Экологическое поведение в современной России: мнения молодежи Южного федерального округа (по материалам фокус-группового исследования)

Abstract

Introduction. The article presents the results of a sociological study of opinions of young people in the Southern Federal District on the formation and development of environmental behavior, its formats available in modern Russia, as well as barriers on this path. The relevance of addressing the study of young people's assessments of their own capabilities in the field of environmental behavior is due to the low activity of young people in environmental practices with the often-formed demand for an environmental lifestyle. The purpose of the study is to identify degree of youth involvement in specific environmental practices; barriers to greening one's own life and the life of society; to identify main social institutions, whose activities are associated with the environmental expectations of young people. Methods. Empirically, the study is based on the focus group method conducted with young people in three constituent entities of the Southern Federal District: Rostov Region, the Republic of Adygea and the Republic of Crimea in 2021. The criteria for selecting participants, in addition to the region of residence, were age (15-29 years), type of main activity (study at school, college, university, work) and type of settlement where informant lives (city, village). Results and its discussion. The results of the study show that among Russian youth, the formation of the demand for an ecological lifestyle is recorded, while the real involvement in ecological practices is extremely low, and is limited, as a rule, by consumer practices. The main barriers to environmental behavior are informational, infrastructural and motivational. The main institutions that can and should influence the formation of environmental behavior include family, education and the state. The views of young people combine elements of statist understanding of the source of harmonization of environmental relations, and the conviction of the importance of the personal contribution of each citizen to the greening of their own life and life of society.