Civic Participation of Young People in Small Territories of a Russian Large Industrial Region

Abstract

Recently, the public discourse on the search for opportunities and sources of development of small territories has been updated. A significant role is assigned to young people involved in various practices of socio-political participation and solving urgent social problems. The aim of the work was to highlight the features of civic participation of young people in small territories, which can and should be considered for effective interaction between authorities and civil society institutions. Empirical data were collected through a questionnaire survey of the youth of the Sverdlovsk region aged 14-35 years, conducted in October 2022 (n = 2500 people). In the study, a subset of young people from small territories (1,091 people) was compared with the youth of a large city (784 people). Descriptive analysis methods and nonparametric tests were used for the analysis. The results showed that young people from small towns and rural settlements show less interest in politics, but at the same time, they are more involved in the problems of local communities, feel more responsible for what is happening in their hometown, compared to the young residents of a large city, and are also more optimistic in assessing their capabilities. Considering similar forms of civic participation, young people from small territories demonstrate greater activity and willingness to do something for their hometown, and its residents; they also have a higher involvement in patriotic actions. The youth of large cities and small territories differ in the ways they participate in voluntary activities, as the latter prefers collective rather than individual forms of participation. The problem of distrust of young people of small towns and rural settlements towards non-profit organizations with a higher level of interpersonal and institutional trust is outlined. The obtained results contribute to the understanding of the problems and possibilities of using the youth resource for the development of small territories.