Специфика функционирования механизма формирования идентичности современной молодежи в условиях изменяющейся социальной реальности

Abstract

This article offers a look at the process of identity formation of representatives of generations Z (Homelanders) in a modern reading, taking into account such a challenge as a changing social reality. The rapid informatization of society led to the digitization of the social system and the datification of the living space, which, in turn, affected interpersonal interactions and communications which are important for the socialization process. The emerging collapse of social space in its traditional form in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic significantly worsened the present situation. The latter circumstance affected the personal and group identities of the representatives of society. In this regard, the author focuses on the peculiarities of the process of identity formation of young people who are at the stage of primary socialization; specifies the elements of the mechanism of identity formation; offers a conceptual apparatus that allows detailed conceptualization of the observed changes. The author’s theoretical and methodological research is based on a synergetic interdisciplinary paradigm, a phenomenological approach, the theory of generations, publications of Russian sociologists engaged in the study of youth problems through the prism of the concept of uncertainty, nonlinearity and risk in the youth environment (primarily, the works of V. I. Chuprov, Yu. A. Zubok). The article continues the author’s cycle of the publications devoted to the reflection of the categories “liminality”, “liminal identity”, “social singularity”.