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8
Opinion&Analysis
ThepoliticisationofRussianyouth,SvetlanaErpyleva
Nextgeneration
Youngpeople,includingteenagers,areontheborderbetweenchildhoodand
adulthood.Ontheonehand,likechildren,theyarepartlydependentonadults,
whotryanddeterminetheirfuturesufortheirowngood”
,whileontheotherhand,
societybeginstoexpectthemtomakeindependent,adultdecisions.Inthissense,
society’sattitudestowardsthepoliticalparticipationofitsyoungestmembersserve
asalitmustestofsocialattitudestowardsgrassrootspublicpolicyasawhole.
Moreover,youngpeoplearethefutureandthewayinwhichsocietyraisesthem
hasadirectimpactonthepoliticsoftomorrow.
Astudyontheparticipationofadolescentsinprotestpolitics,whichIconducted
withintheframeworkofalargerprojectforthePublicSociologyLaboratoryin
2012–13,canońersomeinitialhypothesesforfuturesociologicalresearch.Tis
studywasbasedoninterviewswithunderagesupportersoftheBolotnayarallies
inMoscowandStPetersburg.Inaddition,itincludedinterviewswithhighschool
students,teachersandparentswhotookpartinprotestsfortherestorationof
unjustlydismisseddirectorsofsecondaryschoolsinStPetersburgandSaratov,as
wellasinterviewswithyoungparticipantsoftheEuroMaidaninKyiv.
TeresearchrevealedthatinRussiain2011–2012,whenpoliticsreturnedto
thestreetsafteralongperiodofde-politicisation,protestactionsbecameattrac-
tivetoteenagers.Intheschoolconflict,adolescents
InRussiain
conductedradicalandvividactsofdisobedience.How-
2011–2012
ever–andthisisanimportantclarification–thiswas
protestactions
thecaseonlyaslongastheydiscussedandco-ordi-
natedtheactionplanamongthemselves.Teywould
becameattractive
afterwardsappealtoadultactivists,teachersandpar-
toteenagers.
ents,whoalsofoughtwiththedistrictandcityad-
ministrationtoreinstallthedirectors,andwhowould
respondinthefollowingway:udonotinterfere,youarenotadultenoughforpol-
itics,yourparticipationisbeingusedagainstus;wewilltakecareofyourinter-
ests,yourtaskistostudy.”
Surprisingly,thestudentsinternalisedthemessagesofnon-participationtrans-
mittedtothembytheadults.Teybeganseeingthemselvesastooimmaturefor
theprotests.Teyviewedtheirownoriginalideasonhowtoprotestaschildish
pranks.AsimilartrendwasalsoobservedinrelationtoadolescentsattheBolot-
nayarallies.Schoolchildrenconsideredthemselvestobeadherentsofthemove-
ment,stronglysupportingitandfollowingthedevelopmentsonline.Manyofthem
wenttotherallies.Atthesametime,theyconsideredthemselvestobeinferiorpar
-
ticipants.Teyinternalisedhowadultsviewedthemandbelievedtheywerestill
