Lecture “Youth as a social group. Features of the youth subculture. Youth and youth policy Youth is a social group identified by

Lecture 4.

Types of amateur activities of young people.

Aggressive initiative - It is based on the most primitive ideas about the hierarchy of values, based on the cult of persons. Primitivism, visibility of self-affirmation. Popular among teenagers and young people with a minimum level of intellectual and cultural development.

Shocking(to amaze, surprise) amateur performance - It is based on a challenge to norms, canons, rules, opinions both in everyday, material forms of life - clothing, hairstyle, and in spiritual ones - art, science. “Challenging” aggression on yourself from others in order to be “noticed” (punk style, etc.)

Alternative amateur activities - Based on the development of alternative behavioral models that are systemically contradictory to generally accepted ones and become an end in themselves (hippies, Hare Krishnas, etc.)

Social activities - Aimed at solving specific social problems (environmental movements, movements for the revival and preservation of cultural and historical heritage, etc.)

Political amateur activities - Aimed at change political system and political situation in accordance with the ideas of a particular group

Modern humanity is a complex ethnic structure, including several thousand ethnic communities (nations, nationalities, tribes, ethnic groups, etc.), differing both in size and level of development. Most modern countries multi-ethnic. The Russian Federation includes more than a hundred ethnic groups, including about 30 nations.

Ethnic community- ϶ᴛᴏ historically developed on certain territory stable set of people (tribe, nationality, nation, people) who have general features and stable features of culture, language, mental makeup, self-awareness and historical memory, as well as awareness of their interests and goals, their unity and difference from other similar entities.

Aggressive initiative

It is based on the most primitive ideas about the hierarchy of values, based on the cult of persons. Primitivism, visibility of self-affirmation. Popular among teenagers and young people with a minimum level of intellectual and cultural development.

Shocking (French epater - to amaze, surprise) amateur performance

It is based on a challenge to norms, canons, rules, opinions both in everyday, material forms of life - clothing, hairstyle, and in spiritual ones - art, science. “Challenging” aggression on yourself from others in order to be “noticed” (punk style, etc.)

Alternative amateur performance

Based on the development of alternative, systemically contradictory models of behavior that become an end in themselves (hippies, Hare Krishnas, etc.)

Social activities

Aimed at solving specific social problems (environmental movements, movements for the revival and preservation of cultural and historical heritage, etc.)

Political amateur activities

Aimed at changing the political system and political situation in accordance with the ideas of a specific group

The acceleration of the pace of development of society determines the increasing role of youth in public life. Joining in social relations, youth modify them and, under the influence of transformed conditions, improve themselves.

Ethnic communities

In ancient times, people lived a closed life - each group (clan, tribe) had its own habitat, its own occupations, special insignia, its own language, its own beliefs. All others were considered enemies, and therefore constant clashes occurred. Gradually the situation changed - tribal unions and other associations of different groups appeared. At the same time, the special features of the previous groups remained. This is how the interaction of ethnic groups appeared.
Ethnic group- a group of people having special ethnic, that is, cultural, linguistic or racial characteristics, who are united by full or partial common origin and who themselves are aware of their involvement in general group. Mastered and perceived ethnic differences - language, culture, religion, racial traits - are inherited. As a rule, in modern states Numerous ethnic groups live.
Characteristic feature of an ethnic group- that its members classify themselves as a separate group with own culture, which they strive to preserve by all means. There are 4 mandatory criteria for assigning an individual to a specific ethnic group: self-determination (assigning oneself to an ethnic group, own wish individual to belong to it, to classify himself as a member of the group), the presence family ties, cultural characteristics, availability social organization for internal contacts and for interaction with others.
Thus, an ethnic group can be characterized as an association of people who share common cultural, linguistic, religious or racial characteristics, are characterized by a common origin and are aware of their belonging to a single group.
The main feature of such groups is to distinguish themselves from the people around them, understand the characteristics of their culture and strive to preserve it by all means. Most scientists highlight three main types of ethnic communities that existed in human history: tribes, nationalities and nations.
Studying history ancient world, you have often heard about clans and tribes . A clan was an association of blood relatives who had a common origin, a common place of settlement, a common language, common customs and beliefs.
The next step in uniting people there was a tribe - an association of several clans. Exactly tribes are considered historically the first ethnic union. Each of them had a special myth about its origin, showing its originality and dissimilarity from other tribes. Many traced their ancestry to animal ancestors and tried in every possible way to resemble them - in dances they tried to repeat the habits and movements of sacred animals, they painted themselves as tigers, bears or snakes. This emphasized their own position in the world around them. Now there are almost no tribes left in the world - they survive only in some areas of Africa, on the Pacific Islands, in forests South America. Their life remains the same as thousands of years ago; their ancestors’ ideas about the world, traditions, lifestyles, and behavior patterns are passed on from generation to generation. Representatives of these tribes have never seen cities, modern cars, know nothing about television and cinema. Scientists study surviving tribes and draw conclusions about what life was like for people in ancient times.
With the emergence of states, tribes began to turn into nationalities are larger communities with a unity of language, territory, economic and cultural ties. They often formed one state, but they themselves still remained quite disunited, because a subsistence economy dominated, in which each village produced everything necessary for life and had little need to establish trade ties. Not all nationalities were able to survive to this day - the fate of the Scythians, Etruscans, Assyrians, Khazars and many others is mysterious. And yet most of them have become nations and exist in modern world.
Nations are understood as a stable community of people, formed on the basis of a common origin, a single culture, cohabitation and close communication with each other. The most important thing in the formation of nations is established relationships - economic, political, cultural and interpersonal. Historically, they appeared with the spread of trade relations. Historians date the formation of many European nations to the 16th–17th centuries. These groups are also characterized by the presence of their own national idea, which means one’s answers to questions about the origin of a people, the meaning of its existence, its place in the world, relations with neighbors, features of uniqueness and characteristics of the national character.
The unity of a nation is expressed in a special national culture.

Interethnic relations

In the modern world, not a single nation can live in complete isolation and must enter into interethnic relations, establishes economic, political, ideological, cultural, legal, diplomatic and other connections. They can be stable (constant) and unstable (periodic), based on competition and cooperation, equal and unequal. However, it is not always possible to do without conflicts. Usually their causes are territorial disputes, historical tensions, oppression of small nations and peoples, the use of national feelings by individual political leaders in order to create a tense situation, the desire of individual peoples to leave multinational state and create your own (otherwise it is called separatism).
There are enough examples of national conflicts in the world - crisis and many years of bloody war in former Yugoslavia, territorial disputes between the republics of the former Soviet Union, separatist sentiments in Northern Ireland and in the Canadian province of Quebec, wars between Central African states and so on.
The basis of these conflicts are ideas about the special role of one’s group in society, which have been characteristic of many peoples since ancient times. Let's give an example from one Indian myth: “To complete the structure of the world, God fashioned three human figures from dough and put them in the oven. After some time, burning with impatience, he took out the first little man from the stove, whose appearance was too light and not very pleasant. It was “uncooked” inside too. A little later, God brought out the second one, it was a great success - it was beautifully brown on the outside and “ripe” on the inside. With joy, God made him the founder of the Indian family. Well, during this time the third one got very burnt and became completely black. The first of the baked men became the founder of the white family, and the last - the black one.” This approach in its extreme forms leads to the conclusion that certain people, by their biological racial qualities, are initially supposedly more gifted and talented, both physically and mentally, and therefore more capable of leadership and management.
Positions of ethnic superiority ultimately lead to discrimination- reduction or deprivation of rights and freedoms for certain group population. In everyday life, this is expressed by prohibiting visits to certain restaurants, beaches, cinemas or urban areas; in the production sector - a ban on professions, inaccessibility of education, impossibility successful career; psychologically - with offensive nicknames, ridicule, jokes about “underdeveloped” people, etc. In extreme cases, minorities live separately in special settlements and marry within their group. This separation system for a long time existed in South Africa (Republic of South Africa), where the black population was isolated and deprived of most rights.
The 20th century gave many examples of inciting passions on national grounds. Nazi Germany adopted racist ideas about the superiority of one group of people over all others and the existence of a special race Aryans - the chosen people who should rule the whole world. The implementation of this idea led to the desire to completely destroy Jews, Gypsies, Poles, and subjugate others to the “true Aryans.” The external parameters of the superior race were even determined - a certain hair color, physique, eye shape, face shape, etc. It is curious that neither Hitler nor many of his associates themselves fit these parameters.
Now many neo-Nazi parties and movements have emerged that use nationalist ideas to increase their authority and popularity. Who doesn't want to hear that he is the best in the world, the most intelligent and noble, has the only true religion, has a heroic history, and his ancestors dominated other people? Similar ideas are used at rallies and preached in the press. The newly-minted leaders declare unfair oppression from “strangers” and the need to “restore order” by force, for which special combat units are being created. Usually, the less internal culture a person has, the easier it is to convince him of special exclusivity and the presence of enemies who do not allow it to manifest itself. The people behind all this strive for power, fame and popularity, for personal enrichment through pogroms. Behind their visible concerns about the fate of the nation are clearly expressed personal interests. This was, is and will probably still be the case. How long? Much depends on the citizens themselves - as long as there is painful national pride and the desire to blame internal or external enemies for their personal failures, ethnic contradictions and hostility between peoples will remain.

Humanity is trying to solve this problem. Exist various organizations dealing with issues of interaction between peoples - the United Nations, the League of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and others. Many conflicts were ended thanks to their assistance or with the direct intervention of these organizations.
Rational decision national problems is possible only with a combination of two main trends in the development of national relations - differentiation(the people’s desire for independence, preservation and development of national culture, economy, politics) and integration(close cooperation, exchange of cultural values, overcoming alienation and maintaining mutually beneficial contacts). Manifold national cultures should not lead to their isolation, and the rapprochement of nations does not mean the disappearance of differences between them.
When resolving interethnic conflicts, it is necessary to adhere to the following humanistic principles:
- renunciation of violence and coercion;
- search for agreement (consensus);
- recognition of human rights and freedoms as the most important principle;
- readiness for peaceful resolution of controversial issues.

Causes of interethnic conflicts:

Socio-economic - inequality in living standards, different representation in prestigious professions, social strata, government bodies.

Cultural-linguistic - insufficient, from the point of view of an ethnic minority, the use of its language and culture in public life.

Ethnodemographic - a rapid change in the ratio of the numbers of contacting peoples due to migration and differences in the level of natural population growth.

Environmental - deterioration of the quality of the environment as a result of its pollution or depletion natural resources due to use by representatives of a different ethnic group.

Extraterritorial - discrepancy between state or administrative borders and the boundaries of settlement of peoples.

Historical - past relationships between peoples (wars, former dominance-subordination relationship, etc.).

Confessional - due to belonging to different religions and confessions, differences in the level of modern religiosity of the population.

Cultural - from the peculiarities of everyday behavior to the specifics of the political culture of the people.

Reaches physical maturity at an average age of 14 years. Around this age, in ancient societies, children underwent a ritual initiation— initiation into the number of adult members of the tribe. However, as society became more advanced and complex, it took more than just physical maturity to be considered an adult. It is assumed that an accomplished person must acquire the necessary knowledge about the world and society, acquire professional skills, learn to independently provide for himself and his own, etc. Since the volume of knowledge and skills has continuously increased throughout history, the moment of acquiring adult status has gradually been pushed back to a later age. Currently, this moment corresponds to approximately 30 years.

When I was young It is customary to call the period in a person’s life from 14 to 30 years - between childhood and adulthood.

Accordingly, representatives of the demographic group whose age falls within this time frame are called youth. However, age is not the decisive criterion for defining youth: the time boundaries of youth age are flexible and determined by the social and cultural conditions of growing up. To properly understand the characteristics of young people, attention should be paid not to the demographic criterion, but to the socio-psychological one.

The youth- this is a generation of people going through the stage of growing up, i.e. formation of personality, assimilation of knowledge, social values ​​and norms necessary in order to become a full-fledged and full-fledged member of society.

Youth has a number of features that distinguish it from other ages. By its nature, youth is transitional,“suspended” state between childhood and adulthood. In some matters, young people are quite mature, serious and responsible, while in others they are naive, limited and infantile. This duality determines a number of contradictions and problems characteristic of this age.

Growing up- this is, first of all, the assimilation of knowledge and skills and the first attempts to apply them in practice.

If we consider youth from the point of view of leading activities, then this period coincides with the end education (educational activities) and joining working life ().

Youth policy system consists of three components:

• legal conditions for the implementation of youth policy (i.e. the corresponding legislative framework);
• forms of regulation of youth policy;
• information, material and financial support for youth policy.

The main directions of youth policy are:

• involving young people in public life, informing them about potential development opportunities;
• development of creative activity of youth, support of talented youth;
• integration of young people who find themselves in difficult life situation, into a full life.

These areas are implemented in a number of specific programs: legal advice, popularization of universal human values, propaganda, organization of international interaction between youth, support for volunteer initiatives, assistance in employment, strengthening young families, increasing civic engagement, providing assistance to young people in difficult situation etc. If desired, every young person is able to find in the media all the necessary information about current projects and choose those that can help solve his specific problems.

The concept of “youth” as a definition of a socio-demographic group originates from late XVIII- beginning of the 19th century Before this, young people were not recognized as a special social group. Up to late XIX centuries, the problems of youth were considered through the problems of personal development, education of a citizen of a historically specific society, which found scientific expression in pedagogy, philosophy, psychology of the Renaissance, modern times, Western philosophy of the 17th-18th centuries. The actualization of theoretical studies of youth and the creation of independent concepts of age occurred at the beginning of the 20th century and were developed in sociological theories of youth.

Youth as a special social group was recognized according to objective criteria that determine the existence, development and change of all aspects of a given social entity.

Starting position life cycle, coinciding with youth and associated with the process of preparation for adult functions, appeared in the process of transition from traditional to industrial society. Socialization process in traditional society is carried out through the transmission from generation to generation of values, activities, means and goals of which have existed for centuries as stable examples and social norms. IN modern conditions The need for qualitatively different ways of preparing and integrating the individual into society has increased.

Therefore, today it is impossible to study youth either only from the point of view of sociology (socio-demographic group), or only from the point of view of a cultural approach (spiritual values ​​and ideals of youth). This makes the learning process one-sided. The solution lies in combining the two approaches into a single, inextricable sociocultural approach.

Concepts of youth in the sociocultural aspect began to be developed in the 50s of the 20th century. such researchers as G. Shelsky, K. Mannheim, A Tenbroek, S. Eisenstadt. IN Russian literature When it comes to youth issues, the sociocultural approach does not always receive proper objective coverage.

Today, in the circles of sociologists, the view of youth as a reference, socio-demographic group has been established, the most important features of which most authors consider age characteristics and associated features social status, as well as the socio-psychological qualities determined by both, which allows us to talk about a multi-level analysis of youth as a social phenomenon.

However, the question of the final definition of the concept of “youth” remains controversial. Scientists share different approaches to the subject of study - from the perspective of sociology, psychology, physiology, demography, etc.

Researchers Vishnevsky Yu.R., Kovaleva A.I., Lukov V.A. and others identify the following as the most typical approaches found in the scientific literature:

• - psychological: youth is a period of development human personality between "puberty" (sexual maturity) and "maturity" (full maturity);
• - socio-psychological: youth is a certain age with its biological and psychological relationships, and as a result - all the characteristics of the age class;
• - conflictological: youth is a difficult, stressful and extremely important period of life, a long-term conflict between the individual and society, a problematic stage in human development;
• - role-based: youth is a special behavioral phase in a person’s life, when he no longer plays the role of a child, and at the same time is not yet a full-fledged bearer of the role of an “adult”;
• - subcultural: youth are a group with their own specific way of life, lifestyle, cultural norms;
• - stratification: youth are a special socio-demographic group, limited by age, with specific positions, statuses, roles;
• - socialization: youth is a period of social growth, primary socialization;
• - axiological: youth is a socially significant, important stage of a person’s life cycle, it is at this stage that the formation of a system of value orientations of individuals, a special attitude, aspiration for the future, and optimism occurs.

• - age;
• - socio-historical;
• - sociological;
• - spiritual and cultural;
• - socio-psychological;
• - cultural.

Thus, within the framework of the considered approaches, there are many definitions of youth that reflect, to a greater or lesser extent, certain aspects of life activity and the qualitative characteristics of this social group.

Young people are characterized by a higher degree of satisfaction with life, which is associated with greater self-confidence, orientation towards the realization of personal goals and interests, towards achievement and success. Young people are characterized by a commitment to the values ​​of individualism, personal initiative and independence.

Success for a significant part of young people is characterized by achieving high material status. Higher education is less valued as a condition for achieving success. Nevertheless, in the minds of young people, the prestige of higher education compared to secondary education is very high.

The attitude towards work is very contradictory. On the one hand, young people generally do not consider work to be one of the most significant values. This is partly explained by the abolition of the ideology of the special social significance of labor and labor education. However, for many it plays a big role interesting job. At the same time, the main motive of young people explaining their choice of work is the opportunity to earn more income. This is due to the weakening in the youth consciousness of the connection between money and work in its labor meaning.

Most of today's youth devote quite a lot important role family, considering it an indispensable condition for happiness. Cohabitation as a way of organization family relations in many ways inferior to marriage. Most of believes that children are a prerequisite for family happiness. Among the main factors ensuring the sustainability and stability of the family, young people name the following: respect and support between spouses, marital fidelity, satisfaction sexual relations, decent income, normal living conditions, living separately from parents and willingness to discuss problems that arise between spouses. There is a growing trend according to which the role of women in material support family is growing. One can note the increased role of material factors in the functioning of youth families.

Value orientations determine the spiritual core of a person, express his attitude to the world and to himself, and influence the direction and content of social activity, fill life with meaning, represent the main channel for a person to assimilate the spiritual culture of society, transform cultural values ​​into incentives and motives practical behavior, are a system-forming element of the worldview. youth family social educational

In a broad sense, youth is a set of group communities formed according to age and related activities. I.S. Kohn defined youth as “a socio-demographic group identified on the basis of a combination of age characteristics, characteristics of social status and socio-psychological properties determined by one or another.” The definition of the concept of “youth” is interconnected with the characteristics of generational relations in society, with its social structure, including layers, masses and social groups. This definition builds a clear structure, the initial link of which is “generation”, then “class” (or “stratum”) and, finally, the young part of the class - youth.

This conclusion has important methodological significance for defining the concept of “youth”. At the same time, researchers proceed from the fact that in the system public relations youth does not occupy a special place, distributed among different classes and social groups of society, possessing class characteristics to one degree or another. This does not deny the social characteristics of young people, determined by age, socio-psychological, physiological characteristics, specific interests, needs and value orientations. In accordance with this, the question of its age limits has a certain significance for the sociological study of youth. Currently, there are three main approaches to defining these boundaries.

The first, so-called demographic approach, considers youth as a special part of the population, i.e. as people born in a certain year and at a certain time who entered working life. The chronological boundaries in this case are from 18 to 30 years.

The second approach is statistical, where time indicators are taken as the basis for determining age boundaries. average duration life and the period of time from the birth of parents to the birth of their children. In accordance with this, the age of youth is determined by the period from 14 to 30 years.

The third approach is sociological, when the age range is determined by the essence of the object of study, i.e. a specific group of young people, characterized by certain professional, educational, socio-psychological characteristics. Most researchers limit this range to ages from 16 to 30 years, although in some cases a limit of up to 33 and even 40 years is allowed.

Adhering to a generally sociological approach to defining the concept of “youth,” one cannot help but note that this social group reflects complex differentiation social life modern society. Apparently, therefore, various studies characterize the internal structure of youth from different points of view.

In sociology, youth are usually divided into the following age groups:

• a) students of incomplete and complete secondary schools;
• b) youth aged 16 to 19 years;
• c) aged from 20 to 24 years;
• d) from 25 to 30 years.

Based on this, it can be argued that the concept of “youth” includes the following groups young population, divided by place in social work.

• - Production workers. Machine operators, farm workers, transport workers, builders. Basically they have special education based on courses and still represent a fairly large group of young people. Although it is 2 times less than among people over 30 years of age, it cannot be ignored, including from the point of view of consumption of public goods.
• - Persons engaged in unskilled and manual labor still represent a fairly large group of young people. Although it is 2 times less than among people over 30 years of age, it cannot be ignored, including from the point of view of consumption of public goods.
• - Technicians, technical support personnel. An actively growing layer of young people in the conditions of computerization of work and the emergence of new professions in servicing modern equipment.
• - Special group The youth population consists of managers, realtors, agronomists, livestock specialists, as well as production organizers and specialists in various fields of the economy. This group has the highest level of secondary and higher education.
• - IN Lately Another group of youth is actively being formed - the scientific and creative intelligentsia. This includes medical workers, teachers and public education and cultural workers. This group has the highest percentage of brain drain.
• - Students are not homogeneous in their age composition and structure. Firstly, these are schoolchildren studying in secondary schools. Secondly, students of colleges, lyceums, vocational schools. Thirdly, students of secondary vocational and higher educational institutions studying various forms(in-person, part-time, part-time, part-time). The age range of this group of young people is from 14 to 30 years old, their needs are very diverse.

So, youth is that part of the population (aged 14 to 30 years) that is associated with the modern way of life, participates in at least one type of life activity and work, and is the bearer and consumer of all modern forms culture

Of particular value for today's youth is the opportunity to do what they love. As a specific socio-demographic group, youth are characterized, in addition to age, by the presence of a certain place in the structure of society, as well as by the characteristics of social formation and development. Within the framework of the characteristics of the younger generation, one can distinguish main and secondary ones. The main characteristics include physiological, psychological, age and social class. These characteristics are common to all young people. Secondary signs follow from the main ones and appear depending on the type of activity, place of residence and social status young man.

N.F. Golovaty identifies the following objective circumstances that determine the special role of youth in the life of society:

• · youth play an important role in national economic production, because is the only source of replenishment of labor resources;
• · youth - carrier intellectual potential society, she has great abilities for work and creativity in all spheres of life;
• · youth are able to acquire new knowledge, skills, and professions much faster than other social groups, thanks to which they have a greater social and professional perspective.

The role of youth as an object and subject in historical process development of society also has its own specifics. When entering public life, a young person is the object of social influence from the environment. external environment: family, friends, educational institutions, etc. As he grows up, he learns and begins to practice creative activity, becoming the subject of socio-economic, political and social transformations.

Youth is a special socio-demographic group that plays an irreplaceable role in society. Youth is the only source of replenishment of labor resources, the bearer of the intellectual potential of society. She is more capable of adapting to new conditions, learning and assimilating new knowledge and skills. The value orientations of young people cannot but influence the life of society as a whole.

Features of the social status of young people

Topic 12. Youth as a social group

Youth is a socio-demographic group, identified on the basis of a combination of age characteristics (approximately from 16 to 25 years old, some researchers include people under 30 years old), characteristics of social status and certain socio-psychological qualities.

Youth is a period of choosing a profession and your place in life, developing a worldview and life values, choosing a life partner, starting a family, achieving economic independence and socially responsible behavior.

Youth is a specific phase, stage of the human life cycle and is biologically universal.

Transitivity of position.

High level mobility.

Development of new social roles(employee, student, citizen, family man) associated with a change in status.

Actively searching for your place in life.

Favorable prospects in professional and career terms.

Youth is the most active, mobile and dynamic part of the population, free from stereotypes and prejudices of previous years and possessing the following socio-psychological qualities: mental instability; internal inconsistency; low level tolerance (from Latin tolerantia - patience); the desire to stand out, to be different from the rest; the existence of a specific youth subculture.

It is typical for young people to form informal groups, which are characterized by the following features:

Emergence on the basis of spontaneous communication in specific conditions of a social situation;

Self-organization and independence from official structures;

Models of behavior that are obligatory for participants and differ from the typical ones accepted in society, which are aimed at realizing life needs that are unsatisfied in ordinary forms (they are aimed at self-affirmation, giving social status, gaining security and prestigious self-esteem);

Relative stability, a certain hierarchy among group members;

Expression of different value orientations or even worldviews, behavioral stereotypes that are uncharacteristic of society as a whole;

Attributes that emphasize belonging to a given community.

Depending on the characteristics of youth amateur activities, youth groups and movements can be classified.

The acceleration of the pace of development of society determines the increasing role of youth in public life. By getting involved in social relations, young people modify them and, under the influence of transformed conditions, improve themselves.

Sample assignment

I A1. Choose the correct answer. Are the following statements true? psychological characteristics youth? A. For a teenager, external events, actions, and friends are primarily important.

B.B adolescence higher value acquires the inner world of a person, the discovery of one’s own “I”.

1) only A is correct

2) only B is correct

3) both judgments are correct

4) both judgments are incorrect