Determinants of Socio-political Activity of Contemporary Youth

Abstract

Introduction. This paper presents a hierarchical model of socio-political activity of contemporary youth based on the system-diachronic approach. The author developed and tested a new diagnostic tool for measuring the degree of activity, intentionality, and destructiveness in subjects of social, public, and political life – a questionnaire on young people’s socio-political activity.
 Methods. The study employed qualitative and quantitative data collection methods, standardized questionnaires, and inventories. The data collected were processed using content analysis and secondary mathematical and statistical analysis.
 Results. Age, income, education level, professional activity, patriotic consciousness, absence of political infantilism, absence of achievement and power motivations, satisfaction with living conditions, dissatisfaction with leisure sphere and partner relationships, and focusing on emotions together determine the transition from socio-political passivity to socio-political activity. The transition from a destructive form of socio-political activity to a constructive one is determined by dominance of values ​​of individualism and individualistic orientation, consumption in leisure, low confidence in authorities, high power motivation, absence of affiliation motivation, high satisfaction with education and professional activity, emotional stress caused by living conditions and social climate, and certain behavioral strategies, including repression, suppression, and use of sedatives. The transition from an unintentional socio-political activity to an intentional one is associated with reflection, socio-political competence, political socialization, high achievement and power motivations, dissatisfaction with leisure sphere and professional activity in the absence of emotional stress caused by living conditions, and a high propensity to plan.
 Discussion. Various combinations of determinants form the types of subjects of socio-political activity who are characterized by different correlations among the degree of activity, intentionality, and of the constructiveness of its manifestations. This thesis enabled the author to describe characteristics of different types of young people’s socio-political activity.