What position does youth occupy in modern society? Lesson-presentation "youth in modern society"

Federal Agency for Education state educational institution
higher professional education
St. Petersburg State Mining Institute named after. G.V. Plekhanov
(Technical University)

Department of History and Political Science

Abstract on the topic:

"Youth in modern society"

COMPLETED: student gr. IZ-06-3 ______________ /Bystrova N.V./
(group code) (signature) (full name)

CHECKED: Associate Professor, Ph.D.. ______________ /Zavrazhin V.N/
(signature) (full name)

Saint Petersburg
2010
Content

Introduction………………………………………………………………………. 3
Approach to defining the concept of “youth”………………………………………..4
Youth and time……………………………………………………………………..6

Interrelation of generations……………………………………………………… …….....8
The problem of youth self-identification………… …………………………….11
Young people want to be themselves…………………………………………… 15

Conclusion……………………………………………………… …………………....18

Bibliography…………………………………………………. .19

Introduction

Every day, the formation of state youth policy in our country. Because this is where the real process of birth of the future of Russia is taking place today. It is clear that we simply do not yet have experience in implementing such a policy. The existing experience in the work and functioning of the Komsomol is practically useless today, and the practice of various types of informal associations has not been specifically analyzed or generalized. The experience of implementing state youth policy in the so-called developed countries can only serve as a certain guideline, but nothing more. Consequently, possible methods of working with modern youth can only be developed in the process of real practical activities on the implementation of youth policy in different regions of the country.
However, youth and youth policy in Russia are still not a sufficiently studied object, due to a number of circumstances - political-ideological, material-technical, financial-organizational, etc. What does the lack of adequate information about the object being studied mean - this is a rhetorical question. And for social management - even more so, the lack of information about the real state of affairs with young people means a complete lack of understanding of the prospects of society as a whole, the impossibility of forecasting and planning (including resource planning) for the further development of events and structures, the problematic nature of building management practice, doom to the elements arbitrarily emerging social processes.
One of the central social problems here is that, as a rule, young people either accept the values ​​of their fathers or completely abandon them. In the last decade, our society has faced the latter almost directly. To achieve at least partial acceptance by a generation of children of the social values ​​of their predecessors, to combine new social guidelines with the old value foundations so as to revolutionize the former Soviet consciousness, but at the same time not provoke a collapse of sociality - all this turned out to be a difficult, but important issue for the survival of Russian society and the state . In its decision, domestic politics can hardly yet boast of achievements and successes.
What to do with our youth, who are now thrown out of a full-fledged social life and have become easy prey for the criminal world with its own laws? What steps should be taken to protect it from destruction today and the whole society from its destructive activity tomorrow? Answers to such questions cannot be obtained at the level of common sense, such as: “Increase funding - and everything will work itself out.” There is no and cannot be simple solution. The problem can be resolved if it is correctly posed, but in our country it is still not even recognized as a problem. To this day, there is no understanding of the importance of an integrated approach to studying and solving youth problems.

An approach to defining the concept of “youth”
The problem of choosing an object and subject of socio-philosophical research in many situations seems quite arbitrary, determined only by the interest of the researcher himself. However, a more careful analysis of the topics of social research reveals the urgent unresolvedness of the most important, often large-scale, problems that researchers involuntarily stumble over in their attempts to answer many pressing questions of social practice and knowledge. This unresolvedness becomes a burden, increasingly connecting the activity with its particular manifestations. Until, finally, it gains a critical mass and draws the attention of researchers to the need and urgency of special work aimed at resolving the existing contradiction between the already clearly insufficient level of development and understanding of the problem and the current development of practice and knowledge.
The problem of youth can also be attributed to a similar category of problems. In search of a simple answer to a simple question - what is youth, we unexpectedly run into deeply rooted everyday ideas about this subject, which today underlie most of the disciplines that study it. It’s worth pointing out right away that the sociological point of view has been dominant recently in Russian science, or more precisely, in the prevailing ideas about youth in it. Although there are psychological, pedagogical and other positions, in the end, all the most general conclusions lead to an understanding of youth as a special social group that needs to be specially studied.
At the same time, the very procedure of identifying youth as social group, from a methodological point of view, is in most cases poorly substantiated. As a rule, its demographic, legal, psychological and other definitions are used, in rare cases supplemented by a different set previous characteristics. And if to a certain extent it is true that the object of research is in many ways what it is distinguished and measured by, then the confusion that exists in approaches to defining youth becomes understandable. Where integrity is lacking understanding of the subject, where it is often replaced by complexity.
Complexity may be the last step towards wholeness, but it can approach it endlessly without ever achieving it. Although, as is known, in geometry there is a proof about a circle and an inscribed polygon with an infinite number of sides, but it is the infinity of the sides that is essential there. In the case of young people, we do not observe a real infinity of sciences, and therefore we can safely say that we are still far from an ideal situation in the study of young people. The quadrangle or even the octagon of modern sciences about youth is in no way similar to the circle, which should give the integrity of which it itself is the image.
Speaking about attempts to define the concept of “youth,” we can mention several of its characteristics, which have been discussed since the 20s in bourgeois juvenology. It is determined, as a rule, either by age or by method of activity. However, firstly, demographic characteristics, as researchers conclude, are not significant for understanding its nature. And secondly, even if the lower limit set by pubertal age can somehow be accepted somewhere, the upper age limit cannot be determined in any way. And then they try to define young people not demographically, but by some functional criteria, for example, by acquired values. But the problem is still not solved.

We must also take into account that the concept of “youth” is a concrete historical concept, and in different historical periods (not to mention turning points and transition periods) it carries different meanings.

In Western works, several periods are distinguished in the development of the sociology of youth: prehistory - the 30-40s; the subcultural period when the concept of understanding youth as a specific subculture dominated - the 50s-60s, until the youth rebellion of the late 60s; countercultural - when the revolution of 1968 gave rise to an understanding of youth as a counterculture; stylistic - the 70-90s, when differences in the lifestyle and norms of various youth groups came to light. This is how the sociology of youth developed, which empirically generalized and systematically tracked observed changes, while actually solving a quantitative problem.
It is possible to identify or describe hundreds of different youth groups on various grounds, but when they begin to reduce everything in the analysis to a single defining basis, then it becomes indifferent what they wear and what songs they sing. What does a young man need to become a full-fledged member of a social group? What is indicative here is how much what he learned in his group corresponds to the values ​​of sociality, that is, of the super-group. To do this, this sociality must be qualitatively defined. That is, all the threads still lead to the characteristics of the social whole.
But where should we lead the youth, what kind of future should we shape in them through ideology, a system of values ​​and goals? Now sociologists claim that even they are not satisfied with the social reality in which they live, and young people simply intuitively feel its shortcomings. Where should we call her if the West itself has come to the conclusion that capitalism has no future, as thinkers argued already in the previous century and continue to think so in modern times? You can, of course, proclaim: live in the present, don’t think about the future.

Youth and time
The very first idea of ​​the future is that it is not a real state, but a potential state, a potential possibility. Hence there are two important consequences that are found in different approaches, ordinary and theoretical. Metaphysical consciousness captures in this definition First of all, the meaning is that the future is something that does not yet exist in reality. This conclusion, perhaps, limits the level of interest of the average person. At the same time, sad as it may be, most forms of activity carried out by various entities (officials, collective bodies, social institutions, etc.) at all social levels in modern Russia also reveals precisely this position in his attitudes.
But we will start from the fact that the past, present or future state of an object is its time. Youth is the future of society, its future state. This means that youth turns out to be the embodiment of time. This understanding of youth as the future takes us to the level of the relational concept of time, according to which time is understood as a change in the qualitative states of a changing object. At the same time, connecting time with youth, firstly, we state that the future society can be seen in that new generation, which already exists in the present time in the form of a children's and youth community. Secondly, the currently existing youth is a potential “adult” society. Thus, the novelty and specificity of solving the issue of the future in this case lies in the fact that, in the person of young people, the future exists in the present (which is not typical for many objects), and only then the present is potentially projected into the future.
The existential and logical contradiction of the youth community in this regard lies in the fact that, on the one hand, it is only potentially a society, and social characteristics are inherent in it in an embryonic and developing form. On the other hand, this is a social group, a community with real, objectively inherent properties that are already being realized. That is, there are objectively several contradictions here: development (characteristics and processes internal to this generation as a certain qualitative whole); parts and the whole (youth as part of the social whole), etc.
Thus, youth are not just the future. What is specific is that it is already actively manifesting itself in the present. It is actualized in the form of numerous real, unmanageable youth. And fathers, that is, the “present”, “adult society”, today are forced to deal with youth, not by caring about what does not yet exist (as they often try to imagine when speaking beautiful words about the future), but by being afraid to walk the streets and saving their own life. Even though they practically and really care about young people, they actually care not about their future, but about their own present. Because this future exists in the violent activity of unsocialized youth not tomorrow, but today. (Concerning caring for one’s own children as the future, more will be said below.)
So, youth is the actualized future, that is, it is not only the future, but also the present. It must be dealt with right now, so that the young savage does not destroy us today. Few people care what it will become tomorrow.
Since the future is already objectively present in the present, then today there are factors and events that later reveal themselves and can be understood as its prerequisites. When today some actions are taken to socialize young people, although in fact they are dictated by the own interests of “adult society” and not of young people, that is, they are aimed at saving themselves in the present, but at the same time something positive is embedded in it, which will inevitably appear tomorrow. And the future of the entire society will truly be realized and emerge only through the activities of those who make up the youth today. This means that the ideas, values, norms and attitudes of today’s youth acquire a defining and promising character. Those norms and values ​​- and perhaps illusions - that are internalized by young people today are the future society and the future of society. Therefore, the value orientations of young people are value squared for society!
This explains the reason for the importance of developing certain mental, value and behavioral constructs among young people. And if adults, even seemingly caring about young people, in fact only care about their present, then they thereby shape their tomorrow. And what young people have already learned and appropriated from the present, that is, from “adult” existence, shared in a certain way with them and lived together, will be their future. So, if this society has put into the present only the attitude of taking care of one’s own survival, and the youth, having lived through this, adequately perceived it as a certain ratio of values, then this will then be translated as a principle of life activity. The war of all against all has been broadcast - this principle will also apply in the future. Moreover, in the ratio of 3 generations - as the present ("adult" generation) cares only about itself and its own interests, with disdain for both the generation of parents ("past") and the generation of children ("future"). This is what we observe today in Russian society in the examples of the fate of the elderly and children (pensions, social security, needs of education, culture, healthcare, etc.)
If young people understand that fathers only care about themselves, then when they grow up, they will also care only about themselves. They will not think about their fathers or their children. But for society this is tomorrow's death. And if not individuals, then who is responsible to the future for the preservation of sociality?

Interrelation of generations
Today, young people are characterized by epithets and characteristics that, from the point of view of accepted social values, can be safely called completely negative. Irresponsibility, social passivity, the desire for easy money, lack of spirituality, immorality - this is not a complete list of touches to the portrait of young people, which is circulated in everyday life and raises concerns for various public authorities. At the same time, it goes without saying that “judges” are the direct opposite and undoubted positive.

But most often the assessment does not include the understanding that the plus or minus sign is always assigned only from a certain reference point, which is always the traditional base of values ​​​​accepted in a given society. That a dyed punk crest and a cross in the ear are no more criminal or extravagant than a powdered wig, a braid and shoes with diamond buckles. And these latter ones are the same “nonsense”, from the point of view of our generation of the 90s, as the faces of sports fans painted in the colors of national flags, from the point of view of the previous 50s. That is, the question here is about the correspondence (ideally, coincidence) of the substantive criteria of the norms and values ​​of one social order with the criteria of those of another. The bearers of these structures are the generations of people corresponding to them.

At all times, social development and the dynamism of social processes have given rise to the problem of differences in values ​​and assessments of representatives of different generations. There is no crime in this if you look at it natural process changes in people's living conditions and the accompanying natural process of changing value systems. However, for some reason, only at certain historical moments does the conflict of generational relations become particularly acute. But if in previous times such conflicts were the exception rather than the rule, and were of a local nature, then throughout the twentieth century they became permanent, global, and their outbursts acquired great destructive power, capable of provoking a social shock. There are plenty of examples of this, ranging from the underground existence of jazz and rock, the hippie and underground movements, to mass youth political actions in France and China, with political repressions and international sanctions for them.
Why does this generational conflict arise? The simplest explanation, which still worked to some extent before, is the lack of freedom of the young, their dependence on the parent generation, which has rights, resources, social places and leading positions at the social helm. However, this objective background did not immediately give rise to conflict. My upbringing and the entire social structure contributed to the fact that the question did not arise as to why my father has everything and I have nothing. Everyone knew that the time would come when his father would separate him and give him his share. According to unwritten laws, everyone lived this way, without even thinking about why they lived this way. They acted as was customary, according to tradition. Including, when the settlers left for free lands, the son could also leave. But the law was still respected. Even if from now on the son had his own land, the father was obliged to teach him how to manage it. For he not only gave birth to a son, but also passed on to him the science of survival. By the very fact of his existence, he proved to his son his viability, and in the perceived paternal experience, the son was guaranteed his entire future life and his place in society.
And for the community, the issue of relations between generations was a matter of life and death. It is no coincidence that early societies developed traditions of honoring elders and the cult of the memory of ancestors: they reflect sacralized ideas about possible enemies and allies, and they were also a means and mechanism for “humanizing” new generations.
From the point of view of relations between generations, the world is now experiencing a unique historical period, the essence of which is that for the first time a four-tier, four-generation structure has developed in society. Never before in history has such a situation existed; it arose in the twentieth century. And hence a number of extraordinary, from the point of view of traditional socialization processes, consequences.
Firstly, previously there was one working generation - the “fathers”, and the younger ones, i.e. "children" were raised by "old people". Thus, the “fathers” provided all material life, and the function of socialization was performed by the old people, raising their grandchildren. Now production is changing, hard physical labor is no longer needed, but accumulated experience and knowledge, or even just patience and complaisance, are in demand. And now older people are involved in production, they are needed there and are often more preferable. And they no longer want to raise grandchildren. The “fathers” also work, and it turns out there is no one to take care of the “children.” Therefore, there was a need for other forms of socialization.
In addition, by raising the standard of living, developing medicine and extending life expectancy, humanity has learned to biologically reproduce its elongated organic body, which no longer fits into the framework of working age. But the social mechanisms that would then create meanings, values, and needs for the continuation of this life, not just biologically, but also socially, have not been developed. The man is 60 years old, but he is not going to die yet, he is in good health. But there are no jobs for such people, because there are already others, young people, who also want these jobs. The objectivity of the conflict is obvious. That is why socialization is a matter of expanded social reproduction of society. This is secondly.
Thirdly, the emergence of a 4-generation structure led to a new structuring of social space and time. The previous, traditional three-tier structure - grandfather, father, son - had traditional forms and mechanisms for transmitting sociality. And when the fourth generation appeared, it turned out that new social-generational roles were not spelled out in these mechanisms. How should each generation now communicate with the others? What unconditional authority will the grandfather have if he himself is a “son”?
Fourthly, from now on the problem of “fathers and sons” is not doubled in complexity, but is raised to the fourth degree. If, with the development of electronic means and communication networks, children become similar to adults in their capabilities, then here three generations immediately become adults and three become children, “young”. Accordingly, the problem of intergenerational conflict as a relationship between two generations in modern conditions turns out to be incorrectly formulated.
The generation of the 90s worked extremely hard. Plans for building a career were hatched at all at a young age- we thought about this already in the tenth grade, and even more so in the first year of college. Any job was assessed, first of all, from the point of view of its prospects for a future career, and the transition from one job to another - from the point of view of what a new line on a resume would look like.

Of course, there were many exceptions, but that was the general mood. Many young people were ready to work 20 hours a day. Positions of top managers in leading corporations or the coveted business of their own loomed ahead. Today's youth are indifferent to a career. She does not accept work that is motivated solely by making money and does not provide opportunities for self-expression, does not want to work in an office, on a strict schedule, and is generally not ready to devote most of her time to work.

Young people of the 90s dreamed of becoming bankers, lawyers, commercial and financial directors. The professional ideal of youth of the 2000s is a journalist, designer, programmer, PR manager. Freelancing has become a bright sign of the times. Creating your own business is perhaps the only thing that today's young people want as much as their peers did 10 years ago. However, if the youth of the 90s tried in every possible way to develop their own business in order to eventually turn it into a large enterprise and enter the business elite, then today’s young people do not want to waste time and energy on this. They are quite satisfied with small business, which gives them financial independence and the opportunity to do what they love on a free schedule. The youth of the 90s took on any business - from selling diapers to private delivery. Modern young people are not ready to dramatically change their lifestyle and social circle, even if this promises considerable profit. As a rule, they create their own small businesses in areas that are familiar to them and where they do not need to spend time establishing relevant connections.

The main reason that the “career” option began to lose its attractiveness for young people was the awareness of the “limits to growth.” In the 90s the skies seemed open. Ten years later, most young people understand perfectly well that there is a very definite “ceiling” above which it is almost impossible to rise. The “social elevator,” which provided rapid vertical movement in the 90s, stopped in the 2000s. Economic stabilization also contributed to the decline in the attractiveness of the “career” option. Modern young people are not afraid of being left without a livelihood. They understand that they can always find some kind of work. The generation of the 90s faced an alternative: work or vegetation and poverty. The generation of the 2000s is characterized by another alternative: exhausting and energy-consuming work to build a career or a calm, “relaxing” one. creative work for your own pleasure.

The youth of the 2000s understand freedom as independence from any circumstances and as spontaneity - the opportunity to change work, place of residence, lifestyle. For modern young people, freedom is one of the key values, and a free lifestyle is the direct opposite of “corporate slavery.”

The problem of youth self-identification
Each new generation, entering public life, inherits the already achieved level of development of society and the established certain way of life. But it is not capable of automatically being included in the life processes of society without their prior mastery. Therefore, knowledge, ability, and desire to live and act “as expected” in a given community are a necessary prerequisite for young people to enter the life of society.
Society, caring about self-preservation and striving to ensure conflict-free life, tries to provide the new generation with group survival skills developed by those established in this particular community. That is, to form a mechanism for the social adaptation of young people that would turn the new generation into an organic part and similarity to an already existing society. Or, in other words, the goal and purpose of socialization is the formation of an individual similar to himself, living and acting as an element of this particular community, bearing its characteristics and having its experience. Responsible and ensuring the preservation and survival of oneself as a member of this society and this society as one’s second, collective self in relationships with other groups.
For the full personal development of an individual, he needs an organized social space. It is formed and provided by the group, or community, in which he is inscribed as an element. The personal development of an individual and his successful integration into society is accompanied by the process of his self-identification and the formation of his social identity. It is a subjective feeling and objectively observable quality of personal self-identity, a feeling of unity and continuity with one's social environment. By identifying himself with another person, group, model, realizing himself as part of communities of people, the individual shares their values, their ideas about the world and man’s place in it. This helps him master various types of activities, master social roles, accept and transform social norms and values.

In an ancient society that had not yet matured into meaning individually
etc.................

Course work

Youth in modern Russia: problems and prospects

Introduction

Chapter 1. Youth of modern society

§1. Concept and socio-psychological characteristics of youth

§2. Youth culture and subculture

Chapter 2. Main problems of youth

§1. Deviations among youth and its consequences for society

§2. Problems of youth education in Russia

§3. Problems of youth employment

Chapter 3. Ways to solve the problems of modern youth

§1. Youth policy in Russia

§2. Social work with youth

Conclusion

Literature

Introduction

Over the past two centuries, young people have been one of the most vulnerable groups of the population; any reforms carried out in one or another area of ​​public life also affect young people. At the same time, although this is a poorly protected group, at all times it has played a huge role in the life of the country. For example, the student revolution in France in 1968, the sexual revolution, in which young people played a significant role, the assassination attempt organized by students on Alexander II.

Young people, for the most part, are in a transitional state, that is, school graduates are not schoolchildren, but not students, graduates of higher educational institutions are not students, but, in most cases, not working. In addition to these difficult situations for young people, modern Russian society is undergoing rapid social, economic and political transformation, which additionally affects this group, its position and development. Processes of differentiation predominate among young people. Moreover, differentiating factors appear more visibly than integrating factors. This is primarily due to the fact that in the conditions of a radical transformation of Russian society, profound changes are taking place in its social stratification, one of the features of which is social polarization based on property stratification. The most important characteristic of modern Russian youth is the increased stratification according to socio-economic indicators. The internal differentiation of young people is determined not only by social, but also by age and cultural parameters.

“The general conclusion of researchers at the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, made in 1993, remains valid: “Each subsequent generation of Russian youth is worse than the previous one in terms of basic indicators of social status and development.” This is expressed in the fact that the number of young people is decreasing, therefore society is aging, which in turn leads to a decrease in the role of youth as a social resource. The reasons for this unfavorable demographic trend are: deterioration in the health of children in general, compared to previous decades; increased rates of homicide and suicide among this group; Desocialization also plays an important role; many young people at a fairly early age begin to lead an antisocial lifestyle.

Chapter 1. Youth of modern society

§1. Concept and socio-psychological characteristics of youth

Youth is a socio-demographic group identified on the basis of age-related characteristics of the social status of young people, their place and functions in the social structure of society, specific interests and values.

The concept of “youth” has three meanings: firstly, it is one of the stages of a person’s life cycle; secondly, it is a social status determined by age; and thirdly, this concept is used in the meaning youth subculture as an independent entity within the dominant culture.

Youth as a certain phase, stage of the life cycle, is biologically universal, but its specific age framework, associated social status and socio-psychological characteristics are of a socio-historical nature and depend on the social system, culture and the patterns of socialization inherent in a given society.

In the second half of the twentieth century, the conventional socio-psychological boundaries of youth expanded. On the one hand, the acceleration process has significantly accelerated the physical and, in particular, puberty of children and adolescents, which is traditionally considered the lower limit of adolescence. On the other hand, the complication of labor and socio-political activities in which a person must participate causes an extension of the socially necessary period of preparation for life, in particular the period of education, with which a certain incompleteness of social status is associated. Today's youth spend longer in school and, accordingly, begin independent work later. working life. The criteria for social maturity themselves have become more complex. The beginning of an independent working life, completion of education and acquisition of a stable profession, obtaining political and civil rights, financial independence from parents, marriage and the birth of the first child - all these events, in their totality, give a person a feeling of full adulthood and an appropriate social status. not simultaneously, and their very sequence and the symbolic meaning of each of them are not the same in different social strata. Hence the debatability of chronological, absolute age limits: different authors set the lower limit of youth between 14 and 16, and the upper – between 25 and 30 years and even later.

The English scientist Simon Fries proposed his approach to identifying youth, namely: consideration of the social context of the state of youth, as a process of transition from childhood to adulthood, transition from dependence to independence and from irresponsibility to responsibility, within the range from 11 to 28 - 30 years.

Many researchers in the field of developmental psychology identify such periods in youth as adolescence and adolescence, but opinions about age limits in many cases differ. For example, in 1965, the USSR created an age group covering the entire life cycle, where adolescence “began at 13 years old and lasted until 16, and adolescence from 17 to 21 years old; D. Birren assumed that adolescence lasts from 12 to 17 years, D. Bromley - from 11 to 21, D. Wexler - 16 - 20 years, V.V. Bunak is from 17 to 25 years old, and V.V. Ginzburg - from 16 to 24".

The acceleration of the pace of social life in connection with scientific and technological progress entails an increase in the role and importance of youth in socio-political and cultural life. The higher the rate of technical and economic development, the faster knowledge, working and living conditions are updated, the more noticeable the socio-cultural differences between generations become. New problems and events push us to search for fundamentally new solutions and critically re-evaluate past experience. This does not change the fundamental direction of the socialization process, since young people carry out any searches for something new, relying on the experience and knowledge received from their elders; In addition, social continuity is not limited to the transfer of quickly outdated specialized knowledge, but also includes the assimilation of much more stable and deep psychological structures, cultural values ​​and traditions that accumulate all experience world history humanity.

E Omelchenko in his work “Youth Cultures and Subcultures” identifies several categories to define the concept of youth:

• Age;

People of a certain “young” age can indeed be separated from other age groups. In this concept, several levels can be distinguished: biological, psychological, social, cultural, etc. Each person psychologically perceives his physical age differently. If biological age means something specific to a person, but psychologically a person often blurs these physical boundaries in one direction or the other. The incredible pace of development of computer literacy and “computerization” of the population also cannot but affect the process of growing up. It is not age itself that becomes significant, but its “quality.” The new quality of age that new time brings forms a new state of transition from one age to another. Social aspects strongly influence biological age, but do not completely determine it. If we take as a criterion a young man’s creation of his own family or the birth of children, then the boundaries of youth will expand in both directions.

• Addiction;

On the one hand, young people are quite dependent, on the other hand, they are already adults, since they have achieved a certain independence. This is where their general dissatisfaction with their parents and their constant care comes from. In most cases, young people understand that they are still dependent on adults for their own funds livelihood, educational opportunities, etc.

• Family;

A teenager changes the shape of the family in which he grows up: lifestyle, needs of all family members, forms of social behavior. And the departure of a young man from home, in Russian traditions, to lead an independent life, is perceived as a tragedy. The presence of the family is especially noticeable in the formation of ethnic and gender identification of adolescents, in their reproduction of family roles in their youth culture, and in the level of patriarchy of group values ​​with which they identify. Cultural and ethnic experience, educational traditions of the parental family and the wider family - the “neighborhood” - are constantly manifested in various forms of youth associations and styles.

• Education;

The second major step towards independence is taken by a teenager when he goes to school, which accompanies the process of the child’s transition to adulthood. And this departure, in any of its variants, “gives” the child another adult who will now control him. With one or another nuance, all children of a certain age, if they are healthy, should go to school, regardless of social, status, power and other differences that exist between them. School life itself changes as students grow and become more mature. The school hierarchy, which allows teachers, parents and schoolchildren themselves to occupy certain positions in relation to significant statuses, is based on the values ​​of “success” and “ways to achieve it.” Depending on what criteria exist for assessing them, formal social positions of students are built and attitudes towards them are formed. Around these social constructs, a powerful system of education and upbringing of students is being formed, based on various methods, techniques and techniques, including different systems for assessing a particular level of knowledge, behavior, pace and quality of progress, and a system of rewards for results. Each level of new school identification raises a young person one more step towards adulthood, filling his life with new problems and contradictions that both repel and attract different cultural choices.

• Job;

In many cultures, finishing school marks the “end” of youth, the transition to adult life. But not all teenagers start working immediately upon graduating from school. Firstly, most of them strive to continue their education: higher or specialized. Secondly, there is the problem of youth unemployment. And the main target of this problem is, first of all, high school graduates. Young workers have a more mature status than schoolchildren, but nevertheless they are still in the transition to adulthood. Part of this comes down to money; young workers are paid less than adults. If they continue to live with their parents, they cannot be and feel completely independent. In addition, young workers find themselves not fully adults in relation to their workplace: they are under the direct control of now adult workers, treated with greater distrust, which manifests itself in stricter external discipline.

• Responsibility.

Often, when talking about young people, the concept of “irresponsibility” is used, but this is not entirely accurate. Youth is a time when a young person takes on more and more new responsibilities. From a psychological point of view, it is during this period that a teenager learns to take responsibility for what he does, he learns to feel guilty for what he has done. Gradually, more and more responsibility begins to fall on him: for homework, for how he spends his time at school and outside of it, for getting certain grades, for promotion in the school hierarchy, for behavior, for choosing friends, for style, which, for the success of training and much more. The English scientist Stanley Hall called this period the period of “storm and stress”, “storm and stress”. Constant feeling of being separate, abandoned; a constant desire to connect with others and a constant desire to separate from others - all these moments are very contradictory, they can sometimes tear a teenager’s inner world into pieces.

From all of the above, we can conclude that the concept of “youth” is multifaceted and can be considered in different contexts of social life; scientists still cannot agree on when youth begins and when it ends, so its age boundaries are blurred, but besides this, these boundaries can be pushed in one direction or another by the person himself, depending on his psychological mood, as well as and from the society in which the young man is raised.

§2. Youth culture and subculture

In the last few years, a huge number of diverse cultures and subcultures have appeared among young people in our country; if ten years ago their number did not exceed twenty, now these formations are quite difficult to count and somehow systematize.

It is important to distinguish youth culture from youth culture. At first glance, these two concepts are equivalent, but this is not entirely true. “If youth culture belongs to young people and is not characteristic of society as a whole, then youth culture also includes general elements of culture transmitted to youth by the older generation in the process of upbringing and education.” Another important term is the term “subculture”. The most complete definition of subculture is given by Volkov Yu.G.: “Subculture is a system of values, attitudes, behavior patterns and lifestyles of a certain social group, different from the dominant culture in society, although associated with it.”

A young man is very impulsive, impressionable, dynamic and emotional, which is why misunderstanding and conflict often arise between him and representatives of the older generation due to a divergence of opinions, interests, hobbies and values. This conflict is one of the leading reasons for the formation of youth cultures and subcultures.

The process of cultural continuity simultaneously brings together and separates generations. The older generation passes on all their experience and spiritual wealth, and the youth must make efforts to master it, but in addition to this, they must also connect this material with real life. modern life, thereby forming a new culture. In modern society, with its dynamic development, relationships between different generations are becoming more and more complex, and accordingly the process of cultural continuity is undergoing significant changes: the mechanisms of cultural development are changing, the value of the life experience of older generations is decreasing. And the faster society develops, the greater the cultural gap between youth and the “world of adults” increases, because the older a person is, the more difficult it is for him to adapt to new conditions, but for young people, due to their mobility and dynamism, this is not much difficulty.

Some researchers believe that “there is a fundamental new type a culture in which it is not young people who borrow norms and values ​​from the experience of previous generations, but, on the contrary, older generation from the young." In many cases, innovations, in whatever area of ​​public relations they did not arise, are tested among young people, and only then, gradually, are accepted by older, more conservative members of public relations.

Very often, in most cases, the cause and cause of the conflict between youth and adults do not coincide. The reasons may be the peculiarities of the teenager’s psyche, lack of ability to build a dialogue, lack of understanding of the essence of cultural differences between generations and many others, and the reason may be a deviation from the implementation of the principles of social justice, different values, etc.

A.N. Sukhov divides conflicts into the following types:

An option for overcoming a conflict may be for a person to reach a new level of understanding or for psychological defense mechanisms to be activated:

The impetus for the development of conflict is most often given from the outside; an intrapersonal conflict appears, which then turns into an interpersonal one or individuals and groups. As a result, the young man exchanges his family for an informal group. Very often this situation is aggravated by improper upbringing. In such cases, this informal group becomes a place with a special emotional and psychological climate that is comfortable for young people. Youth informal groups can be created specifically to eliminate conflicts with the older generation. With the help of attributes and symbols of a particular subculture, a teenager tries to influence adults. For example, symbols of aggression in punk culture: a warlike mohawk, chains, spikes and skulls as decorations. This helps to extinguish the conflict with parents, transferring it into external environment, relieve the teenager’s internal tension.

A major role in uniting members of a particular subcultural group is played by:

1. Appearance;

A person’s appearance carries socially significant information about his social status and serves as a password. A member of one subculture always recognizes his own, and distinguishes members of other groups.

1. Slang;

The more intensely members of the same group interact, the more words are included in their slang. For example, in the late 80s, a girl who was part of the hippie subculture wrote a “Dictionary of Systemic Slang,” which included hippie slang. The use of these words unites the group and distinguishes it in society.

1. Gathering places;

They serve mainly as a symbol of community and are very stable over time. The larger the city, the more such places there are. There are places where representatives of only one subculture gather, for example, in Krasnoyarsk, skinheads gather in the courtyard of a house at the intersection of Lenin and Kirov streets, at other points various informal groups gather, in our city the “Glass” square is opposite Children's world, where punks, hippies, and skinheads coexist.

1. Music.

In some cases, subcultures are formed depending on what kind of music its members listen to, being in this case a “point of crystallization”, which accelerates the process of formation of this community. This kind of music greatly influences the behavior of teenagers. The younger generation makes music the cause of a conflict of values ​​with adults, and cultural continuity occurs. Teenagers in youth music find both a rejection of authority and a desire for the ideal, identifying themselves with young musicians.

The group-forming role of youth music allows it to occupy the place of a central element in the life of young people, the originality of the worldview and ways of self-expression, patterns of behavior and interaction, slang and symbols form a unique cultural complex - youth culture.

From all of the above it follows that each youth subculture has certain characteristics characteristic only of it. Such signs may include appearance, attributes, slang and music, and are also components of a subculture; members of such subcultures pay a lot of attention to them. Many of the subcultures are aggressive, both externally and internally. This is most likely a consequence of the reasons for the emergence of subcultures. For example, conflict at different levels often results in a teenager leaving for a subculture. A young person’s membership in one or another such group is not lifelong; on average, a young person leaves the subculture at age 20. Moreover, no matter how strange it may sound to older generations, the subculture is an integral part of the dominant culture.

Chapter 2. Main problems of youth

§1. Deviations among youth and its consequences for society

Deviant behavior or deviant behavior occurs very often in everyday life. There is probably no person who has not violated prohibitions at least once in his life and has observed all the rules and norms established in the society in which he lives. Various actions can be considered deviant, from skipping school classes to theft, robbery and murder. Most often, “taboos” are broken at a young age, when the rule of the forbidden fruit applies, which one so wants to try.

“Deviance is a social phenomenon expressed in relatively massive, statistically stable forms (types) of human activity that do not correspond to officially established or actually established norms and expectations in a given society (culture, group”).

In different societies, with different customs, culture and history, the same behavior can be considered both deviant and completely normal. For example, the use of narcotic substances of plant origin in Islamic countries, while for Europeans such behavior is considered a violation of social norms, that is, deviation. In addition, some researchers believe that “deviance is not a property inherent in any social behavior, but is the result of a social assessment of behavior and is expressed in assigning deviant status to certain social behavior.”

Deviation can be either negative, these are acts that negatively affect society and cause negative emotions in its members - robberies, murders, drug addiction, alcoholism; so is the positive one different kinds creativity and genius that go beyond conventional boundaries. In modern society, the greatest concern is caused by negative forms of deviation, the most dangerous of which will be discussed below.

There are several theories about the causes of deviant behavior. In the work “Sociology of Deviant (Deviant) Behavior” Y. Glinsky and V. Afanasyev divide all theories into types depending on which components predominate in human behavior:

1. Biological: the relationship between the anatomical structure and criminal behavior of a person; the relationship between bodily, natural and social factors; relationship between types physical structure person and forms of behavior; The presence of an extra Y chromosome in men predisposes them to criminal violence.
2. Sociological:

• Structural: such theories focus on studying differences in the types of deviant behavior of individuals with different social statuses and study the connections between the social structure of society and deviant behavior;

T. Sellin assumed that deviation arises due to conflicts between individuals from different social, political, cultural and other groups. These individuals have different ideas about norms and values, which is the cause of conflicts that lead to deviant behavior.

Levin B.M. and Levin M.B. in the book “Drug Addiction and Drug Addicts” they consider on what grounds they appear various shapes deviations among youth. The authors suggest that the consistency of interaction between members of society, their interests, and social institutions during sudden changes in any sphere of social life is disrupted due to the fact that old norms are no longer in effect and new ones have not yet taken shape. Individuals “increase their readiness to go beyond the norms,” cultural restrictions are turned off, and such concepts as “bad” and “immoral” cease to exist for a person. The next reason for deviant behavior may be the progress of society. A new, higher quality standard of living for individuals, a competitive basis of life gives rise to new conflicts. High demands are placed on a person in terms of cultural and labor skills; the individual must have high level health. If a person does not meet these new standards and cannot achieve them in short term- he drops out of the life of society or becomes a deviant. Young people are the most receptive part of society to changes in life, and at the same time, very dynamic, easily going beyond the boundaries into which society forces them.

The authors take the crisis in relations between society and the younger generation as the basis for the deviant behavior of young people and highlight such signs of this crisis as:

• Alienation;

Many young people feel like strangers in the world of adults; they categorically reject everything that is offered to them by the older generation, creating subcultural groups with their own rules and norms that suit the members of these groups. In many of the existing subcultures, human life does not have a high priority; a non-traditional attitude of the younger generation towards it is formed. In addition, in such groups, which are usually very close-knit, there is group responsibility; this entails that each individual person is not responsible for his actions, but the whole group is responsible for them, as a result of which the individual more easily oversteps the bounds of what is permitted. The degree of loneliness of a young person is also very important; if this degree is very high, then the instinct of self-preservation is lost and the feeling of compassion for one’s neighbor fades away.

• Mass character;

In modern society, many youth subcultures and countercultures are emerging. A huge mass of young people are moving away from the general cultural values ​​created by previous generations.

• The disadvantage of the prosperous;

At first glance, the teenager seems quite normal, not deprived of attention, and does not create problems for either parents or school. But, he, like all his peers, is disappointed in the people around him, in the discrepancy between what adults teach and what they actually do. “If such a person does not become problematic himself, then he creates problems around himself, and his children grow up to be problematic.”

• Confused adults;

Many adults do not know what to do with young people, how to raise them further, because they are no longer children, but not yet adults. “There is no philosophy of education that would be convincing to a sufficient number of people and could become the basis for constructive public opinion and constructive youth policy."

The main deviantogenic factor is the contradictions between socially formed needs and the opportunities provided by society to satisfy them. For adolescents and young people, this contradiction is especially acute: maximum needs - minimum opportunities (insufficient educational, professional level, low social status, “social instability”). If the global distinction is “inclusion/exclusion,” then adolescents and young people are relatively more likely to be among the “excluded.”

Let's look at the most common and dangerous species deviant behavior among young people:

1. Addiction;

“Drugs are potent natural and synthetic substances that paralyze the central nervous system, causing artificial sleep, hallucinations, and in case of overdose, loss of consciousness and death.”

Legally, narcotic substances can only be used as prescribed by a doctor; any other use will be illegal and considered a crime.

Drugs cause dependence in a person, both mental and physical. They completely subjugate the consumer. An addict, that is, a drug addict, is ready to do anything for their sake: from refusal to comply with moral principles and norms, to serious crimes.

The current situation with the spread of drug addiction in Russia has reached alarming proportions. The number of drug addicts over the past decade has increased 9 times, and as of August-September 2002 there were 4 million people (about 3% of the population). The most terrifying thing is that more than half of consumers are young people under the age of 29. These people cannot give normal offspring, cannot participate in labor relations, fall out of the life of society, disrupt and destroy social ties. This circumstance threatens the continued existence of our nation, because in general the gene pool is disrupted, the economy is undermined, and new social conflicts arise. And if we take into account that the population is aging, and the majority of drug users are young people, then perhaps the time will come when the majority of the country's population will be drug addicts. Currently, the speed and extent of the spread of drug addiction “call into question the physical and moral health of young people and the future of a significant part of them, as well as the social stability of Russian society.”

Drugs are divided into several groups; euphoria and “withdrawal” symptoms during withdrawal symptoms depend on which group the drug belongs to. For example, the authors of the textbook “Sociology of Deviant Behavior” Glinsky and Afanasyev give the following classification:

1. Opiates: opium poppy derivatives, opium, morphine, codeine, promedol and other drugs with morphine-like effects, heroin is the most powerful drug; these drugs have the strongest euphoric effect: bizarre sensations and sensations, but also the most terrible withdrawal symptoms: develops 5 to 6 hours after the last drug intake, in the bones and muscles nagging pain, dilated pupils, loss of consciousness, disruption of work digestive system; if the drug dose is exceeded, death occurs; With long-term use of opiates, there is a weakening of will, impotence, a decrease in the range of interests, and stereotyping of behavior.
2. Psychostimulants: cocaine, caffeine, phenamine, ephedrone, pervitin, amphetamine, etc., the most powerful drug from this group is cocaine, but in our country it is not very widespread, unlike prevetin, from which “vint” is produced in a homemade way ", a very strong drug, and amphetamine; when using these types of drugs, there is an increase in motor activity, an increase in intellectual activity, and performance; withdrawal symptoms: psychosis, weakness, headache, suicide attempts; With prolonged use, personality degradation occurs.
3. Psychodepressants: sleeping pills; addiction to these drugs is most often a consequence of using them to enhance the effect of opiates or to replace them; Addiction to such drugs is more difficult to treat than addiction to opiates.
4. Cannabis derivatives: drugs obtained from different types of hemp - marijuana, hashish, etc.; Euphoric effect: state of contentment, changes in the sense of time and space, hallucinations; withdrawal syndrome: nervousness, headache, sleep disturbance, irritability.

5) Hallucinogenic: drugs of plant origin - mescaline, obtained from certain types of cacti, and psilocybin - from mushrooms, as well as synthetic drugs - LSD, “angel dust”, etc.; cause an aggravation of sensations, a change in the perception of time and space.

The high cost of drugs and physical dependence force the addict to commit crimes in order to obtain the drug itself or the funds to purchase it. In addition, drug addicts form a drug subculture, into which more and more people are drawn, which leads to an increase in the number of drug users.

In Russia, a specific drug addiction prevention program has been developed. The term “prevention” is defined by WHO as “a system of comprehensive state and public, socio-economic and health, psychological and pedagogical psycho-hygienic measures aimed at preventing diseases and promoting health.” It is carried out in three stages:

1. Primary prevention is aimed at preventing drug use, it includes the creation of drug-free schools, identification of risk groups, work with parents and the teaching staff of the educational institution.
2. Secondary prevention: aimed at people who have started using drugs, this prevention includes the creation of rehabilitation centers, work with risk groups and parents of children who have started using drugs.

3) Tertiary prevention - providing assistance to people suffering from drug addiction, includes the formation of a rehabilitation environment and mutual help groups.

There are centers for the prevention of drug addiction among young people. Their employees work in schools, with parents, with children, cooperate with the State Drug Control Service, and conduct campaigns to prevent drug use. psychoactive substances.

1. Alcoholism;

There are several theories about the causes of alcoholism. For example, a number of reasons that are derived by Z.V. Korobkina in her work “At the Dangerous Line”:

Glinsky and Afanasyev in their work “Sociology of deviant (deviant) behavior” proposes another classification of the reasons for the increase in the level of alcoholism:

• Common causes of deviant behavior;
• The theory of “double failure” by R. Merton: a person cannot satisfy his needs either in legal activities or in illegal ones;
• Alcohol performs certain functions (it provides comfort, relaxation);

• Social inequality and social disorder;

As a result of a study conducted by the Youth Institute, it turned out that by the age of 17, 46% of boys and 54% of girls drink alcohol more than once a month. Also in the country over the past few years, due to a well-executed advertising campaign for beer in general, beer alcoholism among young people has reached colossal proportions. In 2002, a survey was conducted in St. Petersburg from which it turned out that “almost half of the young city residents surveyed drink beer almost every day.”

Many researchers identify the following reasons for adolescent alcoholism:

• Alcohol environment;
• Strengthening claims to adulthood;
• Example of peers;

Korobkina Z.V. identifies several levels of young people’s involvement in drinking alcohol:

1. level: as a rule, schoolchildren who are not familiar with the euphoric effect of alcohol develop a personal strategy for refusing alcohol in any situation;
2. level: initial - isolated cases of drinking alcohol, most often such people have low tolerance to alcohol, there is no euphoria from drinking it;
3. level: occasional use - familiarity with various alcoholic products, alcohol is easily tolerated, but they themselves rarely initiate drinking;
4. level: high risk level - euphoria, relaxation after drinking alcohol increases, the number of occasions expands, consumption more than 2 times a month;
5. level: level of mental dependence - young people themselves become the initiators of drinking, they have a positive attitude towards alcohol, the frequency of consumption reaches several times a week, they are attracted to alcohol throughout the day, they fiercely resist attempts to limit their further alcoholism.
6. level: level of physical dependence - the protective vomiting reaction to alcohol is suppressed, memory impairment occurs, a hangover occurs, loss of quantitative control;

6. level: the final level of alcoholic disintegration of the personality - binges develop, during intoxication the mood decreases, anger appears, hallucinations appear, internal organs are affected.

Early introduction to alcohol leads to “more severe medical and social consequences and a shorter transition period from drunkenness to alcoholism.” In addition, there are many crimes, including especially serious ones, committed by young people while intoxicated.

In modern Russian state the problem of deviant behavior of young people is the most serious, affecting not only young people as a social class, but also the entire society as a whole. Teenagers start using drugs at a very early age. This, in turn, shortens a person’s life expectancy and has a very detrimental effect on his psychophysiological and social development. Currently, attempts are being made to introduce new means of preventing the use of psychoactive substances, which will be more effective than simply informing adolescents about the harm caused by these substances.

§2. Problems of youth education in Russia

The right to education is one of the priority constitutional rights. The Federal Law “On Education” gives the following definition of this concept: education is a purposeful process of education and training in the interests of an individual, society, and state, accompanied by a statement of the achievement by a citizen (student) of educational levels (educational qualifications) established by the state.

It is believed that one of the values ​​we inherited from Soviet era, is the education system. Indeed, the Soviet education system was once a role model and source of development for the Soviet Union.

Currently in Russian Federation There have been dramatic changes in the field of education, and a number of reforms are being developed. According to V.V. Putin, the Russian education system needs to be modernized, but at the same time preserve its best traditions. “It is necessary to adapt and adapt our education system to modern conditions, while preserving the best traditions of domestic education.”

The problem of passing final exams and entering a university is an eternal and never-ending problem. Every year more than a million people across Russia face it. The problem became even more acute when the Unified State Exam was introduced everywhere. Bolotov V.A gives the following definition: the Unified State Exam is a system of objective independent monitoring of the level of education of school graduates.

The unity of these exams lies in their two features:

a) their results are simultaneously taken into account in the school certificate and upon admission to universities;

b) when conducting these exams throughout Russia, the same type of tasks and a single rating scale are used, which allows you to compare all students according to their level of preparation.

The Unified State Exam is being introduced for many reasons and has several goals:

• Firstly, this will help ensure equal conditions when entering a university and taking final exams at school, since when conducting these exams throughout Russia, the same type of tasks and a single rating scale are used, which allows you to compare all students according to their level of preparation.

In addition, the Unified State Examination will be conducted under conditions that ensure the reliability of the results. The results will be checked on computers and by independent experts. This will reduce so-called “targeted tutoring” (for the purpose of admission to a certain university) and bribery.

• Secondly, an attempt to improve the quality of education in Russia through more objective control and higher motivation for its successful completion. Students need to be well prepared for exams so that they pass them successfully.

Thirdly, a way to relieve graduate applicants by reducing the number of exams; instead of final exams and entrance exams, they will take State exams; their results will be taken into account both in the school certificate and when entering universities.

That part of society that is affected to one degree or another by admission to higher educational institutions is divided into two camps: “for” and “against”. Government officials convinced that now there would be no need to take entrance exams, the results of the Unified State Exam would be accepted everywhere, but in practice everything turned out to be much more complicated. Prestigious universities did not accept these results, and if they did, it was to faculties that did not have a high passing score and a low number of applicants per place. At the Parliamentary hearings in 2002 “On the results of the experiment on the introduction of a unified state exam,” I.M. Khakamada stated the need to find a compromise between supporters of enrollment in universities based on Unified State Exam results and university rectors. She recommended that a certain quota of places be allocated for the Unified State Exam, and the remaining places for traditional university entrance exams.

Another innovation that has caused great resonance in society is the reform of higher education. The reform provides for a transition to two-level education in higher education. Continuous five-year education will give way to a four-year bachelor's degree and a two-year master's degree - after each stage the student will receive a separate diploma. In addition, the number of specialties for which training is provided by universities will be reduced “by 10 times, from 670 to 40 - 50. There will be a certain reduction in the number of specialties for each level - in the bachelor’s degree there will be 50, and in the master’s degree there will be about 200.” They promise to involve employers in drawing up a new list of specialties.

A bachelor's student receives a general, broad specialty, which can be deepened in a master's program. The reduction will not affect only medical and engineering specialties (and their range is the most extensive), since technical and medical universities will maintain a continuous one-level system.

In addition, all higher education institutions will be divided into groups:

• 20 universities - representatives of the first, most privileged group - will receive the status of "national university" and full funding;

• Up to 200 universities - representatives of the second, already less privileged group - will receive money from the state to train bachelors and masters;

Selection criteria will be developed by the ministry together with the scientific and university community.

The decision to carry out educational reform caused a strong reaction in society, primarily among students. A wave of rallies and demonstrations against reform of higher education swept across the country.

Thus, we can conclude that the Unified State Exam became the first sign of the impending major reform of the education system. This new form of testing the knowledge of school graduates causes conflicting opinions. Changes in the higher education system cause a lot of indignation, especially among students who organize rallies and marches against the reform.

§3. Problems of youth employment

The introduction of market relations has exacerbated the problem of social security in the world of work. Young workers are the first to be laid off and join the ranks of the unemployed.

Particularly alarming trends among young people include the accelerating decline in the prestige of general and vocational education; increase in the number of young people starting working careers low level education and no desire to continue studying; the orientation of many levels of education towards the reproduction of workers, employees and specialists without taking into account the requirements of consumers; the increasing lag of the material and technical base at all levels from regulatory requirements; an outflow of gifted young men and women from many universities and from the country.

The relatively low competitiveness of young people is determined by a number of factors: lack of professional knowledge; the need to provide young people with a number of additional benefits provided for by the Labor Code; youth labor instability; infantilism of some young people, accustomed to receiving everything they need from their parents.

Discrimination against young people in the labor market is a pressing problem for any market economy, especially for the Russian one, when during the period of Russia's transition to the market, unclaimed graduates of vocational schools, universities and technical schools - young people with an education, but no experience in their specialty - become unemployed.

In modern Russia, the labor positions of the older generation are quite strong, based on the predominance of public interests. But the new values ​​of the market economy are also very strong, which include attitudes towards material well-being and the status positioning of the individual.

Slutsky E.G. identifies several types of work motivation:

1. value type (for a young person, interesting work is the main value in work activity);
2. mixed type (a person takes work seriously, but at the same time he has other interests and needs not related to employment, such as raising children);
3. instrumental type (work is a means of achieving life goals):

• material motivation (about 40% of young people);
• status motivation (about 15%);
• motivation for development and self-realization (for people of creative professions);

The adolescent group (young people under 18 years of age) consists mainly of students from secondary schools and vocational schools. Basically they are not involved in work activities. However, a significant decline in the living standards of most of the population has changed the life position of this category of youth. Many of them seek to earn money in the main way. They enter the labor market, joining the ranks of the unemployed. The current situation with teenage employment is very alarming. Most often this is self-employment, such as washing cars and selling newspapers.

Youth aged 18-24 are students and young people who are completing or have completed primarily vocational training. They are the most vulnerable group entering the labor market, as they do not have sufficient professional and social experience, and are therefore less competitive.

At the age of 25-29, young people, in general, have already made a professional choice, have certain qualifications, and some life and professional experience. They know what they want, most often already have their own family and have fairly high demands on the work offered.

Young people are less likely to register at the labor exchange than people of other ages. The employment service covers only part of the labor demand and labor supply. As a result, the whole variety of new phenomena in the field of employment related to the peculiarities of Russian market relations, and in particular hidden unemployment, is not taken into account. For young people, hidden unemployment poses no less a danger than registered unemployment, since they are the ones who risk being the first to find themselves outside the gates of enterprises. In addition, forced idleness has a destructive effect on an unformed consciousness. It is clear that in such a situation, the majority of young people strive to stabilize their labor status, try different ways avoid the possibility of loss of earnings.

Due to the decline in the prestige of productive work, a significant part of young people have become characterized by social pessimism; they do not believe in the possibility of having an interesting, meaningful job, paid in accordance with the measure of their work at the level of world standards. Polar changes in work motivation are taking place. Qualified young personnel often change their specialty, which in the future can lead to an imbalance in the professional structure of the workforce.

Recently, an increasing number of young people consider obtaining a full-fledged education a necessary condition for achieving the desired social status and a higher financial position, a certain guarantee against unemployment. Professional education becomes an important element of the labor market infrastructure, which supports a qualitatively balanced supply and demand of labor, and largely determines the effectiveness of measures to implement youth employment policy.

On modern stage development of Russian society there is no clear concept of youth employment. Therefore, some researchers offer their developments, for example, Slutsky E.G. proposed the following concept. The main principles of this concept are:

Young people are in a rather difficult position when looking for work; on the one hand, their rights may be infringed on the basis of age, and on the other hand, a young person needs a profitable job, which is not so easy to find. In addition, the state does not have clear levers for regulating youth employment, which further aggravates the situation of young people in the labor market.

youth subculture society

Chapter 3. Ways to solve the problems of modern youth

§1. Youth policy in Russia

Youth is the labor and economic potential of the country, on which the progress of society largely depends. Therefore, legislators, first of all, when developing regulations in the field of youth policy, must take this fact into account. The state's youth policy should be aimed at ensuring effective upbringing, decent education and successful socialization of the younger generation.

Young people easily adapt to new conditions; the experience of past generations has practically no impact on them, due to their high dynamism and mobility. But “young people find themselves in a situation where they are called upon to continue development on the basis of inherited material and spiritual values; they are forced, in their infancy, to participate in the development of values, often independently, often despite the relapses of old thinking.” Also, the younger generation fills the political and cultural space, due to the departure of the previous generation from the scene. But in Russia, at present, it is unlikely that there will be enough talented and educated young people to fill the resulting vacuum. Therefore, the state is called upon to ensure continuity and consolidate the efforts of young people, directing them in the right direction.

State youth policy is the activity of the state aimed at creating legal, economic and organizational conditions and guarantees for the self-realization of a young person’s personality and the development of youth associations, movements and initiatives.

The object of state youth policy is citizens of the Russian Federation from 14 to 30 years old, young people and youth associations, and the subject is government bodies and their officials, youth associations and young citizens.

In 1992, “By presidential decree, youth policy was declared a priority socio-economic policy of the state” and the State Committee for Youth Affairs of the Russian Federation was formed. In 1999, a new Federal Law “On the Fundamentals of State Youth Policy in the Russian Federation” was adopted. The need to form and implement a holistic and effective youth policy in the Russian Federation followed from general requirements carrying out targeted and specialized social policies in relation to various groups and segments of the population.

Now in Russia, in the field of state youth policy, a rather difficult situation has developed; the main reason for this is the lack of funds for the implementation of all bills and programs aimed at improving the lives of the younger generation.

V.V. Kolkov identifies the following principles of state youth policy:

According to L.A. Kaygorodova, the main goals of the state youth policy are: are:

Priority is given to the creation of a system of information support for youth, this includes ensuring access of the younger generation to relevant information that they need during the period of socialization, as well as analysis of information about youth.

In the spring of 2000, taking into account the peculiarities of the current situation among young people in Russia, the “Union of Youth Organizations” was organized. This union was conceived as an association of multidirectional public, political, state, professional and other youth organizations from all regions of Russia, and is designed to represent the interests, protect the constitutional rights of young citizens and defend priorities in solving youth problems in the implementation of youth policy.

The effectiveness of state youth policy largely depends on the established guaranteed minimum of social services for young people. In Russia this minimum is negligible. Even for students, who in history have always been a poorly protected and low-income social stratum, and this has not changed over the centuries, the state gives absolutely nothing.

Another problem with state youth policy is that the regulatory framework is in its infancy. And in recent years, the main document in this area has been the program “Main Directions of State Youth Policy in the Russian Federation.”

From all of the above, it should be concluded that the state must organize the joint work of various institutions, departments, organizations, government structures on the basis of common state views on the socio-economic, spiritual and psychophysiological development of youth, create action programs, organize dialogue between authorities, social institutions and youth, ensure the formation of patriotism among young citizens of the Russian Federation, respect for the history and culture of the fatherland, respect for human rights, study its demographic and social problems, create optimal conditions for the development and self-realization of young citizens.

§2. Social work with youth

In the Federal Law “On the Fundamentals of Social Services for the Population of the Russian Federation,” a comprehensive system of social services for the population, including youth, provides for the provision of socio-economic, medical, social, psychological, welfare, legal and other social services to citizens who find themselves in difficult life situations.

One of the directions of state youth policy is the creation of social services for young people. There is the following structure of social services:

• Social and psychological service centers;

Providing assistance to young people in crisis, conflict situations, prevention and control of deviant and suicidal behavior.

• Advisory centers;

Qualified, emergency, anonymous, free psychological help by phone.

• Shelters;

Mainly for the minor part of the youth, conditions are created for the life of a person who, for various reasons, is alienated from favorable conditions for development in the family;

• Resocialization centers;

Designed for people returning from prison, they provide social, legal, advisory, career-oriented and psychological assistance.

• Information centers.

Providing information and methodological services to executive authorities on youth affairs, organizations and institutions working with youth, and various groups of youth.

Social work among young people is considered as providing the most favorable socio-economic conditions for the development of each young person, promoting the social development of the individual, acquiring all types of freedoms and full participation of individuals in the life of society. The study of the real needs of young people for social services is a key element in the formation of a system of their social services. The need for this type of social services is increasingly recognized by the population and the state.

The basic activities of specialists from these services are psychological-preventive, psychological-diagnostic and correctional work, as well as consulting activities.

The psychological counseling system distinguishes:

A specialist working in the field of social counseling must be fluent in the basic principles that were first formulated by V.V. Stolin on the material of family psychological counseling.

He identified 6 principles:

1. The principle of subtext analysis (the requirement to distinguish several layers in a client’s request-complaint and highlight ways of working with these layers).
2. The principle of refusing specific recommendations (because a person himself must make a decision about his own destiny).
3. The principle of stereoscopic diagnosis (it is in family counseling that it is most necessary to take into account the opinions of more than one side).
4. The principle of systematicity (the identification of a systemic unit of analysis, be it individual consciousness, or the family as a whole, or the individual life path as a whole.
5. The principle of respect for the client’s personality (refusal of the attitude of redoing, re-education of the individual, attitude of acceptance, understanding the client).

6. The principle of professional orientation and motivation of the consultant (distinguishing between friendly and professional relationships, searching and establishing boundaries where the client ends and just a person begins, etc.

The system of social protection of youth in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation has the following structure of social service institutions:

1. Mandatory minimum for each city, district, which includes:

a) social service center (departments: social assistance at home, day care, temporary stay, urgent social assistance);

b) center for social assistance to families and children;

c) social rehabilitation center for minors; d) social hotel;

e) social shelter for children and adolescents.

1. Additional network in cities and regions, which includes:

a) center for psychological and pedagogical assistance;

b) emergency center psychological assistance by phone;

c) house of mercy;

d) rehabilitation centers for persons with disabilities disabilities(including for children and teenagers).

3. Republican, regional, regional, district, inter-district institutions, which include:

a) assistance centers for children left without parental care;

b) boarding homes: children's, psychoneurological, special;

c) hostels for people with disabilities.

Thus, various centers for social assistance to youth are currently beginning to develop in all regions of the country. Each center has its own specifics of work, its own goals and objectives. The work of many of these institutions is based on regulations federal, regional and local levels. Many of the centers carry out joint work with law enforcement agencies. For example, the Krasnoyarsk Youth Center for the Prevention of Drug Addiction works closely with the State NarcoControl. The state, and also not state organizations, stimulate the development of social assistance to the younger generation.

Conclusion

Youth is the future potential of society. The well-being of this state depends on how today this society and state cares about its development and conditions of existence; it contains the prototype of the Russian future.

The legislator must create such a regulatory framework in the field of youth policy so that the younger generation feels fully protected and secure. The state is obliged to create conditions for cultural, spiritual, economic, political and social development youth.

The state should pay a large share of attention to the problems of youth employment. Provide support in organizing labor exchanges for the younger generation. Incentivize small businesses to attract young specialists, and also provide quota places at state enterprises for future workers. Create jobs for summer time for teenagers and students. Create conditions for business development by young people, simplify the organization and registration of such enterprises, reduce taxes, and remove bureaucratic barriers.

The direction in which Russia's further development will go will depend not only on the successful progress of socio-economic reforms, but also on how committed Russian youth are to active participation in them.

Social work with young people is currently undergoing successful development. Various institutions are opening, working exclusively in the field of youth problems, which provide effective psychological and social assistance to young people. In addition, much attention is paid to the development of sports; there is a great attraction of the younger generation into professional sports. Also, attention is paid to healthy image life of young people, in propaganda, which involves not only government organizations and institutions, but private companies and funds mass media.

Literature

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YOUTH is a socio-demographic group identified on the basis of age parameters, characteristics of social status and socio-psychological qualities.

One of the first definitions of the concept of “youth” was given in 1968 by V.T. Lisovsky:

“Youth is a generation of people going through the stage of socialization, acquiring, and at a more mature age having already acquired, educational, professional, cultural and other social functions; depending on specific historical conditions, the age criteria of youth can range from 16 to 30 years.”

Later, a more complete definition was given by I.S. Konom:

“Youth is a socio-demographic group, identified on the basis of a combination of age characteristics, characteristics of social status and socio-psychological properties determined by both. Youth as a certain phase, stage of the life cycle is biologically universal, but its specific age framework, the associated social status and socio-psychological characteristics are of a socio-historical nature and depend on the social system, culture and the patterns of socialization characteristic of a given society.”

In developmental psychology, youth is characterized as a period of formation of a stable system of values, the formation of self-awareness and social status of the individual.

The consciousness of a young person has a special sensitivity, the ability to process and assimilate a huge flow of information. During this period, they develop: critical thinking, the desire to give their own assessment of various phenomena, the search for argumentation, original thinking. At the same time, at this age some attitudes and stereotypes characteristic of the previous generation still remain. Hence, in the behavior of young people there is an amazing combination of contradictory qualities and traits: the desire for identification and isolation, conformism and negativism, imitation and denial of generally accepted norms, the desire for communication and withdrawal, detachment from the outside world.

Youth consciousness is determined by a number of objective circumstances.

Firstly, in modern conditions the process of socialization itself has become more complex and lengthened, and accordingly the criteria for its social maturity have become different. They are determined not only by entering an independent working life, but also by completing education, obtaining a profession, real political and civil rights, and material independence from parents.

Secondly, the formation of social maturity of young people occurs under the influence of many relatively independent factors: family, school, work collective, media, youth organizations and spontaneous groups.

The boundaries of youth are fluid. They depend on the socio-economic development of society, the achieved level of well-being and culture, and people’s living conditions. The impact of these factors is really manifested in the life expectancy of people, the expansion of the boundaries of youth age from 14 to 30 years.

Since ancient times, the formation of society has been accompanied by the process of socialization of new generations. One of the main problems in the socialization of young people is that they either accept the values ​​of their fathers or completely abandon them. More often the latter happens.

Young people believe that the social values ​​that their “fathers” lived by lose their practical significance in any new historical situation and, as a result, are not inherited by their children.

Today, the main task of the survival of Belarusian society is to solve the problem of maintaining social stability and transferring cultural heritage from one generation to another. This process has never been automatic. It always assumed the active participation of all generations in it.

It is necessary to remember that it is at a young age that a system of value orientations is formed, the process of self-education, self-creation of the individual and establishment in society is actively underway.

In today’s rapidly changing, dynamically developing world, young people have to decide for themselves what is more valuable – getting rich by any means or acquiring high qualifications that help them adapt to new conditions; denial of previous moral norms or flexibility, adaptability to new reality; unlimited freedom of interpersonal relationships or family.

The value system is the foundation of a person’s relationship to the world.

Values ​​are a relatively stable, socially conditioned attitude of a person to the totality of material and spiritual goods, cultural phenomena that serve as a means of satisfying the needs of the individual.

Core values ​​include:

1. Humanity;

2. Good manners;

3. Education;

4. Tolerance;

5. Kindness;

6. Honesty;

7. Hard work;

8. Love;

In post-Soviet times, young people acquired a number of new qualities, both positive and negative.

The positive ones include:

1. The desire for self-organization and self-government;

2. Interest in political events in the country and region;

3. Concern for the problems of national language and culture;

4. Participation in organizing your leisure time;

5. Focus on self-education;

Negative qualities such as:

1. Tobacco smoking, drug use and teenage alcoholism;

2. Doing nothing;

3. Sexual experimentation;

4. Infantility and indifference (nihilism);

5. Uncertainty and unpredictability;

Several important sociocultural conditions for successful personal socialization can be identified:

1. Healthy family microenvironment;

2. Favorable creative atmosphere at school, lyceum, gymnasium;

3. Positive impact fiction and art;

4. Media influence;

5. Aestheticization of the nearest macroenvironment (yard, neighborhood, club, sports ground, etc.)

6. Active involvement in social activities;

Social adaptation is a controlled process. It can be managed not only in line with the influence of social institutions on the individual during his production, non-production, pre-production, post-production life, but also in line with self-government.

IN general view Most often, there are four stages of personality adaptation in a new social environment:

1. the initial stage, when an individual or group realizes how they should behave in a new social environment, but are not yet ready to recognize and accept the value system of the new environment and strive to adhere to the previous value system;

2. the stage of tolerance, when the individual, group and new environment show mutual tolerance to each other’s value systems and patterns of behavior;

3. accommodation, i.e. recognition and acceptance by the individual of the basic elements of the value system of the new environment while simultaneously recognizing some of the values ​​of the individual and group as the new social environment;

4. assimilation, i.e. complete coincidence of the value systems of the individual, group and environment;

Complete social adaptation of a person includes physiological, managerial, economic, pedagogical, psychological and professional adaptation.

Specific points of social adaptation technology:

It is only human nature to create special “devices”, certain social institutions, norms, traditions that facilitate the process of his adaptation in a given social environment;

Only a person has the ability to consciously prepare the younger generation for the process of adaptation, using all means of education for this;

The process of “acceptance” or “rejection” by individuals of existing social relations depends both on social affiliation, worldview, and on the orientation of upbringing;

A person consciously acts as a subject of social adaptation, changing his views, attitudes, and value orientations under the influence of circumstances;

Social adaptation is the process of an individual’s active mastery of the social environment, in which the individual acts both as an object and as a subject of adaptation, and the social environment is both an adapting and adaptable party.

Successful social adaptation of the individual requires the maximum expenditure of the individual’s spiritual energy.

Youth is the path to the future that a person chooses. Choosing the future and planning it is a characteristic feature of young age; he would not be so attractive if a person knew in advance what would happen to him tomorrow, in a month, in a year.

The general conclusion: “Each subsequent generation of young people is worse than the previous one in terms of basic indicators of social status and development.” This is expressed, first of all, in the trend of a reduction in the number of young people, which leads to an aging society and, consequently, a decrease in the role of youth as a social resource in general.

The demographic situation is complicated by something new in Belarusian reality – an increase in murders and suicides, including among young people. The reason is the emergence of complex personal and life situations. According to data, 10% of graduates of state institutions for orphans commit suicide, not being able to adapt to living conditions.

Firstly, the unresolved socio-economic and everyday problems.

Secondly, there is a tendency for the health of children and adolescents to deteriorate. The growing generation is less healthy physically and mentally than the previous one. On average, in Belarus, only 10% of school graduates can consider themselves absolutely healthy, 45–50% of them have serious morphofunctional abnormalities.

Recently, among students there has been a clear increase in the number of diseases such as:

1. mental disorders;

2. peptic ulcer of the gastrointestinal tract;

3. alcohol and drug addiction;

4. sexually transmitted diseases;

Some young people, due to an unbalanced diet and decreased physical activity, gain excess weight, spend little time outdoors, and do not participate in sports and recreational activities.

Thirdly, there is a tendency to expand the process of desocialization and marginalization of young people. The number of young people leading an asocial, immoral lifestyle is increasing. For various reasons and to varying degrees, these include: disabled people, alcoholics, tramps, “professional beggars,” persons serving sentences in correctional labor institutions who strive to be socially useful citizens, but due to social conditions cannot become one. There is lumpenization and criminalization of youth. ¾ of students consider themselves to be low-income.

Fourthly, in the trend of decreasing opportunities for youth to participate in economic development. Statistics show that the share of young people among the unemployed remains high. The labor market is characterized by a significant flow of labor from the state to the non-state sector of the economy.

By moving into the field for positions that do not require professional knowledge, young people risk their future well-being without ensuring the accumulation of intellectual property - professionalism. Moreover, this area of ​​employment is characterized by a very high degree of criminalization.

Fifthly, there is a downward trend in the social value of labor and the prestige of a number of professions important to society. Sociological research recent years They state that in work motivation, priority is given not to meaningful work, but to work aimed at obtaining material benefits. “Big salary” - this motive turned out to be decisive when choosing a place of work.

Modern youth have a trait that shows that most of them want to have a good income, while having neither a profession nor the desire to work. This happens due to the fact that young people lack incentives to work.

The problem of criminal influence on young people has recently been of concern to the Belarusian public. Among criminal offenses, every fourth is committed by young people and teenagers. Among the offenses, mercenary crimes attract attention - theft, extortion of money, fraud. When analyzing statistical data, the volume of acquisitive crimes is currently growing rapidly. This depends on the fact that differentiation occurs among young people and for the majority of young people, parents cannot give what they would like, taking into account their needs. But they themselves cannot get this due to the fact that they do not have a specialty or work skills. Young people do not want to get an education just because they have no prospects after receiving an education. Currently, more and more young people are using drugs. Maybe this comes from the hopelessness of realizing their potential or from the fact that, due to a lack of understanding of the seriousness, they were involved in this by people interested in selling drugs.

Youth as a socio-demographic group. The importance of age in determining the characteristics of a given group. The relationship between biological, psychological and social.

Age as a social phenomenon and personality characteristic. Types of age: chronological, physiological, subjective, symbolic, etc.

Value orientations of the individual. Education of teenagers and young people as a problem. Morality and ethics in modern society: the opinion of educators and students.

Features of determining a generation (Mannheim). The problem of relationships between generations (M. Mead). Peers and contemporaries. Identification with a generation.

Young people are the object of study in many social and humanitarian disciplines: philosophy, pedagogy, demography, politics, sociology, psychology. Social background and environmental factors have a significant impact on the life course of an individual, ranging from the pace of physical maturation to the content of the worldview. For example, social background, occupation and level of education of parents; features of the socio-ecological environment, in particular the type of settlement (big city, small town, village); composition, structure and financial situation of the family; his own social status and type of occupation. National and ethnocultural characteristics are added to socio-economic differences. Hence the need to study the problems of adolescence and youth by representatives of different sciences.

Youth as a socio-demographic group has such features as age, position in the social structure, specificity of consciousness and behavior, a special form of culture (subculture), the specific role of youth that it plays in the process of generational change in the system of reproduction and development of society. That is, the functioning and development of youth reflects the formation of a subject of social production and social life (Chuprov, Zubok 2009).

One of the first sociological definitions of the concept of “youth” in the late 1960s was formulated by the founder of the Leningrad school of research on youth problems, sociologist V.T. Lisovsky: « The youth- this is a generation of people who go through the stage of socialization, assimilate (and at a more mature age have already acquired) educational, professional and cultural functions and are prepared (prepared) by society to assimilate and fulfill social roles. Depending on specific historical conditions, the age criteria for youth can range from 16 to 30 years.”

Later a more complete definition was given by I.S. Con : « The youth– a socio-demographic group identified on the basis of a combination of age characteristics, characteristics of social status and socio-psychological properties determined by both.

Youth- a certain stage of human maturation and development, lying between childhood and adulthood. The transition from childhood to adulthood is usually divided into two stages: adolescence (adolescence) And youth (early and late). However, the chronological boundaries of these ages are often defined in completely different ways, for example, in Russian psychiatry the age from 14 to 18 years is called adolescence, while in psychology 16–18 year olds are considered young men.

Age terminology has never been unambiguous. IN « Explanatory dictionary"V. Dalya young man is defined as “a young guy from 15 to 20 years old or more”, and teenager- like a “child in adolescence”, about 14–15 years old. In the Old Russian language the word "youth" meant a child, a teenager, and a young man. The same vagueness of edges is characteristic of classical and medieval Latin.

Adolescence– the stage of formation of self-awareness and one’s own worldview, the stage of making responsible decisions, the stage of human intimacy, when the values ​​of friendship, love, intimacy can be paramount.

Answering the questions: “Who am I?”, “What am I?”, “What am I striving for?”, the young man forms:

- self-awareness– a holistic idea of ​​oneself, an emotional attitude towards oneself, self-esteem.

- own worldview How whole system views, knowledge, beliefs of his life philosophy, which is based on the previously acquired significant amount of knowledge and the formed ability for abstract theoretical thinking.

- the desire to rethink and critically understand everything around us, to assert oneself, to create one’s own theories of the meaning of life, love, happiness, politics.

Youth as a certain phase, stage of the life cycle, is biologically universal, but its specific age framework, associated social status and socio-psychological characteristics are of a socio-historical nature and depend on the social system, culture and the patterns of socialization inherent in a given society.”

(Bezrukova 2004).

B. G. Ananyev distinguishes two phases of youth, one of which is on the border with childhood, and the other on the border with maturity. Both phases differ both in the patterns of psychophysiological and intellectual development, and in the peculiarities of personality formation, and, consequently, in the degree of formation of the personality as a subject of activity.

Early youth(15-17 years old), belonging to the first phase, is characterized by the uncertainty of the young person’s position in society. At this age, the young man realizes that he is no longer a child, but at the same time not yet an adult.

Second phase of adolescence, which in many age classifications is called youth as such (18-25 years), represents the initial link of maturity. Vygotsky was inclined to relate this phase of youth to the system of ages of maturity: “According to the general meaning and basic laws, the age from 18-25 years is more likely the initial link in the chain of mature ages than the final link in the chain of child development.”

Youthful thinking is more flexible and at the same time more realistic than childish thinking. It captures the polysemy of words and concepts. Youth is the age of heated debate, philosophizing, theorizing even on well-known topics, searching for the formula of happiness and the formula of love. Youth is especially sensitive to one’s own “I” and, in general, to “internal” psychological problems. The main psychological acquisition of early youth is the discovery of one’s inner world. Young people, in large part, have a level of mobility, intellectual activity and health that distinguishes them favorably from other groups of the population.

V.V. Ginzburg considers youth to be a transitional period to maturity. “The transition of the body from adolescence to adult state does not mean the cessation of development of the organism. It enters a new phase, characterized by more stable forms of metabolism and relatively little changing forms of body structure.”

In the definition of youth, the following characteristics can be distinguished that distinguish youth from other groups:
· age limits of youth;
· specificity of social status;
· role functions and behavioral characteristics;
· characteristics of the socio-demographic group;
· socio-psychological characteristics;

· the process of socialization in a specific historical period;
· self-identification and self-determination of youth as a social group.

(Bezrukova 2004).
The German anthropologist G. Grimm, noting the uncertainty of the position of youth in the age system, emphasizes the importance of social conditions. “Youth is a period of life when a maturing teenager enters the sphere of specific influences of the production environment. In this case, mutual relationships arise in which, on the one hand, known morphological prerequisites determine suitability for a certain species professional activity, on the other hand, as a result of this type of activity, stimuli arise that stimulate the development of the organism, which is still in the process of growth.”

Ideas about the properties and capabilities of individuals of each age are closely related to the age stratification existing in society. Chronological age, or more precisely, the level of development of an individual assumed by him, directly or indirectly reflects his social position, nature of activity, range of social roles, etc. The gender and age division of labor largely determines the social status, self-awareness and level of aspirations of members of the corresponding age group.

Age serves as a criterion for occupying or leaving certain social roles, and this connection can be both direct and indirect (for example, the time required to obtain an education, without which it is impossible to occupy a certain social position). In some cases, the criteria are normative and legal (school age, civil majority), in others they are factual (for example, the average age of marriage), and the degree of certainty of age criteria and boundaries in different societies and different fields of activity is very variable.

Age stratification also includes a system of age-related socio-psychological expectations and sanctions (ideas about “normal behavior” and the degree of responsibility of a teenager and an adult, etc.).

Adolescence denotes the phase of transition from dependent childhood to independent and responsible adulthood, which presupposes, on the one hand, the completion of physical, in particular sexual, maturation, and on the other, the achievement of social maturity. But this happens differently in different societies.

In primitive societies, with their relatively simple and stable social structure, the individual relatively easily acquired the social roles and work skills necessary for an adult. Low life expectancy did not allow society to particularly delay the “preparatory period.” Childhood ended early, education and training were predominantly practical in nature: children learned by participating, in a manner feasible for them, in labor and other activities of adults.

In the future, the criteria for social maturation become more complex and become more multidimensional. In the Middle Ages, the transfer of experience accumulated by elders was carried out mainly through the direct practical inclusion of the child in the activities of adults. The child performed auxiliary functions in the parental family or outside the home; learning was an organic part of work and life, and the criteria for maturity were class-based. In describing childhood and adolescence, medieval thought emphasizes not so much the task of preparing for future life, how much is the moment of social dependence. The most important criterion for adulthood was the creation of one's own family, which was associated with independence and responsibility.

New times have brought important social and psychological changes. In modern society there is heterochronic sequence of biological and social maturation of adolescents , which finds expression in the contradictions observed during adolescence. Physical, in particular sexual, maturation has noticeably accelerated, forcing us to “lower” the boundaries of adolescence. On the contrary, the complication of social and labor activities in which a person must participate has entailed an extension necessary deadlines training. These contradictions boil down to the fact that a high standard of living in society accelerates the maturation of the body and, at the same time, delays the time for the beginning of active participation of young people in the creation of material and spiritual benefits of society. Physical maturity occurs much earlier than social maturity. New generations of young people begin independent working lives much later than their peers in the past and study longer. Hence the lengthening of the period of “role moratorium” (when the young man “tryes on” various adult roles, but is not yet completely identified with them).

The extension of youth has its own personal prerequisites: expanding the sphere of conscious self-determination and increasing its independence. In a society of a patriarchal-feudal type, the life path of an individual in its main features was predetermined by the existing social structure and tradition. In the professional sphere, the young man, as a rule, inherited the occupations of his parents. His social aspirations were limited by class. His parents chose his bride, often long before he reached manhood and regardless of his personal inclinations and sympathies. Only an outstanding person could break out of this social constraint and even recognize it as such.

In modern conditions, it is necessary for a young man to be socially competent, that is, capable of self-government. Any control requires information, information about the object of control. In self-government, this should be the subject’s information about himself. Social self-determination is the determination of one’s position in the world; it is directed not inward to the individual, but outward. But answering the questions of who to be and what to do also implies a certain assessment of oneself and one’s capabilities.

In modern times, the possibilities of individual choice - profession, wife (husband), lifestyle - have expanded significantly. A person’s psychological horizons are not limited by his immediate environment. Greater freedom of choice promotes the formation of an independent social character and provides a greater variety of individual variations. But the flip side of this is the complication of the process of self-determination.

Modern society is characterized by the growth of social autonomy of young people from their elders and individual self-determination.

Approaches to the development of special theories in the sociology of youth.
1. Psychoanalytic approach. Within the framework of this approach, the direction of neo-Freudianism is highlighted. The founder, the Austrian psychiatrist Sigmund Freud, put forward a number of important provisions about the nature of adolescent and youthful sexuality, emotional processes and features of the development of youthful personality, which were later developed by his numerous followers.

The most influential representative of neo-Freudianism in developmental psychology was the famous American psychologist Erik Erikson. Human development, according to Erikson, consists of three interrelated, although autonomous processes: somatic development, studied by biology, development of the conscious “I,” studied by psychology, and social development, studied by sociology and other social sciences.

The basic law of development is the “epigenetic principle,” according to which at each new stage of development new phenomena and properties arise that were not present at the previous stages of the process. The transition to a new phase of development occurs in the form of a “normative crisis”, which superficially resembles pathological phenomena, but in fact expresses normal difficulties of growth. The transition to a new phase of development is possible only on the basis of resolving the main contradiction inherent in the previous phase.

Erikson divides the entire life course into eight phases, each of which has its own specific tasks and can be resolved favorably or unfavorably for future development.

The first phase is infancy. Its main task is to develop in the child an unconscious sense of “basic trust” in the outside world. The main means of this are parental care and love. If “basic trust” does not arise, the infant develops feelings of “basic distrust” of the world, anxiety, which can manifest itself in an adult in the form of isolation, withdrawal, etc.

In second phase – early childhood– the child develops a sense of his autonomy and personal value or their opposite – shame and doubt. The growth of the child’s independence, starting with the control of his bodily functions, gives him the opportunity to choose, due to which, at this stage of development, such traits of the future personality as a sense of responsibility, respect for discipline and order are laid.

Third phase– playing age (approximately from 5 to 7 years) – creates a sense of initiative, a desire to do something. If this desire is blocked, a feeling of guilt arises. At this age, group play and communication with peers are crucial, allowing the child to try on different roles, develop imagination, etc. At this stage, a sense of justice is established, understood as compliance with the rule.

Fourth phase– school age – a sense of enterprise, the ability to achieve a goal. Creativity and competence become the most important values. In the negative version of development, the child develops a feeling of inferiority, which initially arises from the consciousness of his incompetence, failure to solve certain specific problems, most often related to learning, and then spreads to the personality as a whole. At this age, the attitude towards work is formed.

Fifth phase– youth – is characterized by the emergence of a feeling of one’s uniqueness, individuality, and dissimilarity from others; in the negative version, a diffuse, vague “I”, role and personal uncertainty arise. A typical feature of this phase of development is a “role moratorium”: the range of roles performed expands, but the young man does not assimilate these roles seriously and completely, but rather tries them on, trying them on. Erikson analyzes in detail the mechanisms of formation of self-awareness, a new sense of time, psychosexual interests, as well as pathogenic processes and options for the development of youth.

Sixth phase– youth – characterized by the emergence of the need and ability for intimate psychological intimacy with another person, including sexual intimacy. The alternative is a feeling of isolation and loneliness.

The most important acquisition seventh phase– adulthood – creative activity and the accompanying feeling of productivity. They are manifested not only in work, but also in caring for others, including offspring, in the need to pass on one’s experience, etc. In the negative version, a feeling of stagnation (stagnation) appears.

Eighth phase- mature age, or old age - is characterized by the appearance of a feeling of satisfaction, fullness of life, fulfilled duty, and in the negative case - despair and disappointment. The highest virtue of this age is detachment and wisdom, i.e. the ability to look at the work of one’s own and others’ hands from a certain height.

Human development involves the joint action of innate and environmental components. Representatives of society - educators, parents - are connected with the child by their own innate needs. If a child needs emotional warmth, then parents feel the need to take care and nurse the baby. It is the coincidence of these two differently directed needs that provides the desired result. At the same time, each society has specific institutions within the framework and through which the socialization of children is carried out. Therefore, although the general sequence and main tasks of the main phases of epigenesis are universal and invariant, typical ways of solving these problems vary from one society to another. Society prepares the individual to perform appropriate social functions by determining the ways in which the individual himself resolves the life tasks that stand in his way.

2. Structural-functional approach. Among the followers of this trend is the Israeli sociologist Sh. Eisenstadt, who owns the work “From Generation to Generation.” Following the classics - E. Durkheim, R. Merton, T. Parsons - he considers a youth group as a system of structural positions filled by individuals, as a result of which they acquire a certain social status and corresponding social roles. Each role serves as a basic unit in a structural interaction that regulates certain aspects of the behavior of the young person. The undoubted merit of the supporters of this approach was the construction of the concept of intergenerational interaction, according to which the main goal of any social system- self-reproduction. It is achieved through age differentiation of society with strictly defined social functions. Moreover, the roles performed by an individual at each stage of life must be clearly oriented in relation to one of his main functions - the subject or object of social and cultural inheritance. Disruption of the process of transition of roles from one generation to another can lead to serious deformation, and in special cases and to the complete collapse of the entire structure of social relationships. A similar approach formed the basis of special sociological theories - the “sexual revolution” (W. Reich, G. Marcuse), “generational conflict” (D. Bell, E. Fromm, R. Merton).

A significant contribution that enriched this tradition in the sociology of youth were the works of our compatriots: V. Borovik, S. Bykova, V. Vasilyev, S. Grigoriev, G. Zhuravlev, A. Kapto, E. Katulsky, A. Kulagin, L. Kogan etc. The subject of analysis here was the trends in the formation of young replenishments of the working class, collective farm peasantry, intelligentsia, their social status, labor and social activity, as well as the discrepancy between professional status and qualifications, level of education and material security, formal inclusion in management structures and real participation in decision-making - in a word, fundamental contradictions that determine the nature of relations between youth and society.

(Chuprov).
3. Cultural approach. This approach is characterized by consideration of social phenomena, including specifically youth ones, from the point of view of phenomenological sociology. Sharing the ideas of its founders A. Schutz, P. Berger, T. Luckmann, researchers strive to comprehend the world of youth in its purely human existence, in relation to specific ideas, goals and behavioral motives of actually acting individuals. Thanks to the use of the cultural tradition, sociology has gained the opportunity to systematically analyze youth problems in connection with real processes occurring in society. A classic example is the work of a German sociologist K. Mannheim. Exploring the phenomenon of generational unity, he revealed the mechanism of social inheritance. The urgent need to transmit and assimilate material and spiritual experience constantly confronts young people with the phenomenon of human culture; This continuous contact of young generations with the achievements of civilization is of great importance for society, because it opens up ways to reassess the acquired cultural baggage and reorient movement in a new direction.

The continuity of generations.

To analyze this phenomenon, sociology uses proposals in the context of which different approaches to the interpretation of the concept of generation and, accordingly, the place of young people in it are possible.

Youth in modern society

1. Sociocultural situation of youth development in modern society

Everyday life people are often at risk. This is especially true for young people. It is one of the main categories of the population most exposed to risk factors. After all, she has an inherent desire for the new, the unknown, and risk provides a chance to succeed. Young people are less reflective about the possible consequences of risk, but they also often lose. By relying on chance, young people risk ending up without the desired education, not finding a job, not starting a family, not being able to withstand competition in business, and being left out of work. What sociocultural factors and conditions of social life of modern youth allow us to assert that this social group is in a high-risk zone.

However, before starting to analyze the MGR, it is necessary to clarify which categories of the population can be classified as “youth”.

In modern sociological research, youth is defined not simply as an age group, but as a specific socio-demographic formation, characterized, on the one hand, by its inherent psychological and physiological characteristics, the implementation of predominantly activities related to preparation and inclusion in social life, into a social mechanism; on the other hand, its subculture, internal differentiation corresponding to the social division of society.

The main group-forming criterion for young people is age limits. The youth group in modern society usually includes people from 16 to 29 years old. However, there is no unity among researchers (some include this group older teenagers, expanding the lower age limit to 13-14 years).

The specificity of youth as a special social group, with its inherent characteristics and properties in modern society, is that its representatives are in the stage of formation and disclosure of their social potential. The majority do not have their own social status, occupying a place in the social structure in accordance with the social status of their parents or their own future status associated with obtaining a profession. At the same time, if the status of an adult is entirely determined by his professional demand, the amount of accumulated social capital, the young man is included in the structure of informal relations (youth movements, subcultural and other organizations, political, religious, ideological associations, etc.), and this informal status is essential for him. In addition, young people, due to the fact that in every sense (social, psychological, ideological) are in the process of formation, they are more susceptible than other age groups to various social, political, cultural, ideological influences, which contributes to high mobility her value orientations, and also makes her more unpredictable and difficult to predict social behavior. All these specific characteristics of young people, to a large extent, determine the complex age-related sociocultural situation of development and the high degree of probability of young people being at risk. Let's look specifically at what risk factors young people have to face.

Speaking about the problems of modern youth, we should proceed from a number of contradictions that determine the development of the younger generation:

Between the flourishing of intellectual and physical strength and the strict limit of time and economic opportunities to satisfy increased needs;

Between the focus on personal well-being and unawareness of value own life, which leads to unjustified risk;

Between fairly clearly realized desires and aspirations and an insufficiently developed will and strength of character necessary to achieve them;

Between awareness of one’s own ideals and life plans and their social abstraction;

Between the desire to quickly free oneself from parental care and the difficulties of social and psychological adaptation to the conditions of independent living;

Between developed egocentrism, on the one hand, and increased conformity to the peer group, on the other;

Between the desire to make your own choice and the lack of desire to bear responsibility for its consequences.

The identified contradictions determine the specific nature of the sociocultural self-realization of young people and the marginalization of their social status.

Social risks in the lives of modern young people

The problems of Russian youth are largely related to the objective processes that take place in modern world: urbanization, an increase in the proportion of pensioners and the elderly in society, a reduction in the birth rate, etc. But at the same time, youth problems in Russia also have their own specifics, mediated by Russian reality and the policies that were pursued in relation to youth.

Some youth experts believe that every young person is potentially at riskm. This position is determined by the idea that growing up also means an inevitable struggle to be oneself, to be different from others, and, therefore, already The process of age-related development itself contains contradictions that are inevitably accompanied by various risks. A number of researchers argue that the risk situation is determined lack of moral educationI, which is typical in recent decades for Russian society and the result is that many young people risk falling into the traps of modern society. Youth represents the period of personality formation. The incompleteness of this process determines the exposure of young people to various influences, and the lack of life experience prevents them from developing the correct attitude towards certain people or events. Therefore, a young person needs targeted, value-oriented education. If society withdraws from the implementation of educational functions, the process becomes spontaneous, and, consequently, the degree of risk increases.

There are quite a lot of supporters that young people at risk are simply those young people who try drugs and alcohol(too narrow an approach - a little later). But there are others who are convinced that persistent unemployment and intergenerational poverty are what really threaten young people.

Social instability and uncertainty. The life activities of young people are carried out in social conditions, which also pose various threats and risks. The ability to predict not only the distant, but also the near future is reduced, which introduces uncertainty and instability into the life of young people entering into social relations. In a socioculturally stable society, there are no sharp differences between generations. This smoothness of intergenerational transition indicates the effectiveness of socialization mechanisms. The appearance of society, although inevitably changing, maintains a sufficient level of continuity. In a situation of social instability and increased riskiness, the norms and values ​​that guided fathers are sharply rejected, normal intergenerational interaction is disrupted, a conflict of values ​​arises, and young people find themselves disoriented.

Peer group influence. In the social sciences, the development of youth appears as a directed change in its social qualities in the process of reproduction social structure, i.e. as a certain direction of her mobility. In the ordinary consciousness of a young person, this is expressed in the desire to achieve the status of representatives of his reference groups. During this age period, the opinion of peers and a place in the emerging group hierarchy turns into a super value. One’s own role in the group is absolutized and perceived as a universal life role. Therefore, people who found themselves outsiders in their youth often retain this attitude later. Achieving the desired status in a group brings satisfaction and is an incentive for further status advancement, and failure to realize plans leads to disappointment and the search for other ways of self-determination in life. The unattainability of the desired identity causes an individual to have a deep break with society and with himself. This is the so-called crisisa type of socialization that is characterized by a discrepancy between the functions and roles performed by an individual, an increase in deviations, etc.

Limitation of vertical mobility. But even under conditions of normal socialization, social and personal self-determination are fraught with risk. First of all, this is determined by the limited opportunities provided by society for the vertical mobility of young people. Awareness of limitations stimulates young people to take decisive and risky actions, the outcome of which is difficult to predict in conditions of instability. Success contributes to the social self-determination of a young person. However, having failed to realize themselves in society, young people are faced with an alternative: to find themselves on the sidelines of life or to follow the path of violating legal and moral norms. The state of uncertainty is increasing. Then the risk appears again, but when trying to overcome uncertainty, and is expressed in adverse consequences in case of failure, the probability of which is very high. The increasing degree of risk for many young people results in threats to their career, family, and stable life.

Social and economic crisis in Russiaworsened the social situation of young people and put them in conflict with society. This predetermined the risk of unrealized opportunities and social exclusion (exclusion) for many young people. It is directly related to the fundamental property of a risk society, which, undoubtedly, can be considered modern Russian society - uncertainty and unpredictability of life's path,self-determination and self-realization to a greater or lesser extent of all young people, which cannot but influence the nature of the social development of youth as a group.

Professional self-determination. During early adolescence, a person experiences a process of professional self-orientation, a search for his place in the adult world. Increased interest in “beautiful” professions. However, lack of opportunities (abilities) can cause disappointment in yourself and in life. But there is another aspect to the problem. Due to age-related psychological characteristics, young people actively strive to achieve options for existence that are actively imposed on them (primarily by the media). Installation on material values corrects the professional development of young people, which is determined not by the desire for self-realization and creativity in work, but by the search for work with situationally high earnings. This setting is fixed real condition transitional society - a high level of youth unemployment, which affects those age cohorts where the processes of socio-professional development are most intensive. Consequently, young people are more vulnerable and open to marginalization, alienation and social exclusion.

Stratification gap. In modern Russia, property and social stratification is so significant that belonging to a particular social stratum entirely determines the life prospects and opportunities for self-realization of young people. Young people from different social strata have unequal chances even at the start of life. On the one hand, we can already talk about the formed elite group of “golden youth”, whose high status and unlimited material, social and educational opportunities reflect the exclusive position of their parents in society. On the other hand, there is a significant layer of young people who, due to poverty and the low social status of their parents, have an extremely narrow range of life prospects. And if, say, for a young Russian from a family with high material income it is a choice between studying at a domestic or foreign university, for a boy or girl from a family of certain categories of employees - between study or work, then people from low-income, large or single-parent families often one has to choose between social passivity, pessimism and aggressiveness, between a miserable existence and crime. As you can see, everyone is at risk. But for some it is a risk of downward mobility, and for others it is a threat of criminalization. Moreover, the likelihood of risk increases many times over for young people from low-income families.

Focus on pleasure and entertainment. As many researchers note, the consumer type of social functioning predominates among modern youth. Largely under the influence of the media, their system of assessments and preferences is increasingly oriented towards leisure. The desire to achieve success in educational and production activities, in social work among modern young people it is often replaced by other needs and interests − fashion clothes, music, video, alcoholic drinks, information significant for a given microenvironment, etc.

This situation is expressed in the desire to get maximum pleasure from life. This gives rise to a number of risky effects. In particular, today there is a huge gap between the real situation in which Russian youth find themselves and their expectations. Despite the fact that recently confidence in the future, ambition and enterprise of young people in general have increased, they perceive current Russian society as a social pyramid, which mainly occupies the lower three steps out of ten. According to the Institute of Youth Sociology, 60.1% of young Russians experience social insecurity.

In turn, this leads to the emergence of addictive behavior (from the English addiction-dependence), associated with a person’s desire to leave real life by changing the state of his consciousness, including with the help of various kinds of psychoactive substances.

sociocultural youth self-determination society

Literature

1.Volkov Yu.G. Sociology. Rostov-on-Don: Phoenix Publishing House, 2004.

2. Zubok Yu.A. The problem of risk in the sociology of youth. M., 2003.

Kovalchuk M.A., Tarkhanova I.Yu. Negative trends in the formation of youth subculture. (electronic version).

Chuprov V.I., Zubok Yu.A., Williams K. Youth in a risk society. M., 2001.