The image of the future Russian state in the political worldview of student youth: sociological analysis

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the image of the future Russian state as a structural element of the political worldview of student youth. The image is considered by the authors as a socio-psychological phenomenon associated with the reflection in the minds of young people of the essential properties and characteristics of the state of the future, represented by a system of cognitive ideas, social attitudes, demands and expectations of the audience being studied. The image is revealed in the system of concepts « worldview - social attitudes - ideas - perception», which make up the conceptual scheme of the article and are united by a single mechanism of perception. Within the framework of the scenario approach, the cognitive, value elements of the image of the future, the emotional and evaluative background of perception, which set the framework for the perception of the Russian state, are studied. The purpose of this article is to analyze the main content characteristics of the image of the future Russian state in the minds of university students in the Volga Federal District. The authors’ conclusions are based on materials from a sociological study conducted in October-November 2023 among student youth in five regions of the Volga Federal District (sample size was 1048 respondents, sample type – cluster). The image of the future state in the mirror of the survey is characterized by a positive perception; negative scenarios are considered by respondents as unlikely or unacceptable. Students associate the prospects for the development of the state with the new opportunities that are opening up and an adequate response to the challenges of the time. The image of the future Russian state appears in the minds of young people as a multidimensional, complex, antinomic phenomenon that combines the features of a social, democratic, strong, sovereign, technologically developed state. In young people’s ideas about the future of the state, individual and personal aspects prevail over socially significant goals.