (Internet diary). Also, the resources of their own site allow youth organizations to create systems of information and advisory support for young people who provide information on issues relevant to young people - education, employment, protection of their own rights, thereby establishing effective feedback with their audiences.

In addition, the Internet solves another very important task - the positioning of youth organizations in the external environment. It includes the promotion of one's own information and ideological product (certain ideas, thoughts, youth policy trends) in a certain environment, on thematic platforms that gather a specific audience, reputation management, creating a favorable image of the organization, attracting new members. And in this context, the leading role is assigned to social networks and blogs have become the main tool on the Internet (Facebook, Twitter, Livejournal, etc.).

Summing up, it should be said that the Internet is a dynamically developing means of mass communication, it has great potential to influence the political consciousness of young people. It lacks a centralized organizational structure, in connection with which it becomes possible to promote the necessary ideas with the help of rumors and other tools that are not available to traditional media. The speed of dissemination of information on the Internet is much higher, which creates favorable conditions for the rapid mobilization of human resources of the organization, besides, the cost of publishing information on Internet resources is much less than in traditional media.

All this allows us to conclude that youth organizations prioritize the use of media means of influencing the political activity of young people.

The next category of impact technologies, in our opinion, should include the so-called "event" impact, that is, the impact on young people during their participation in events and events specially organized for them.

We include mass events, street actions, educational and discussion platforms where young people have the opportunity not only to exchange views, but also to convey their position to opinion leaders and representatives of authorities at various levels. The holding of mass events and street actions is most characteristic of the activities of pro-government youth organizations. Mass actions of pro-government movements cover up to several million participants throughout the country.

It should be noted that the ideologists of the socio-political organization "Young Guard" regularly train their activists in the technologies of holding street actions on specially equipped sites. Mastering the so-called "street technologies" allows each member of the "Young Guard" to properly organize a mass procession or rally, using all the manipulative techniques necessary for this, and achieve the greatest effect on young people.

The most important way of influencing young people, the way to achieve their loyalty is to hold educational and discussion platforms and youth forums. As a rule, the financing of such events is the responsibility of the state, as well as entrepreneurs close to the leadership of the country.

To date, the most famous youth forum at the All-Russian level is the annual Seliger Forum, which was first held in 2005 on the shore of the lake of the same name in the Tver region. Today, the Seliger forum is the main youth platform of the country, where the formation of the ideology, cultural and spiritual community of young people, respect for the history, traditions, culture, religions of the peoples of Russia, as well as the process of recruiting political leaders among the youth, creating new youth social -political projects, in a sense, the future political elite of the country is being formed.

In general, we can say that holding such educational and discussion platforms is a way to create an effective mechanism for the inclusion of young citizens in the socio-political and socio-economic life of the regions of the Russian Federation, creates a fertile ground for the development of communities focused on the development of the country, and a society of initiative young leaders, prepared to achieve the goals of youth organizations and movements. At the forums, participants of youth movements have the opportunity to directly address the leadership of the country and their region in order to express their opinion on the proposals and strategies developed by the authorities, to formulate their own proposals for regional and local authorities, to build a constructive dialogue with other youth associations and organizations, to work on their own projects, to exchange experience.

At the same time, it is worth noting that the youth authorities often send the same composition of young people to participate in such forums and educational platforms. This fact can be explained by an obvious shortcoming on the part of regional and local committees on youth affairs. Of course, it is quite convenient for them to work with a certain composition of the audience from year to year, as a rule, these are young activists who have already been proven in their work. However, in practice, this approach leads to some “staffing stagnation” - young people who have the opportunity to constantly participate in grant competitions and other similar events lose their motivation to achieve effective results over time. While a huge number of active and capable young people who want to attend an educational forum or get support for the implementation of their project are deprived of this opportunity, because they cannot be selected in their region. As a result, young people begin to feel disappointed in the system of youth policy, they lose their desire to actively participate in social and political life, therefore a competent, strictly professional and objective approach to working with the target audience of committees on youth affairs in the regions and locally is especially important here.

Another effective technology for influencing the activity of young people and attracting them to participate in a youth socio-political organization is the possibility of career advancement and / or participation in the personnel reserve of government bodies. In fact, a real opportunity for career growth is provided mainly by youth parliamentary structures.

Based on the results of a study of the composition of youth parliaments and governments of the North Caucasus, Southern and Central federal districts, it can be concluded that mainly young people who want to realize themselves in the political sphere come to try their hand at these organizations.

As a member of the youth parliamentary structure, a young person has a real opportunity to participate in the development of legal acts, represent the interests of young people in government and local governments, and establish relationships with representatives of legislative and executive authorities. The above opportunities make it possible to further advance a political career young man. To date, more than a thousand people from former members of youth parliaments throughout Russia have received deputy mandates at the federal, regional and municipal levels, which indicates that youth parliamentarism is in fact an effective school for training young political cadres.

Another opportunity for career advancement in the political sphere is participation in pro-government mass organizations and movements. At the moment, most of the former commissioners of the Nashi movement, heads of regional and local branches, activists of the Young Guard and Young Russia organizations are members of the State Duma, the Federation Council, the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, legislative and executive authorities at the regional and municipal levels .

In general, it can be concluded that the possibility of realizing a political career is a serious incentive for participation in youth socio-political organizations of politically active and conscious youth striving to continue their activities in the political sphere. In turn, the state, under whose control are mass pro-government movements and youth parliamentary structures, creates a real opportunity for politically oriented youth to achieve their goals.

Also, in our opinion, it is advisable to separate into a separate category direct or indirect financial incentives for young people participating in the activities of a particular youth socio-political organization.

The most common way of financial incentives for activists of pro-government youth organizations is to provide them with state grants. The main operators of presidential and government grants for youth and youth organizations in our country are the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs, the State Club Personnel Reserve Training Foundation, the Center for New Youth Policy, and the All-Russian Foundation "National Perspectives" that existed until 2013.

The main areas of support for youth initiatives are youth entrepreneurship, involvement of young people in innovative activities, work with talented youth, and support for social initiatives. Activities in the framework of these areas are implemented in the form of the creation and functioning of schools for young entrepreneurs, the work of innovative conventions and the systematic holding of thematic forums with the obligatory presence of a conveyor of youth projects.

Of course, participation in grant competitions and programs not only provides a real opportunity to promote specific youth initiatives, but also is a serious incentive for young people to participate in the activities of youth socio-political organizations. As a result of such interaction with young people, the state receives information about the problems of the youth environment, its “pain points”, and also has the opportunity to influence the formation of trust and loyalty of the younger generation.

However, often the provision of gratuitous financial assistance in the form of grants or bonuses for young people has a negative side. Today, there is a fairly common tendency to spend funds received by young people from the state for the implementation of projects for other purposes. This problem is especially acute in the North Caucasian Federal District, since it is on its territory that the annual Mashuk Forum is held, the main purpose of which is to provide grant support for the initiatives of the North Caucasian youth. At present, this issue has been taken under the personal control of A.G. Khloponin.

It should be noted that certain progress in solving this specific problem already exists, however, the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs, the All-Russian Fund "National Perspectives" as the main operators of government grants for youth should more carefully monitor the spending of funds by grantees, since it is they who are responsible for the main responsibility, including for the distribution of grant funds in the competition of youth projects.

Another instrument of influence, which is in the arsenal of youth socio-political organizations, which has a real impact on the consciousness of its members, is the very personality of the leader or head of the organization.

A youth leader, a leader of a youth organization is a person who represents and defends the interests of people of his age category in the social and political environment. In order to earn the respect of their like-minded people, authority among them, a youth leader must have charisma, self-confidence and courage. In essence, this should be a very bright personality who knows how to find mutual language with the majority of representatives of his own and older generation, is able to attract people, he must have a greater amount of information than his peers, be diplomatic and persistent at the same time.

The history of youth socio-political organizations of modern Russia knows the names of young leaders who not only achieved great political heights, but also managed to leave their mark on the development of the youth policy of our country.

Of course, in our opinion, such leaders include Vasily Yakemenko and Sergey Belokonev - the former leaders of the Nashi movement, Ilya Kostunov - who for many years was the director of the Seliger forum, now a deputy of the State Duma, Ruslan Gattarov and Timur Prokopenko, in for various times headed the "Young Guard of United Russia", currently a member of the Federation Council and a deputy of the State Duma, respectively, Maxim Mishchenko - the leader of the "Young Russia" movement and others. According to numerous surveys of activists of these youth organizations conducted by the author of the study, the young leaders listed above have powerful charisma, charm, the gift of persuasion and excellent management skills, at a certain moment it was the personality of the leader that had a decisive influence on the respondents in their desire to join the youth organization.

There are also young people at the head of regional and local youth organizations who have pronounced leadership qualities. Moreover, it becomes a more difficult task to rally and unite the youth of a region or city around itself, since young leaders in the region do not have such powerful administrative, financial, human and technical resources as their counterparts at the federal level. Accordingly, at the regional and local levels, the personality of the leader plays a truly decisive role in uniting the members of the youth organization and attracting new members to its ranks.

However, there is a very great danger of concentrating all the work, public attention and additional privileges only on the person of the leader. Quite often, young leaders deliberately close on themselves absolutely all the activities of the youth association - not trusting their colleagues, they take personal control over any business or process in the organization, reserve the right to participate in socio-political and image events exclusively. Of course, such behavior of young leaders can lead to strategic errors in operational management, in the work of the team, its disunity, up to the liquidation of the organization.

Summing up the analysis of the mechanisms and technologies of the impact of youth associations on the political consciousness and behavior of Russian youth, we can draw several conclusions.

The main, most demanded, relevant and effective tools for influencing youth associations on the consciousness and behavior of their target audiences are informational impact (with the help of mass media), impact with the help of specially organized events and actions (“event” impact), the possibility of career advancement and / or participation in the personnel reserve of government bodies, direct and indirect provision of financial resources, as well as the impact of a particular leader's personality on the behavior of a youth audience. Only the combined use of these tools will make it possible to achieve specific and necessary results in the work of youth socio-political organizations and associations.

At the same time, it must be taken into account that the effectiveness of the work of a youth organization as a whole largely depends on the effective and correctly calculated managerial approach of the head of the organization. Very often, the leaders of youth associations act chaotically in their work, ignoring the principles of strategic planning and organization management, not implementing a competent information policy. The result of such an illiterate approach is the lack of a clear strategy for the development and positioning of the youth organization in the external environment.

In our opinion, in order to more effectively achieve the goals and objectives of the youth association, more successful ideological impact on the youth audience, attracting new members to their ranks, leaders and ideological inspirers of youth organizations must observe several important principles.

First of all, it is very important to clearly segment your audiences, that is, to divide them into certain groups, united according to some characteristics and qualities, different from each other. At the moment, the main target audiences, replenishing the ranks of socio-political organizations, are student youth, young scientists and intellectual workers, working youth, young people living in rural areas, and the so-called "office proletariat". Obviously, the goals, objectives, methods, and, accordingly, the results of working with the above segments of the youth audience will be completely different.

For example, young intellectuals and office workers will be more affected by information received on the Internet. This is mainly due to the specifics of the work activity of this target group - activities related to information technology, as well as a high level of trust in the Internet, compared to traditional media, the peculiarities of the sedentary lifestyle, in which young people spend most of their time in front of computer monitor.

Participation in public events and street actions will have the greatest impact on working youth, since it is quite typical for non-intellectual labor workers to experience a “feeling of the crowd”, that is, a sense of belonging to the actions and emotions of a crowd of thousands and, accordingly, receiving moral satisfaction from this.

The opportunity to receive funds for the implementation of one's own social or business initiative will most of all stimulate student youth, as well as young entrepreneurs and scientists, to participate in specific programs. Since these target groups have a solid theoretical and practical basis for the implementation of project activities, a special innovative type of thinking.

For rural youth, the personality of the leader will play an important role. In rural areas, where all residents know each other, as well as in conditions where young people are striving to move to the city, it is very important to be able to “ignite” young people, prove to them the need for their participation in youth policy, and engage them in socially significant activities. This is available only to a charismatic and bright, self-confident leader.

In addition, in modern conditions of high competition in the field of youth policy, the struggle for the consciousness of the youth audience, strengthening the positions of anti-government associations, organizations of a radical orientation, it is especially important for youth organizations to implement a competent information policy - this means active coverage of their own activities, work on attracting new ones to their ranks. members, a clear ideological position. In conjunction with the application of the principles of effective management and strategic planning, the above measures will help youth associations more effectively achieve their statutory goals and objectives, develop and attract new like-minded people to their ranks.

Reviewers:

Vartumyan A.A., Doctor of Pediatric Sciences, Professor, Professor of the Department of Conflictology, Public Relations and Journalism, Pyatigorsk State Linguistic University, Pyatigorsk.

Stankevich G.V., Doctor of Pediatric Sciences, Associate Professor, Professor of the Department of International Relations, World Economy and International Law, Pyatigorsk State Linguistic University, Pyatigorsk.

Bibliographic link

Lisitsa E.S., Konstantinova A.S. MECHANISMS AND TECHNOLOGIES OF THE IMPACT OF YOUTH SOCIO-POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONS ON THE POLITICAL ACTIVITY OF RUSSIAN YOUTH // Contemporary Issues science and education. - 2013. - No. 5.;
URL: http://science-education.ru/ru/article/view?id=10705 (date of access: 02/01/2020). We bring to your attention the journals published by the publishing house "Academy of Natural History" Home / Humanitarian information portal “Knowledge. Understanding. Skill» / №2 2013

Grigorenko B. Yu. Socio-political activity of youth in modern conditions

UDC 316.012

Grigorenko B. Yu. The Social and Political Activity of Youth in the Modern Context

Annotation ◊ The article analyzes the social activity of young people in the sphere of political life and its impact on the life of society as a whole. The author notes that youth activities are non-linear with a special degree of uncertainty and risk.

Keywords: socio-political activity, youth, youth in politics, social structure, politics.

Abstract◊ The article analyzes the social activity of youth in political life and its influence on the society at large. The author notes that youth activity is of non-linear character with a particular degree of uncertainty and risk.

keywords Keywords: social and political activity, youth, youth in politics, social structure, politics.

The problem of socio-political activity of youth continues to be one of the most urgent. This is due to the special social role of youth in the reproduction of the social structure and social relations. “Involving in society, integrating into its structures, young people will not only inherit the living conditions and relationships left to them by their parent generations, but also transform them, realizing their innovative potential. Thus, the reproduction of the social structure by young people, as well as their own development, is carried out.

Events in the post-Soviet space - in Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, known as "color revolutions", and more recently in the Middle East and North Africa show that one of the main driving forces in them is precisely the youth. Her reflection on the political regime, economic and state of the countries, growing corruption, a significant gap between the incomes and lifestyles of the rich and the poor, the reproduction of the poor and unemployed people cause objective dissatisfaction on the part of, above all, educated youth. It is this category that is under the threat of its professional lack of demand due to the raw material nature of the economy of a number of states. At the same time, the younger generation around the world is actively mastering new technologies, mainly the Internet, which has become effective tool formation of political views, expectations and reactions in the sphere of political relations. Therefore, the youth becomes the main driving force of the revolutionary movement.

Under the socio-political activity of youth in the most general form is understood "a form of social activity implemented in the sphere of national and international politics; one of the fundamental elements of human behavior in political life". A specific expression of socio-political activity is "a set of individual actions - actions and interactions aimed at achieving a political goal and which are the interaction of individuals in politics" . At the same time, the actions themselves can be quite diverse, targeted and not have a specific addressee, be organized or spontaneous, systematic or situational. The functions of such activity may also be different. Therefore, socio-political activity can be not only creative, but also capable of causing damage, showing the negative qualities of an individual, deforming political institutions and public opinion.

The socio-political activity is most fully manifested in the participation on a permanent basis in the work of socio-political movements, parties, peacekeeping and environmental associations, human rights organizations, various structures of collective self-realization of citizens (initiative pressure groups, public expert councils, etc.). Electoral activity has a pronounced political character.

Within the framework of the established research traditions, socio-political activity is considered as part of the integral concept of "social activity" and acts both as an activity and as a stable property of a person. There are five most general signs of activity that characterize the initiative capabilities of living systems and are of great methodological importance for understanding the sociological essence, including socio-political activity. V. S. Borovik refers to them as follows: 1) the absence of indifference to significant, vital influences of the external environment (as opposed to simple reactivity, i.e., the inevitable response to minor changes in the external environment; 2) the presence of a set of properties that ensure self-propulsion social matter, expressed in self-determination, self-determination social systems, in their ability to self-regulation, self-organization, self-preservation, self-reproduction, self-development, etc.; 3) the orientation of the impact on the environment, associated with overcoming external destructive forces in forms accessible to sociosystems; 4) the orientation of the system to the future - a property that is revealed in the concept of "promising activity" and is realized in the "anticipatory reflection of reality", or the model of the "required future"; 5) the choice by the system of the nature of behavior in changing environmental conditions. The totality of these properties characterizes the mechanism that provides social systems with an independent force of response. This force is more correctly described by the term activity» .

With regard to the socio-political activity of young people in its relationship with the trust in the authorities, the listed signs of activity are specified as follows. So, lack of indifference to significant, vital environmental influences means reflection on the activities of the authorities, when "reflections are subject to reflection on the ideas, aspirations and actions of significant others: institutions of power, political parties and individual politicians, public organizations and informal associations of citizens", participation in elections, various socio-political events, high degree motivated, informed participation. At the same time, both criticism and support for the authorities can be active.

The presence of a set of properties that ensure the self-movement of social matter, expressed in self-determination, self-determination of social systems, in their ability to self-regulate, self-organize, self-preservation, self-reproduction and self-development directly related to the socio-political initiatives of youth; its participation in the adoption of socially significant decisions, in the activities of political parties, associations, movements, which are a form of their self-organization. In this property, the essence of youth, identified by V. I. Chuprov, is fully manifested as a becoming subject of social reproduction, realizing three most important functions in society - reproduction, innovation and translation. On the one hand, young people reproduce socio-political structures, on the other hand, they change them based on their innovative potential and develop themselves under their influence. In solidarity with one or other political ideas, young people contribute to the reproduction of the corresponding political structures and realization of certain social and political interests. This process, remaining under the influence of external socio-political conditions, is in many respects a process of self-development, active political choice. If in previous periods this side of life was quite clearly regulated and modeled according to a given vector, then in modern conditions of greater liberalization of social and political life, the options for including various groups of young people in the sphere of political relations have expanded significantly. This finds expression in new forms of its self-organization based on individualized goals and values. “A significant role in the formation of individualized goals and values ​​belongs to reference self-organized groups, youth subcultures and is influenced by group differentiation, determined by the socio-demographic, status and socio-psychological characteristics of people, as well as national and ethnic differences, the nature of social expectations, and unequal living conditions. , the degree of stability/instability of an individual life situation. The reflection of these signs in the minds of young people gives significant features of the socio-cultural self-regulation of this socio-demographic group.

The direction of impact on the environment associated with overcoming external destructive forces It is expressed in the search for accessible forms of influence on socio-political events, on decisions made by the government, on the policy it cites.

Orientation of the system to the future, its "prospective activity" and "anticipatory reflection of reality" is determined by one of the features of youth consciousness - transgressiveness.

Transgressiveness is called “the ability of consciousness to overcome barriers (symbolic boundaries, taboos, stereotypes) between the existing and new space for itself, to transfer patterns of the future into one’s life. It is realized in the individual and group construction of social reality at the micro and macro levels: from one's own biography to the image of society as a whole. “Manifesting itself in the form of a social attitude and being realized in the mechanism of individual and group construction of social reality, transgressivity is an integral part of the innovative function of youth, it acts as a form of manifestation of prefigurative culture” .

Most young people grew up in new socio-economic conditions. Their interests and values ​​are increasingly at odds with those of their parents. Young people are not burdened by the burden of the past and are distinguished by their desire to determine the values ​​that are relevant for themselves and to make a choice of behavioral models that meet the requirements not so much of today as of tomorrow. An appeal to the past, an attempt to reach the hearts of modern boys and girls, using the values ​​of older generations, does not meet with understanding. On the contrary, the appeal to the future is a great success among the young. In this case, the fact that young people are not united in their vision of the future is not so important, that every second person sees it as the result of a development path that is special for Russia, and every fifth person supports Western models of society. The determining factor in this mechanism is the special orientation of the consciousness and behavior of young people (needs, interests, values, attitudes), based on the orientation of everyday behavior, meanings and goals of life to patterns of a priori, intuitively perceived future.

Finally, choice of the nature of behavior in changing environmental conditions reflects an independent search for forms of socio-political subjectivity, participation in socio-political life and ways of interacting with the authorities in a changing social reality. In the recent past, the idea of ​​the so-called 100% political activity of young people was professed in our country. At the same time, only those forms of activity were recognized that demonstrated the solidarity of young people with the official ideology. Any others were considered antisocial and were suppressed. Such mass activity, but only in officially approved forms, testified to the bureaucratization of political life and destroyed the motivation for innovation.

Modern society, on the contrary, is distinguished by the variety of forms of youth participation in political life and the manifestation of socio-political activity. The youth in it acts as an active, self-organized actor in the socio-political space, which fully corresponds not only to the processes of liberalization and emancipation of youth, but also to the objective conditions of nonlinearity, uncertainty and risk. “Social uncertainty,” Yu. A. Zubok and V. I. Chuprov note, “is a special state of a social object, a phenomenon that manifests itself in the lack of structure of its external and internal connections and in the absence of direct determinations between them, in which any change is of a poorly predictable probabilistic nature » . Non-linear relationships that arise in the absence of unambiguous determinants of multiple alternatives increase the risk. Moreover, both forms of risk are intensifying - both objective, i.e. environmental, due to the growing uncertainty of living conditions, and subjective, i.e. activity, associated with one's own value choice in the process of one's self-determination in the socio-political sphere. If environmental risk, according to the concept of Yu. A. Zubok, is provoked by instability and non-linearity of socio-political interactions, then activity risk is associated with the need to search for new ways and forms of socio-political activity. Often this choice is made spontaneously, outside of institutionalized political organizations and movements, but solely on the basis of self-regulation and self-organization. The reason for this choice may be unstructured - the absence of organizations representing the real political interests of young people, or distrust of these organizations on the part of young people. All this leads to individualized improvisations in the field of socio-political activity. Therefore, “unstructuredness as a characteristic feature of uncertainty ... is accompanied by the interaction of an almost unlimited number of self-organized actors. Therefore, in the action of social mechanisms, the processes of self-ordering and self-organization stand out ... Non-linear social dynamics is characterized by many ways of development. At the same time, "the choice is made by cognitive subjects who are able to comprehend and evaluate the consequences of the differentiation of society with respect to a limited number of future societal actors" . As a result, the multidirectional actions of social actors in the socio-political space are ordered on the basis of the realization of their innovative potential and the potential of self-organization, which leads to the formation of a new social order, determined by I. Prigogine and I. Stengers as "order out of chaos".

At the same time, it is important to emphasize that the fact of activity, including socio-political activity, is not identical with the fact of activity: “a separate system, being active in any respect, may not show activity in the same respect, i.e., remain passive regardless from the quantitative characteristics of the activity (intensity, intensity, effectiveness). Consequently, passivity means both the absence of activity and its special character, consisting in imposition and alienation. In this sense, activity stands out as an internal necessity and as a purely external, imposed inevitability. In this case, two types of activity are formed - autonomous and mobilization. “Autonomous activity is understood as a free manifestation by a person not only of the activity of actions, but also of the activity of the spirit. Mobilization activity (forced) is synonymous with politicization and is presented in the form of the implementation of appropriate age-oriented youth state programs. In other words, we are talking about purposeful organization youth, where it acts more as an object of external regulation and targeting of management and consisting in the free choice not only of its forms, but also of intensity. Both types of activity can be found in a society, but the ratio between them varies significantly depending on the degree and level of freedom. It is noted that “in totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, the mobilization type of participation dominates. Democracy is more inherent in the autonomous type, although even under a democratic regime there are elements of the mobilization behavior of individuals.

Analyzing the long process of formation of the prerequisites for the socio-political activity of modern youth, one cannot fail to see its complex and extremely contradictory nature. “In relation to young people, the authorities showed a kind of juvenophobia and distrust. They flirted with her, but tried to keep her away from the political administration. As a result, under the conditions of the administrative-command system, a peculiar technocratic approach to the younger generation has developed, mainly as an object of socialization, ideological influence, education, a passive executor of ready-made decisions. Such an approach could not but affect political activity and the real participation of young people in political life. Despite the formal observance of the representation of this part of society in elected state bodies, its actual influence on politics remained disproportionately small. Strictly limited by institutional forms, the political activity of young people was more of a ritual nature and often did not reflect their real group interests and capabilities. The sincere desire of young people and even youth organizations to change something, encountering insurmountable obstacles from the well-functioning bureaucratic system, was replaced by disappointment. More often than not, this ended with the rejection of the struggle and the adoption of the ideology of conformism. As a result, there was a massive alienation of young people from the exercise of power functions, which ultimately led to disappointment and discontent. “It is no accident that young people in the late 1980s and early 1990s came out on the side of the forces aimed at destroying the system, which hampered the movement of Russian society along the path of democratic reforms. However, very soon a surge of political activity gave way to indifference, apathy, and political nihilism. Such a situation not only deprived young people of certainty in reflecting what was happening and made their future unpredictable, but also undermined the emerging democratic values ​​in their minds, the attitude to participate in political life. It was during this period that there was an increase in distrust in the current political power among the youth, a complete or partial alienation of young people from political life. The lived experience is reproduced in the new socio-political conditions by the children of the generation that experienced such disappointment.

As for the current Russian youth, M. K. Gorshkov and F. E. Sheregi note, they cannot be accused of complete apathy towards politics, however, its high political activity cannot be called.

Research conducted by sociologists in the late 90s, the authors of the analytical report “Youth of Russia: Value Priorities” note, showed that “then young people were left to their own devices, had little interest in politics and were poorly included in the social and political life of the country. The situation is completely different today, the researchers note. Unlike the post-Soviet elites, who are mainly engaged in the redistribution of property and power, the current political class, especially after the "orange revolutions" in the post-Soviet space, shows an increased interest in young people. Numerous youth organizations have sprung up in the country, and most parties have “acquired” their own “youth wings”, as a result of which some observers have a sense of a noticeable politicization of Russian youth.” However, the results of the study, as noted in the report, do not confirm this. This circumstance is not confirmed by the data of other studies. “While the political interests of young people are poorly structured, there is no generational ideology, most young people distance themselves from any form of political life, becoming objects of political manipulation, a contradictory attitude towards power structures, a nihilistic-instrumental vector of political attitudes and an intuitive search for patterns of adaptation of established political forms to suit your needs.

“Against the background of prevailing pragmatization, relations acquire an imitation character. They apply to elections to government bodies, and to the activities of political parties, and to the behavior of politicians, and to the electoral behavior of the general population. The subject can imitate the acceptance of duties, functions, pursuing his pragmatic goals. Such attitudes in political life are aimed not so much at achieving political goals, but at solving material problems, career growth, achievements in business, etc. In this case, the ZIRCON group researchers note, political activity becomes more “systemic”: young people are increasingly demonstrates readiness to participate in party structures, considering the party and public path as one of the options for implementing a quick career growth strategy.

As for the surge in youth activity after the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation, where they were one of the main participants in both protest actions and speeches in support of the current government, this was more likely a situational reaction to the ongoing processes. For the most part, being repeatedly deceived by various political regimes, young people do not see the possibility of changes, do not strive for active participation in political life. The emerging nihilism is reflected in political orientations, attitudes towards power structures, in ignoring youth movements, public and political organizations, as well as in reorienting one's activity to other goals.

Bibliographer. description: Grigorenko B. Yu. Socio-political activity of youth in modern conditions [Electronic resource] // Information humanitarian portal “Knowledge. Understanding. Skill". 2013. No. 2 (March - April). URL: / [archived at WebCite] (Accessed: dd.mm.yyyy).

receipt date: 20.04.2013.

Introduction.

In this work, an attempt was made to understand the rather little-covered topic of youth political organizations in the Russian Federation, as well as to answer several important issues: For what purpose are youth organizations created? Do they form an idea of ​​civil society among young people or are they one of the ways to enter power? What are the characteristics of modern youth parties?

The relevance of research youth political organizations in the Russian Federation is due to the need to build a new political system, as well as the formation of ideas about civil society among the population. The current system of youth movements that took shape after 2005 is quite complex and ineffective, but transformation mechanisms have already been launched inside it, which, ultimately, will create a new system of political relations between youth and power. The study of the current, transitional phase will make it possible to understand youth movements in general, and in the future, to predict the situation.

object work is the system of youth political movements in the Russian Federation.

Subject studies are the most famous youth organizations in Russia and their activity in the political system.

The purpose of scientific work is an analysis of the activity of youth political movements. In this regard, I plan to solve the following research tasks:

• Consider the main political youth organizations of the Russian Federation, in terms of their activities.
  
• Provide a brief description of each of the movements, according to the author's methodology.
  
• To typologize youth political movements in Russia.
  
• Highlight the general trends in the development of youth political organizations.
  
• Determine the periods of activity of youth movements.
  
• To assess the activity of youth movements in the Russian segment of the Internet.
  
• To characterize the Russian political system of youth organizations.
  

Research methods:

Content analysis, sociological and expert surveys, statistical data processing, studying the material of scientific publications on the problem.

The largest youth political organizations in the Russian Federation.

At present, there are quite a few large political youth associations in Russia. Apart from regional organizations, only a few really large organizations can be noted at the moment in the Russian Federation. This article will consider only some of the most characteristic or large of them.

Spring

Eurasian Youth Union.

Leninist Communist Youth Union of the Russian Federation (LKSM RF).

Young guard.

Youth organization of the LDPR.

Youth Apple.

A brief description of.

Spring.

Number: about a hundred people.

Activity: most likely experiencing the peak of activity at the moment. Most often, they hold a few events that are widely covered by their own press on social networks.

Eurasian Youth Union.

Number: from one (probable number of participants, calculated on the basis of data on cells and divisions of the ECM in Russia) to 25 thousand people (clearly inflated number, often indicated in the media by ECM leaders).

Activity: the peak of activity was in 2005-2011. Currently, it practically does not carry out its own large-scale projects.

LKSM RF.

Number: approximately 3 thousand people throughout Russia.

Activity: focuses on military-patriotic projects and rallies-demonstrations held under the auspices of the Communist Party. Over the past few years, they have been actively expanding their activities against the backdrop of growing pro-Soviet sentiments in the Russian Federation.

Young guard.

Number: 100 thousand people (according to the assurances of Mikhail Cherepanov.), Most likely about five thousand. This conclusion is made on the basis of the analysis of groups of young guard activists in social networks and data received from the heads of regional offices.

Activity: the projects of the Young Guard are primarily associated with the involvement of young people in government projects, and this organization is also the main source of personnel for United Russia.

Youth organization of the LDPR.

Number: from five hundred to a thousand people.

Activity: he practically does not carry out political actions as such, he positions his activities as human rights. Often holds meetings of youth with deputies of the State Duma from the LDPR faction.

Youth Apple.

Number: from one thousand to two thousand people.

Activity: a youth organization with the most extensive field of activity in terms of diversity. As an intra-party association of the Yabloko faction, it defends the interests of the parent party.

The system of youth political organizations in the Russian Federation.

The parties presented above are typical and quite popular youth political organizations in Russia. However, the range of such organizations is much wider. It makes no sense to enumerate small and slightly different youth associations; it will be enough to indicate their communities or categories.

In relation to power:

parties in power.

This includes associations created at the suggestion directly of the leaders of state power or the United Russia party.

Their characteristic features can be called 1) the presence of a sufficiently large administrative resource 2) the absence of a clearly defined ideology 3) focus on defending the interests of the authorities 4) anti-opposition 5) the motivational nature of the involvement of members based on personal self-interest 6) fragility.

Vivid examples of such organizations are or were: Young Guard, Nashi, Young Russia.

The activities of these parties allow using the media to create the image of an oppositionist-enemy and in many ways form public opinion. It is possible that such associations can be effective in the early stages of the "orange" revolutions, however, the authorities cannot count on serious support during unrest, due to the insufficient ideologization of these organizations.

pro-government parties.

Such organizations are created either only with the indirect participation of the authorities, or by forces that have a course towards rapprochement with it.

Pro-government parties 1) have an ideology different from the official one 2) are aggressively anti-oppositional 3) do not agree with the authorities on issues that are not critical, but are tacitly supported by the population 4) are small in number 5) are short-lived.

Examples of such parties are: the Euro-Asian Youth Union, Motherland, the Movement Against Illegal Emigration.

It is difficult to define the specifics of the activities of such associations. It is possible that such projects defend, albeit veiled, the interests of quite specific politicians, such as, for example, Alexander Dugin and Alexander Potkin. The main problem of these organizations is the lack of opportunities to realize the ambitions of young people, the path to power for members of such parties is actually closed.

Pseudo opposition parties.

Here are quite large youth associations created with the direct participation of part of the factions of the State Duma.

These youth organizations 1) are youth understudies of the parent parties 2) defend party interests 3) are ideologized, but only nominally 4) are stable and stable 5) are moderately, declared oppositional.

Parties: Komsomol RF, LDPR youth organization, Youth Apple.

Such associations, by their activities, draw away part of the protest potential from the truly opposition parties and direct it into a channel that is safe for the authorities. In connection with sufficient fame and prevalence in Russia, they block the development of truly left-wing and liberal parties.

opposition parties.

Opposition associations are very heterogeneous and are united only by their antagonistic position towards the authorities.

Opposition youth parties 1) are most often created by a specific person 2) are activated during periods of protest moods 3) do not have a clear program 4) are few in number 5) are extremely short-lived 6) are extremely fragmented.

In Russia, the representatives of the "real" opposition can be called: We, I think, AKM.

The activities of such parties are primarily aimed at traditional criticism of the current government and often do not have a creative aspect. At the moment, opposition organizations do not enjoy sufficient support from the population, and therefore quickly disappear. A possible solution to the problem could be the creation of a bloc of such parties, but all attempts up to this point have invariably failed.

By ideology:

It makes no sense to single out youth political organizations based on their ideological coloring, since this only slightly affects the strategy of the party's behavior.

Innovations of modern youth political organizations.

In general, the all-Russian trends in the field of youth political organizations include:

Active use of the Internet and media space. Miniature youth organizations are emerging, conducting their activities exclusively virtually: through live magazines and social networks. Moreover, the field of their activity is limited to large metropolitan areas with a developed Internet structure. Examples of such parties are: the now defunct “Walking Without Putin”, “We”, as well as the current ones: the student movement “I Think” and the non-party youth association “Spring”, which is expanding its activities in St. Petersburg.

Attempts to create youth organizations based on administrative or financial resources. Such parties are quickly created and in a short time gather a large number of supporters around them. However, in the event of a cessation of the flow of resources, these associations disintegrate at exactly the same speed, leaving no traces behind. These are, for example, the now dead movements "Defense", "Ours", "Walking Together".

Young people are losing interest in politics; apolitical sentiments remain and even intensify in the central regions. The authorities, on the contrary, begin to pay attention to youth organizations and rightly regard them as a significant force in the political struggle.

Figure 1. Infographic "Youth Movements"

Study.

The research I conducted is divided into two stages: the first stage is the identification of the most mentioned and popular youth movement in the Russian-speaking segment of the Internet, the second stage is the conduct of a sociological survey in order to clarify the attitude of citizens towards political youth movements.

I stage.

Research on search engines.

Yandex– share in the Russian-speaking search market – 54.1%

With the help of the internal service “WordStat” of the search engine “Yandex”, the following results were obtained (Fig. 2).

Figure 2. Average monthly number of queries on the Yandex search network

Rambler– share in the Russian-language search market – 0.9%

The internal service "WordStat" of the search engine "Rambler" gave the following result (Fig. 3).

Figure 3. Average monthly number of queries on the search network "Rambler"

Search engines "Google" share of 35% and "Search.Mail.ru" share of 8.3% do not provide data on search queries for keywords. However, based on the number of matching pages and the Google Trands service, it can be assumed that the number of queries on the youth movements under study is negligible.

"In contact with"- share in the Russian-speaking market social networks- 46.67%, results (Fig. 4).

Figure 4. Number of members in the official community group of the Vkontakte social network

facebook- share in the Russian-language market of social networks - 28.64%, results (Fig. 5).

Figure 5. Number of participants in groups of the social network "Facebook"

"Classmates"- share in the Russian-language market of social networks - 14.56%, results (Fig. 6).

Figure 6. Total number of participants in the groups of the Odnoklassniki social network

General traffic activity on the Internet

I used the following formula for the calculation:

(100Z+S+10P)/10000

Where Z- the average monthly number of queries on search engines.

S- the total number of participants in social networks.

P- the average monthly number of visits to the traffic site.

The results obtained are marked in Fig.7.

The youth organization of United Russia, Young Guard, is much more active on the Internet, this is ensured, firstly, by a fairly wide coverage of the movement’s activities on major news portals, including government ones, and secondly, by the active creation of news content, and and, finally, thirdly, the presence of a competent policy for promoting the organization on the Internet.

The Komsomol of the Russian Federation does not have a solid base within Russian social networks, however, due to frequent search queries, as well as being mentioned in news media portals, it ranks first in terms of activity on the Internet among formally non-state youth movements.

The St. Petersburg movement "Spring", which has no more than thirty members, is unexpectedly ahead of the largest youth parties in terms of its activity on the Internet. This is due to the strikingly different type of party from the others. The movement "Spring" is focused primarily on the Internet audience, it conducts its main activities inside the virtual space. Small events, individual, quite resonant, actions. This type of youth movement is gaining popularity in Russia, and gradually takes its niche among other youth movements.

II stage.

In order to study public opinion on the issue of youth movements, I conducted a sociological survey, the coverage of 203 people, aged 14 to 46 years. The results obtained are presented below.

More than half of the respondents (52.1%) believe that society needs youth movements, but such organizations should not be political in nature.

21.5% of respondents indicate that youth movements are also needed, but, on the contrary, they should be primarily political.

16% call youth movements tools of specific political persons and parties.

About ten percent (9.7) believe that youth movements do not play any significant role in the life of society.

Thus, the majority of respondents (68.8%) rather have a negative attitude towards the activities of youth political movements and do not see any practical meaning in them for the whole society as a whole.

The most famous movement is the Young Guard, 68% of respondents are familiar with it.

Next is the youth organization of the Liberal Democratic Party with 26.4% percent.

The Eurasian Union is familiar to 24% of respondents.

The youth apple (14.45), the Komsomol of the Russian Federation (12%) and the Vesna movement (9.6%) are known to only a small proportion of the survey participants. Despite the fact that the Komsomol of the Russian Federation and Vesna are conducting enough vigorous activity on the Internet, these organizations are not widely known among the population.

20% of the population is unfamiliar with any youth movement, which is quite a serious figure.

Based on the results obtained, it can be concluded that the Internet, at this stage of development, is only an auxiliary tool for youth organizations. And a new kind of youth political movements, based primarily on the Internet, cannot yet compete with traditional youth structures.

activity of youth movements.

Studying the chronology of activities of various youth political organizations (Fig. 8), we can conclude that the periods of activity of youth movements are cyclical.

Conventionally, there are two types of cycles: “pre-election” and “crisis”. "Pre-election" in turn are divided into "long" and "short".

"Long pre-election" cycles last five years and are associated with elections to the State Duma, the activity of youth movements slightly increases, but after the elections themselves, it quickly returns to its previous values.

"Short pre-election" cycles have the duration of presidential elections and are directly related to them. The surge in the activity of youth movements is significant and persists for a fairly long period of time.

"Crisis" cycles most often coincide with economic or political crises. The economic crisis spurs the social activity of young people, forcing them to participate more actively in the political life of society. During political crises, youth political organizations are used as tools in the struggle for power. The peak of such cycles is extremely short and largely depends on the actions of the state apparatus.

Outside the peaks of the cycles, the activity of youth movements decreases and is more formal in nature (Fig. 9). This proves that youth movements are focused primarily on working with the external environment. Domestic events with young people are held much less frequently and on a smaller scale.

Figure 9. Cycles of activity of youth political organizations

Conclusion

Youth movements in Russia have yet to go through the stage of institutionalization and integration into the political sphere of society. Most youth political organizations are not capable of implementing large projects and operate only within a limited community. This is due to the rather negative attitude of the population towards politics in general, as well as the low interest of young people in political movements.

Despite the wide and almost ubiquitous spread of the Internet, it has not yet become an alternative to more traditional methods of campaigning. Television, mass demonstrations and direct work with citizens are much more effective.

Youth movements undoubtedly contribute to the most complete understanding of young people about civil society, but in Russia, due to the lack of prevalence of such organizations, their influence on the general state of affairs is minimal.

The desire of the leaders of youth organizations to use the activists of the movement to implement specific political tasks in the interests of the parent party or third parties, the general unwillingness of young people to participate in the political life of the country, the almost complete absence of real legislative power in organizations of this kind - all this does not allow youth political movements to become significant enough figures in modern society.

Perhaps, after a while, youth movements will be able to really influence state power and defend the interests of those for whom they were created, but at the moment the state of affairs leaves much to be desired.

Bibliographic list:

1) Labor and Law: App. to the journal “B-chka trade union. activist." 2009, No. 21: Population policy and youth

2) Elishev S. O., Youth as an object of socialization and manipulation: monograph / S. O. Elishev. - Moscow: MAKS Press, 2013. - 180, p. : schemes. ; 20 cm. - Bibliography: p. 173-180

3) Savelyev V.A., Hot Youth of Russia: Leaders. Organizations and movements. Tactics of street battles. Contacts: desktop book-reference / Savelyev V. A. - Moscow: Kvanta, 2006. - 287 p.
4) Koryakovtseva O. A., State youth policy as a factor in the socio-political activation of youth in post-Soviet Russia / O. A. Koryakovtseva; Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, GOU VPO “Yaroslavl State. ped. un-t im. K. D. Ushinsky”. - Yaroslavl: Yaroslavl state. ped. un-t, 2010. - 232 p. Post views: Please wait

Saint Petersburg State University

Keywords

youth, political activity, sociological survey, youth, political participation, sociological survey

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Annotation to the article

The article examines the political activity of Russian youth in its various subgroups. The degree of involvement of young people in the political life of the country and the forms of political activity that most attract young people are being studied. The materials of a sociological survey conducted in 2013 among students of St. Petersburg universities are analyzed.

Scientific article text

The problem of political activity and the formalization of the socio-political consciousness of today's youth continues to be relevant and attractive to many sociologists working within the framework of this issue. In recent decades, many youth organizations and youth wings of political parties have emerged in Russia. As a result, there is a sense of significant politicization of youth. However, comparative studies do not reveal an increase in the political activity of young Russians in the last decade. Moreover, many studies reveal a low level of youth interest in politics, their weak involvement and passive participation in the political life of the country, which is expressed only in participation in elections. There are only isolated bursts of young people's interest in politics in connection with bright political events. Thus, a survey by the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences showed an extremely low level of youth participation in the political life of society - only 1% of those personally involved in political activities and 14% of those who closely follow information about political events in the country. While 35% are interested in politics only occasionally and 49% are not interested at all. Other authors, on the contrary, point to the recent growth of youth interest in politics and participation in it, especially in the context of recent events in Ukraine. The study presented in this article is based on the materials of a sociological survey of students of St. The sample included 494 university students from St. Petersburg. The analysis and interpretation of the data presented in the article belong to its author. The purpose of this study is to study the political activity and involvement of young people in the political life of the country. These indicators are studied in various subgroups of young people, grouped according to gender, age, material security and place of residence of the respondents. The data obtained during the study show that the majority of St. Petersburg students (71%) show only some interest in politics. Only 16% constantly follow the political life of the country. And 13% of respondents are not interested in politics at all. According to the respondents themselves, a third of them (35%) do not participate in the political life of the country. The majority of respondents (60%) participate only in elections. And only 5% of young people consider themselves politically active. Only 3% are members of any political organization. Let us analyze the level of political activity in various subgroups of young people. Thus, young men are somewhat more likely to consider themselves politically active (see Table 1) and vote in elections more often (64% versus 56% of girls). Whereas among girls there are more of those who do not take any part in the political life of society (41% against 30% of apolitical boys). This distribution of responses is not surprising, since politics is traditionally a male area of ​​activity and interests. Table 1 Distribution of answers to the question "To what extent are you included in the political life of the country?" depending on the gender of respondents (in % of the number of respondents) In general, for the array Men Women I am politically active 5 6 3 I take part only in elections 60 64 56 I do not participate in political life at all 35 30 41 Young people aged 17-18 are much less likely vote in elections compared to older respondents (27% versus 70%). This, of course, is largely due to the fact that those under the age of 18 do not have the right to participate in elections. As a result, 65% of the surveyed young people aged 17-18 do not take any part in the political life of the country, compared to 26-28% of older respondents who do not (see Table 2). Underage respondents who are deprived of the opportunity to vote in elections more often than others refuse to be politically active in general, because they do not see other ways of showing political activity. On the other hand, among the youngest respondents, most of all consider themselves politically active - 8% against 4% of activists among 19-22-year-olds and 3% over 22 years old. Table 2 Distribution of answers to the question "To what extent are you included in the political life of the country?" depending on the age of the respondents (in % of the number of respondents) 17-18 years old 19-22 years old 23 years and older I am politically active 8 4 3 I take part only in elections 27 70 69 I do not participate in political life at all 65 26 28 It is interesting to note the dependence of political activity on the academic performance of students revealed in the analysis of the data. It turns out that the better the students study, the less often they vote in elections: from 56% of the excellent students participating in the elections to 59% of the voting good students and 64% of the three students (see Table 3). At the same time, there are more active participants in political life among excellent students (8% compared to 4% of good students and 3% of C students). Table 3 Distribution of answers to the question “To what extent are you included in the political life of the country? » depending on the progress of the respondents (in % of the number of respondents) I study mostly with “excellent” I study with “good” and “excellent” I study with “good” and “satisfactory” I am politically active 8 5 4 I take part only in elections 56 59 64 I do not participate in political life in any way 36 36 32 There is a certain dependence of the level of political activity of respondents on their financial situation. The higher the material well-being of young people, the less often they participate in elections (52% vs. 60% of the middle-income and 67% of the low-income) and more often turn out to be apolitical (39% vs. 36% of the middle-income and 30% of the low-income) (see Table 4). Apparently, dissatisfaction with their financial situation stimulates young people to become politically active. Table 4 Distribution of answers to the question "To what extent are you included in the political life of the country?" depending on the financial situation of the respondents (in % of the number of respondents) many of them lived in other cities or rural areas before entering the university. Analysis of the data showed that the most politically active are residents of small towns (see Table 5). They are more likely to take part in elections (69% compared to 58% of residents of large cities and 50% of residents of rural areas). Also, among the inhabitants of small towns, the least number of those who do not take any part in political life (27% against 37% of residents of large cities and 50% of rural residents). Young people from rural areas showed themselves to be the most apolitical in the survey - half of them do not take part in politics and do not vote in elections. And none of the young villagers interviewed called themselves politically active. Table 5 Distribution of answers to the question "To what extent are you included in the political life of the country?" depending on the main place of residence of the respondents (in % of the number of respondents) I live in a big city I live in a small town I live in a rural area I am politically active 5 4 0 I take part only in elections 58 69 50 I do not participate in political life at all 37 27 50 As expected, patriotic young people turned out to be more politically active (see Table 6). They are more likely to take part in elections (65% compared to 56% of unpatriotic respondents and 51% who did not think about their patriotism) and are less likely to be apolitical (only 29% versus 40% unpatriotic and 47% who did not think about it). The least politically active were those young people who did not think about whether they were patriots. Apparently, politics, like patriotism, are not included in the circle of their interests. Table 6 Distribution of answers to the question "To what extent are you included in the political life of the country?" depending on the patriotism of the respondents (in % of the number of respondents) I can call myself a patriot of Russia I can’t call myself a patriot of Russia I didn’t think about it I am politically active 6 4 2 I take part only in elections 65 56 51 I don’t participate in political life in any way 29 40 47 This study allows us to draw some conclusions. As you might expect, young men are somewhat more politically active than young women. The following main dependencies are traced: the younger the respondents, the better they study and the higher their financial situation, the less often they take part in elections, but the more often they personally participate in political activities. The most apolitical group was the rural youth. Respondents whose main place of residence is the countryside are less likely than their urban counterparts to participate in elections and do not find other ways to display their political activity. Apparently, rural youth have fewer opportunities for political activity and, even moving to cities, are less likely to try to be politically active. The youth of small towns proved to be the most politically active. She often takes part in elections and is an active participant in the political life of the country.

SCIENTIFIC POTENTIAL: WORKS OF YOUNG SCIENTISTS

Activities in regional youth political organizations: comparative analysis forms of activity

K. A. Kotova

(Ivanovo State Power Engineering University)

The article analyzes the forms of participation of members of youth political organizations in organizational activities. There is a relationship between the specifics of the forms of activity and a number of features of the organizations themselves.

Keywords: youth political organization, forms of participation in political organizations, youth branch of a political party.

The relevance of studying the practices of participation of Russian youth in the activities of youth political organizations is due to the need to comprehend new models of political behavior of the younger generation, which are based not on total mobilization, but on conscious political views and beliefs. The purpose of the article is to trace the connection between the characteristics of youth political organizations and the specifics of the forms of activity practiced in them.

A key element of participation in youth political organizations are specific practices that can be classified in several ways. First, in terms of focus - on external and internal. The former include manifestations (dissemination of information about the organization in the form of booklets, leaflets; street actions in the form of rallies, demonstrations, pickets; open-air concerts) aimed at drawing attention to the organization. The second type of practice is designed to involve in further activities.

activists who are already members of the organization (brainstorming, meetings of the activists, congresses, conferences). Secondly, according to the degree of politicization, external forms of activity can be divided into ideological (demonstrations dedicated to political events, election campaigning), general civil (campaigns against negative social phenomena or in support of someone) and leisure activities (entertainment events). Thirdly, internal forms of activity in terms of the content of areas of activity can be organizational, educational (various courses, educational programs) and leisure (for example, camp shifts for activists of the organization).

The set of practices and the breadth of their repertoire vary depending on such factors as the development of the organizational resource base, specific tasks solved by the organization (attracting attention from the media, potential supporters, authorities or replenishment of personnel), features of the management structure (network youth structures or hierarchical ), ideological

orientation. This hypothesis was tested by us in the course of studying the activities of youth political organizations Ivanovo region based on the analysis of regional media and survey data of members of these organizations.

The most active participants in political activity are the youth branches of the parties, since they are "most integrated into the political system of society" (Bystrov, 1997: 175). These are the youth branches of United Russia - Young Guard (MGER), the Communist Party of the Russian Federation - the Commonwealth of Communist Youth (SCM), A Just Russia - Pobeda, Energy of Life, the Liberal Democratic Party - the LDPR Youth Center (until 2004 - Russian Union of Free Youth).

The second group includes youth movements that are not formally associated with the parent party structure, although such a connection can be traced. From the point of view of ideology, they are either centrist-oriented pro-Kremlin (“Ours”, “New Frontier”), or left (a branch of the Left Front) organizations.

External actions of the first type (ideological) are often used by supporters of leftist movements (Vanguard of the Red Youth, SCM), which is consistent with the program objectives of the SCM, among which "propaganda of the ideas of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and SCM" is declared. They resort to attracting propaganda potential even in the absence of a political reason for the event. The participation of representatives of this organization in the days of the city of Ivanovo is indicative. During the survey (conducted in November 2011) of members regional office SCM (5 people) the author found out that participation in actions is perceived by them as a significant activity. In particular, the following opinions were expressed: “Participation in actions allows you to actively express your position”, “At these events you learn more about the history of your country”, “One feels unity with other people”.

Actions of the second type (general civil) are more often used by organizations of a centrist orientation (“Ours”, “Young Guard”, “New Frontier”). This explains-

Their original focus is not on the formation of young people's interest in a specific ideology, on the involvement of young people in the processes of building a democratic, socially just society.

The third type of actions (entertainment) is typical for such organizations as the youth branch of the Liberal Democratic Party, the Nashi movement and MGER on early stages their existence, the left movement of AKM. The street actions of the youth branch of the LDPR were especially bright (the show “Bikers for Peace!” with the participation of 400 motorcyclists; during the period of rolling power outages, rallies during which the brass band played a funeral march) (Ageev, 1999: 175).

The educational and entertainment orientation of events is typical for the New Frontier movement (for example, the flash mob “I'll hug you for free!” at Ivanovo University (March 2010); intellectual game"Star of the season" at school number 33 (November 2009); meeting with members of the Esperanto society within the framework of the Persona Grata project (April 2009). Such actions attract attention due to their outward unusualness and non-formalization.

Organizational forms of activity are aimed at creating and maintaining the structure of the organization as a whole. For example, we received the following answers from our respondents: “For me, such forms of activity as organizing events and planning are attractive” (youth branch of the Liberal Democratic Party); “I participate in the coordination of the activities of the city youth organization” (SCM); “The forms of activity connected with the development of the youth organization itself are interesting: meetings, brainstorming sessions” (MGER).

Leisure forms of activity are aimed at a more complete involvement in intra-organizational activities. These include, for example, summer camps. MGER is especially active in such activities, which can be explained by the presence of significant financial resources. For example, since 2006, under the auspices of the United Russia, summer shifts of the Gvardeets camp for teenagers from low-income families have been working in the region. SCM and the LDPR Youth Center also seek to influence

Scientific potential: works of young scientists

leisure of its members, involving them in entertainment (for example, festivities on the Day of the city of Ivanovo), labor (restoration of monuments, city subbotniks), sports events. The survey participants assess this activity as follows: “We recently took part in the Day of the City of Ivanovo, set up a red tent of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation with the slogan “I was born and live in Ivanovo” against the renaming of the city. A lot of people came up to us. It was interesting to communicate with different people, to hear their opinion” (SCM); “I enjoy spending time with my friends outside of school; Among recent events, I remember the futsal tournament among the youth organizations of the Ivanovo region, in which the youth branch of the LDPR also took part” (MC LDPR).

Educational forms of activity are implemented in various projects. To date, they are most widely represented in MGER. The range of activities covered by these projects is quite wide: from politics to small business development. For example, in 2009, MGER's assets developed and submitted for examination three projects: "School of Elections", a small business support program - "Business Incubator" and a project for the development of youth parliamentarism.

The projects implemented as part of the activities of the New Frontier are primarily educational programs (for example, the Young Leaders Courses), for which candidates undergo a competitive selection process, including writing an essay and an interview. For other youth political organizations of the region, the use of this form of activity is uncharacteristic, which, apparently, is associated with insufficient financial resources.

An analysis of the forms of participation of young people in political organizations shows a shift in priorities towards actions of a civil (rather than political) content. Initially, this orientation was more typical for pro-government organizations, but recently it has been increasingly used by representatives of other youth structures.

More and more popular forms of activity are entertaining and educational events aimed at various groups of young people and fundamentally depoliticized. However, their use is determined not only by the goals of the youth political organization, but also by its financial, administrative, and informational resources. Obviously, youth organizations supported by the regional or local administration and patronized by the ruling party have more opportunities to use various attractive forms of work with youth.

A common form of participation is programs to train young leaders and further advance young activists up the career ladder. It is obvious, however, that not all youth structures are equal in terms of social mobility. The greatest advantages remain with those who are supported by the United Russia party.

REFERENCES Ageev, A. L. (1999) City on the “third way” // Znamya. No. 9. pp. 172-185.

Bystrov, P. E. (1997) Youth organizations of St. Petersburg and their participation in the political process // Civil society - in search of a way. SPb. pp. 165-184.

ACTIVITY IN REGIONAL YOUTH POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONS: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ACTIVITY FORMS K. A. Kotova (Ivanovo State Power University)

The article presents an analysis of the forms of participation of youth political organizations’ members in organizational activities. The interconnection between the specificity of activity forms and some peculiarities of the organizations is traced.

Keywords: youth political organization, forms of participation in political organizations, youth branch of a political party.

BIBLIOGRAPHY (TRANSLITERATION)

Ageev, A. L. (1999) Gorod na "tret'em puti" // Znamia. No. 9. S. 172-185.

Bystrov, P. E. (1997) Youth organizatsii S.-Peterburga i ikh uchastie v politicheskom pro-tsesse // Grazhdanskoe obshchestvo v poiskakh puti. SPb. : Strategy. S. 165-184.