The Stereotypes of Political Thinking of Youth in the Context of National Security Strategy of Russia: Experience of Regional Research

Abstract

The article evaluates the fundamental social factors which influence the formation of the axiological component of Russian youth’s political consciousness. The authors have set a goal to find out to what extent the traditional moral and spiritual values are rooted in the minds of young people. These values need to be cultivated in accordance with the goals set in National Security Strategy of Russia, approved by the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation. Using the method of selective associations, the authors have identified the actual set of values, which form the stereotypes of political thinking of young citizens of the Volgograd region. It consists of such values as strong family, patriotism, strong state, love for neighbour, fortitude and faith. It’s been found out that search for truth and collectivism, which once were the fundamental values for the spiritual life of the Russian people, ceased to be so for the young generation of Russian citizens. The authors point to the revival of the dualism of the concepts of patriotism and pride, which was dominant in the public consciousness of the Soviet people. Nihilistic and protest moods are peculiar of only a small share of youth (no more than 3 %). Many traditional moral and spiritual values remain rooted in the political consciousness of young people in Volgograd, and this is a positive factor of national security in the region. The authors have concluded that despite a number of negative societal factors that have a significant impact on the formation of value-semantic attitudes and stereotypes of political thinking of Russian youth, the traditional spiritual and moral values are still the important social regulators of political behavior. V.N. Gulyaikhin describes the main traditional values of the Russian people and reveals a number of fundamental factors of public life that have a significant impact on the formation of values and stereotypes of the political thinking of Russian youth. E.V. Galkina gives an assessment of the ideological context of the document “The National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation” and formulates the initial thesis about the need to view the youth as an active subject of the national security system. O.E. Andryushchenko develops a questionnaire for a mass survey of representatives of two age groups of young people, makes a sample for a mass questionnaire, and carries out an empirical study of the value-semantic attitudes and stereotypes of political thinking in the two main age groups of the Volgograd youth. P.P. Fantrov carried out a comparative analysis of stereotypes of thinking of these age groups.