Social Behavior of University Students in Civic Sphere (Based on Results of Sociological Study in Rostov Region, Russia)

Abstract

The specific features of social needs and life strategies of students as a special social group, the significant role of universities in the formation of civic consciousness and the peculiarities of the transformation of the civic sphere in Russia actualize the study of the social behavior of university students in the civic sphere. The main purpose of the study is to identify the features of the social behavior of university students in the civic sphere and to determine their types. The methodological framework is based on the synthesis of socially deterministic and neoinstitutional approaches, the theory of mental programs, M. Rokeach's value approach and the activity-based approach to studying social practices. As external factors, the authors examine the features of organizational and institutional conditions for the implementation of civil-social and civil-political practices by students. The authors investigate the following internal factors: conservative and liberal mental programs which include ideas about civic participation as a terminal and instrumental value, attitudes and motives behind practices. The study is based on the data of the author's questionnaire of 382 students from seven universities in the Rostov region. According to the results of the study, there are four types of social behavior of students in the civil sphere: civic type, career-leisure type, hybrid type and conformist type. The most common type of behavior remains conformist as it is formed under the influence of conservative mental programs and formal conditions for the implementation of civil practices. The most adaptive to modern realities in the civil sphere is the hybrid type of students' social behavior. The university is a platform of special social trust between students and determines broad prospects for the development of informal civic events.