YOUTH IN THE DISCOURSE OF CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGICAL STUDIES: REGIONAL ASPECT

Abstract

Developments of the recent decades have radically changed the conditions of life of all social strata and groups of the Russian society. Under these conditions, the sustainable development of the society and the economy is largely dependent on the course of alternation of human generations – the process leading to the emergence of new actors in the socio-cultural environment, those who optimally perceive the modern values and painlessly become their bearers, transforming the world in accordance with them and playing the role of mediators in the formation of a new series of value determinants. The authors refer to the experience of a youth cohort study. They summarize the information on the scientific schools existing in this area of scientific thought in the Western countries as well as the findings of Soviet and Russian research projects. The study focuses on the research experience of the Vologda Research Center of RAS. Based on this experience, the article defines the circle of problems of the youth cohort in the field of health, employment after graduating from colleges / universities, social and political activity. The research findings are based on the data of a cycle of empirical studies carried out since 1997. The authors assume that young people are the social group whose characteristics directly determine the future development of the country, and that due to the unsettled social stereotypes, it is the group of people, whose quality features can adjusted according to the desired type of social behavior. The study puts forth the hypothesis, according to which the growth of investment in youth policy, systematic work on the formation of the necessary qualities of youth, bringing up its civil and political participation, involvement in productive activities would significantly improve the quality of its human potential and enhance the economic and social returns to the society. The article focuses on the following features in the youth environment: 1) heredity of techniques that are often tied to the realization of mercantile (consumer) interests and ignoring civic activity; 2) discrepancy of life and educational trajectories with professional choice; 3) positive dynamics of the quality of labor potential of young people with a stable decrease in the quality of their intellectual potential; 3) the instrumentalization of relations to a number of important spheres of life (health, education, labor). The authors also discuss some of the potential opportunities to expand the methodological apparatus of the regional studies of youth.