Features of Religiosity and Faith of Representatives of the “Information” and “New” Generations

Abstract

Objective. Comparison of the value bases of faith, objects of faith, belief in conspiracies, the level of religiosity among representatives of the “Information” and “New” generations.Background. If traditional values are destroyed, meaning is lost, there is an intergenerational gap, and religious institutions are in crisis, the problem of religious certainty for young generations arises. There is a lack of confidence in the younger generation, a gap between external and internal religiosity. The generational approach to the study of religiosity is poorly represented in research. It is highly relevant to study the features of religiosity and faith of representatives of generations in a transitive society.Study design. The study was conducted using a socio-psychological survey. The data were analyzed by factor analysis, methods for determining the significance of differences in indicators.Participants. Secondary school students (150 people, 53% girls and 47% boys from 14 to 17 years old) are the “New” generation; first-year university students aged 19 to 23 years (140 people, 50% girls and 50% boys) are the “Information” generation of Rostov-on-Don.Measurements. Method of measuring types of mentality; method of measuring values through fears; method of “Belief in a conspiracy”; scale of ranking objects of faith; questionnaire for measuring religiosity. The SPSS-20 application software package was used. to process the results.Results. In both groups, the innovative mentality prevails, archetypes are in the transition zone from tradition to innovation; the value of the “Mystical” is less pronounced in the “Information” generation; representatives of both generations believe more in miracles, God, Paradise and life after death; to a lesser extent — in UFOs, ghosts and witchcraft. Representatives of the “Information” generation believe more in political, food and pharmaceutical conspiracies. Representatives of the “New” generation believe more in information and food conspiracies. The “Information” generation believes that spirituality and faith are very important in life, but they do not adhere to any religious faith, they consider themselves spiritual. The degree of religiosity in both groups is weak, but prevails in the group of the “New” generation.Conclusions. There is a contradiction between the objects of faith, spirituality and religiosity. This indicates that the representatives of the studied generations have immature forms of religiosity.