Historical Representations in the Structure of Modern Russian Youth’s Civic Consciousness

Abstract

The subject of analysis in this article is the historical representations of Russian youth as an element of their civic consciousness. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study is an interdisciplinary complex of political-psychological and historical-political science approaches. Historical representations are a form of reflection in the minds of people of events, phenomena and personalities of the past in the totality of their characteristics and properties. Historical representations in the structure of civic consciousness of young people determine the temporal projection of the image of Russia as a socio-cultural and political entity, in relation to which young people self-define as citizens. The empirical base of the study was made up of in-depth interviews with youth representatives. As a result of the analysis of empirical data, the general characteristics of the historical ideas of young people were revealed. The youth's perception of the past is clearly emotional. Attitudes towards historical eras are determined by their subjective assessment by young people. Historical representations are fragmented and have low cognitive complexity. Historical figures of the past are hardly examples of citizenship for young people. The perception of the past is determined by the currently actualized political values, the key of which is justice. It is argued that the revealed features of the historical ideas of young people are due to the psychological specifics of this generational community and the features of the formation of historical consciousness in the process of socialization. The difficulties of constructing the image of the past as an element of civic consciousness of young people are associated with contradictions in the activities of socialization institutions (family, school, media), the peculiarities of the implementation of historical policy and the transmission of historical memory in the public sphere. The need is noted for the formation of a holistic and consistent image of the past among young people through systematic and regular work with young people in the framework of various directions of state policy.