Between loyalty and radicalism: experts painted a portrait of Russian youth

The emergence of a new generation of Russians on the stage will not automatically bring positive changes in the state and society. Young people do not feel free enough, and the future, despite the abstract desire of young people to "self-development", does not seem to them in any way certain. But, let us emphasize, young people are very different. And Russia still has high-quality human capital. It depends on the authorities whether he will be in demand.

Andrey Kolesnikov, head of the Russian Domestic Politics and Political Institutions program at the Carnegie Moscow Center, and Denis Volkov, a sociologist and director of the Levada Center (an organization recognized as a foreign agent in the Russian Federation), conducted a study to understand what young Russians think and want.

As you know, hopes for a radical renewal of the political regime in Russia are often associated with young people. The new generation differs from the old radically: it is committed to a healthy lifestyle, actively uses digital technologies, and refuses to TV. They are more tolerant of LGBT people and the West, and in addition, they are more protesting than their elders.

It is no secret that the authorities are afraid of her, and by using repressions against the progressively minded part of the youth, they are trying to win the sympathy of the other part. Is it worth it in this situation to expect an early modernization after the inevitable change of generations? Will the government win the battle for the youth, or will the institutions of civil society win? And in general, what are the prospects for today's youth? The experts tried to answer these questions in their research.

It turned out that there is no definite answer to these questions. Moreover, the revolutionary spirit of Russian youth is greatly exaggerated. The authors state with a high degree of confidence that a very large part of the younger generation is ready to adapt to circumstances rather than change them in their favor ...

However, at the same time, the study participants are quite sober about life circumstances and sympathize with those who emigrate abroad in search of work and a better organized life. Most of the younger generation are not at all characterized by patriotic feelings.

At the same time, the same majority, refusing, for example, from reading, listening and watching state media, radio and television, consume free information on the Internet chaotically, and are far from always able to find and understand it, isolating what is really essential from the stream. This is what state propagandists use, as if gradually introducing the information they need into the Internet and eliminating unnecessary information by all means. As a result, researchers point out the lack of stable moral guidelines among young people. As a result, there is a growing confidence among the youth that it is impossible to change the current situation, it is impossible to influence the authorities, which do not fulfill their election and other promises. In fact, this is the very learned helplessness.

More information about the results of this interesting study can be found here.