Topic 12. Youth as a social group

The youthis a socio-demographic group identified on the basis of a combination of age characteristics (approximately from 16 to 25 years), characteristics 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 certain phase, stage life cycle human and biologically universal.

– Transitional position.

High level mobility.

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

Active search your place in life.

– Favorable prospects in professional and career terms.

Young people are 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 of 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 unite in 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;

– obligatory for participants and different from the typical, accepted in society, models of behavior that 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 others value orientations or even worldview, 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

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. In adolescence higher value acquires inner world 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

Lecture on social studies in 10th grade

Topic: Youth as a social group

Features of the youth subculture

The youthis a socio-demographic group identified on the basis of a set of age characteristics (approximately from 16 to 25 years1), 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.

Features of the social status of young people

Transitivity of position.

High level of mobility.

Mastering new social roles (employee, student, citizen, family man) associated with changes in status.

Actively searching for your place in life.

Favorable prospects in professional and career terms.

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

Subculture- part of the culture of society, distinguished by its behavior from the overwhelming majority

It is typical for young people to unite ininformal groups , which are characterized by the followingsigns:

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.

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 - time to reap, 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. By getting involved in social relations, young people modify them and, under the influence of transformed conditions, improve themselves.

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 international cooperation youth, support for volunteer initiatives, assistance in finding 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.

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. By getting involved in social relations, young people modify them and, under the influence of transformed conditions, improve themselves.

The problems of Russian youth, in their essence, represent problems not only of the modern young generation, but also of the entire society as a whole, on the solution of which not only today, but also the future of our society depends. These problems, on the one hand, are interrelated and come from objective processes occurring in modern world- processes of globalization, informatization, urbanization, etc.. On the other hand, they have their own specifics, mediated by modern Russian reality and the youth policy pursued towards youth.

The most pressing problems for modern Russian youth, in our opinion, are problems related to the spiritual and moral sphere of life. The process of formation of modern Russian youth took place and is taking place in the context of the breakdown of the “old” values ​​of the Soviet period and the formation new system values ​​and new social relations. In the conditions of a systemic crisis of modern Russian society and its main institutions, which has affected all spheres of life, institutions of socialization (family and family education, education and training systems, labor institutions and labor activity, army), the state itself. Actively planting and replacing the foundations of the existence of civil society with the standards of a consumer society, education young man, not as a citizen, but as a simple consumer of certain goods and services. There is a tendency towards dehumanization and demoralization of the content of art (lowering, deformation, destruction of the image of a person), replacing the norms of value of high culture with average examples of mass consumer culture, reorientation of young people from collectivist spiritual values ​​to selfish-individual values. This, as well as the lack of a clearly formulated national idea and unifying ideology, a development strategy that consolidates society, insufficient attention to the cultural development of the population, and the inconsistency of state youth policy naturally leads us to extremely negative consequences.

Against the background of ideological uncertainty of young people (their lack of ideological foundations of meaning orientation and socio-cultural identification), commercialization and negative influence The media (forming the “image” of the subculture), the incessant spiritual aggression of the West and the expansion of mass commercial culture, the imposition of standards and the psychology of the consumer society, there is a primitivization of the meaning of human existence, moral degradation of the individual and a decrease in the value of human life. Erosion in progress value foundations and traditional forms of public morality, the weakening and destruction of mechanisms of cultural continuity, the threat to the preservation of the originality of national culture, a decrease in the interest of young people in national culture, its history, traditions, and in the bearers of national identity.

Speaking about the youth sociocultural environment, of course, one cannot fail to note its certain positive features. Modern youth in general are very patriotic and believe in the future of Russia. He speaks out for the continuation of changes towards increasing the socio-economic well-being of the country, the creation of a civil society and the rule of law. She wants to live in great country providing a decent life for its citizens, respecting their rights and freedoms. “Young people adapt more easily to new economic conditions; they have become more rational, pragmatic and realistic, focused on sustainable development and creative work.” . She has much greater freedom to choose a profession, patterns of behavior, life partners, and style of thinking, compared to her peers 20-30 years ago. But this, as they say, is one side of the coin.

Its other side shows that the ongoing “time of troubles” most acutely affected the younger generation. Our society is rapidly aging, the number of young people, the number of young families, and the number of children born are declining. Each new generation of young people turns out to be less healthy than the previous one; diseases have “moved” from old age to youth, threatening the gene pool of the nation. The socio-economic pressure on jobs has increased in order to ensure the life of all generations; The intellectual potential of young people and the innovative capabilities of society are rapidly declining. Young people turned out to be the most socially disadvantaged part of society. There is a clear conflict between the interests of young people and real opportunities social mobility. There has been a sharp differentiation and social polarization of young people, based on wealth stratification, social origin and their own social status. Possessing social, age and subcultural characteristics of different communities, they differ in material capabilities, value orientations, lifestyle and lifestyle. The question arose about the life prospects of young people: their creative self-realization (education, profession, career), well-being, and the ability to financially provide for their future family. There are problems of youth employment, deterioration of their financial and living situation, and access to education. The youth environment has become a dangerous crime zone. There has been a sharp rejuvenation of crime, an increase in its group nature, and an increase in the number of “female” crimes and crimes committed by minors. Each new generation of youth, in comparison with previous generations, in terms of the main indicators of social status and development: is much less spiritually and culturally developed, more immoral and criminal, distant from knowledge and education, less professionally trained and work-oriented.

In a society where material well-being and enrichment become the priority goals of its existence, the culture and value orientations of young people are formed accordingly. Consumer orientations prevail in the sociocultural values ​​of modern youth. The cult of fashion and consumption is gradually and gradually taking over the consciousness of young people, acquiring a universal character. A tendency to strengthen the processes of standardization of cultural consumption and leisure behavior, approved by a passive consumer attitude towards culture, is beginning to prevail. It is impossible not to note the emphasized apoliticality of young people, who soberly and without false hopes assess the attitude towards themselves on the part of the state and society as indifferent and openly consumerist. “77% of respondents believe that: - “When necessary, they remember us.” Maybe that’s why today’s young generation has withdrawn into its own little world. Young people are absorbed in the internal problems of survival in difficult and cruel times. They strive to get the culture and education that will help them survive and succeed.” .

According to the results of surveys by the Public Opinion Foundation conducted in 2002, 53% of young Russians, when asked: “What life goals, in your opinion, do modern youth most often set for themselves?”, first of all, noted their desire to achieve material well-being and enrichment ; secondly (19%) - getting an education; in third place (17%) – work and career. (See Table 1). Analysis of the data obtained indicates a clear pragmatic and rational position of young people, their desire to achieve material well-being and a successful career, interconnected with the possibility of getting good vocational education.

Table 1. “Goals modern youth»

Modern youth in general are characterized by a change in the direction of life orientations from the social (collectivist) component to the individual. “The personal value position of young people does not correlate with the values ​​of the political ideology they prefer.” Material well-being began to be valued much higher than freedom, the value of wages began to prevail over the value of interesting work. Among the social problems that most worry young people at the present time, the first place is occupied by such problems as: increased crime, rising prices, inflation, increased level of corruption in government structures, increased income inequality and social inequality, division between rich and poor, environmental problems , passivity of citizens, their indifferent attitude to what is happening. Of the many problems experienced by young people, problems of material security and health are brought to the fore, although the focus on healthy image life is not being formed actively enough.

The dominant values ​​in the value system of modern youth are money, education and profession, business career, and the opportunity to live for pleasure (see Table 2).

Table 2. Distribution of basic values ​​of young people .

According to the results of an expert study conducted in 2007 by the Pitirim Sorokin Foundation, the hierarchy of dominant values ​​of young Russians is built as follows:

Material well-being.

The value of “I” (individualism).

Career (self-realization).

At the same time, analyzing the current state of Russian society, it was noted that the place of values ​​in Russia is largely occupied by anti-values. Among the values ​​that dominate today in Russian society Experts noted the following anti-values:

Cult of money;

Indifference and individualism.

Permissiveness.

Characterizing the youth consciousness and value system of modern Russian youth, sociologists highlight:

Mainly entertainment and recreational orientation of her life values ​​and interests;

Westernization of cultural needs and interests, displacement of the values ​​of national culture by Western patterns of behavior and symbols;

Priority of consumer orientations over creative, constructive ones;

Weak individualization and selectivity of culture associated with the dictates of group stereotypes;

Extra-institutional cultural self-realization;

Lack of ethnocultural self-identification.

The dominance of consumer value orientations inevitably affects the life strategy of young people. Data from the analysis of results conducted in 2006 - 2007 by the Department of Youth Sociology of Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosova sociological research among students showed that: “Currently among young people and in society one can find ambiguously assessed life principles. The data obtained allow us to draw a conclusion about troubles among young people and require more detailed study. Noteworthy is the rather high degree of indifference of young people to such traditionally negative phenomena as opportunism, indifference, unscrupulousness, consumerism, an idle lifestyle and their positive assessment". (See Table 3).

Table 3. List of phenomena encountered among young people

All of the above problematic features of the modern youth socio-cultural environment clearly indicate an alarming trend of deep and systemic social degradation of a significant part of modern Russian youth, in particular, and our entire society as a whole. The youth environment clearly copies and mirrors all the most significant processes taking place in our society. The systemic crisis in which our society and state still find themselves, having not clearly and clearly formulated the national idea and not defining their development strategy, led to their loss of the meaning of their own existence and immediately affected the youth environment. In it, as in modern Russian society, in general, there is definitely no single established system and hierarchy of values. At the same time, one can observe the coexistence of two processes: both the continuity of traditional values ​​historically inherent in our society, and the formation, mass spread of new liberal (consumer) interests, the triumph of anti-values. The improvement of the youth environment, which carries out the formation of value orientations of modern Russian youth, can, in our opinion, be carried out by improving the system, forms, and methods of implementing youth policy in Russian Federation.

Social organization(from French. organization, from late Latin. organizo - I give a slender appearance, I arrange) - historically established orderly system of activity of society and people; a historically established orderly system of social relations, for example, economic organization society, military organization of society, political organization society, etc.

Main difference social organization from a social institution is that the institutional form of social relations is fixed by the norms of law and morality, and organizational form In addition to institutional ones, it also includes ordered relationships, but which are not yet fixed by existing norms.


Related information.


The youth is a socio-demographic group, identified on the basis of a combination of age characteristics (approximately from 16 to 25 years 7), characteristics of social status and certain socio-psychological qualities.

Youth is a period of choosing a profession and one’s 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.

Features of the social status of young people

– Transitional position.

– High level of mobility.

– Mastering new social roles (employee, student, citizen, family man) associated with changes in status.

– Active search for your place in life.

– Favorable prospects in professional and career terms.

Young people are 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 of 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 unite in 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;

– obligatory for participants and different from typical, accepted in society, behavior patterns that 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 other 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

A1. Choose the correct answer. Are the following judgments about the psychological characteristics of young people true?

A. For a teenager, external events, actions, and friends are primarily important.

B. In adolescence, the inner world of a person, the discovery of one’s own “I,” becomes more important.

1) only A is correct

2) only B is correct

3) both judgments are correct

4) both judgments are incorrect

Answer: 3.

Topic 13. Ethnic communities

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. All the ethnic communities of the world are part of more than two hundred countries. Therefore, most modern states are multi-ethnic. For example, India is home to several hundred ethnic communities, while Nigeria is home to 200 peoples. The Russian Federation currently includes more than a hundred ethnic groups, including about 30 nations.

Ethnic community - is a historically established stable collection of people (tribe, nationality, nation, people) in a certain territory, possessing general features and stable characteristics of culture, language, mental makeup, self-awareness and historical memory, as well as awareness of their interests and goals, their unity, and differences from other similar entities.

There are different approaches to understanding the essence of ethnic groups.

Types of ethnic communities

Clan is a group of blood relatives descending from the same line (maternal or paternal) 9 .

Tribe - a set of clans interconnected by common cultural features, awareness of a common origin, as well as a common dialect, unity of religious ideas and rituals.

Nationality - a historically established community of people, united by a common territory, language, mental make-up, and culture.

Nation - a historically established community of people, characterized by developed economic ties, a common territory and a common language, culture, and ethnic identity.

The concept is widely used in sociology ethnic minorities , which includes more than just quantitative data.

The characteristics of an ethnic minority are as follows:

– its representatives are at a disadvantage compared to other ethnic groups due to discrimination(belittling, belittling, infringement) on the part of other ethnic groups;

– its members experience a certain sense of group solidarity, “belonging to a single whole”;

– it is usually to some extent physically and socially isolated from the rest of society.

The natural prerequisite for the formation of one or another ethnic group was community of territory, since it created the necessary conditions for joint activities of people. However, later, when the ethnic group has formed, this feature loses its main meaning and may be completely absent. Thus, some ethnic groups and in conditions diaspora(from the gr. diaspora - dispersion) retained their identity without having a single territory.

Another important condition for the formation of an ethnic group is community of language. But this feature cannot be considered universal, since in a number of cases (for example, the United States), an ethnic group takes shape during the development of economic, political and other ties, and common languages ​​are the result of this process.

A more stable sign of an ethnic community is the unity of such components of spiritual culture as values , norms and patterns of behavior, as well as related socio-psychological characteristics of people’s consciousness and behavior.

An integrative indicator of an established socio-ethnic community is ethnic identity – a sense of belonging to a particular ethnic group, awareness of one’s unity and difference from other ethnic groups.

An important role in the development of ethnic self-awareness is played by ideas about a common origin, history, historical destinies, as well as traditions, customs, rituals, folklore, i.e., such elements of culture that are passed on from generation to generation and form a specific ethnic culture.

Thanks to ethnic self-awareness, a person keenly feels the interests of his people and compares them with the interests of other peoples and the world community. Awareness of ethnic interests encourages a person to engage in activities in the process of which they are realized.

Let's mark two sides national interests:

– it is necessary to preserve one’s uniqueness, uniqueness in the flow of human history, the uniqueness of one’s culture and language, to strive for population growth, ensuring a sufficient level of economic development;

– it is necessary psychologically not to fence yourself off from other nations and peoples, not to turn state borders into an “iron curtain”, you should enrich your culture with contacts and borrowings from other cultures.

Ethnonational communities develop from clan, tribe, nation, reaching the level of nation-state.

A derivative of the concept “nation” is the term nationality, which is used in Russian as the name of a person’s belonging to any ethnic group.

Many modern researchers consider a classic interethnic nation, in which general civic qualities come to the fore and at the same time the characteristics of the ethnic groups included in it are preserved - language, their own culture, traditions, customs.

Interethnic, civic nation is a totality (community) of citizens of a particular state. Some scientists believe that the formation of such a nation means the “end of the nation” in the ethnic dimension. Others, recognizing the nation-state, believe that we should talk not about the “end of the nation,” but about its new qualitative state.

Sample assignment

B6. Read the text below, in which a number of words are missing. Select from the list provided the words that need to be inserted in place of the gaps. “The concepts of “__________” (1) and “ethnicity” are similar, therefore their definitions are similar. In Lately The term “ethnos” (which is more precise) is increasingly used in ethnography, sociology and political science. There are three types of ethnicity. For __________(2), the main basis for uniting people into one __________(3) is blood ties and common ___________(4). With the emergence of states, __________(5) appear, consisting of people related to each other not by blood, but by economic and cultural relations of a territorial-neighborhood type. During the period of bourgeois socio-economic relations, __________ (6) is formed - an ethnosocial organism, united by ties of a cultural, linguistic, historical, territorial and political nature and having, in the words of the English historian D. Hosking, “a single sense of destiny.”

The words in the list are given in the nominative case, singular. Select one word after another, mentally filling in each gap with words. Please note that there are more words in the list than you will need to fill in the blanks.

A) origin

B) community

E) nationality

G) nationality

I) diaspora

The table below shows the pass numbers. Under each number, write down the letter corresponding to the word you chose.

Transfer the resulting sequence of letters to the answer form.

Answer: DBWAEG.