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ThepoliticisationofRussianyouth,SvetlanaErpyleva
Opinion&Analysis
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(nottobeconfusedwithconservativepoliticalviews).Teybelieveitisnecessary
topreservetraditionalvaluesandtheycompletelyrejectallthatweoftenassociate
withtheuangryyouth”–suchasdrugsandalcohol.Despitethefactthatpoliticsis
becomingpartofthesocialisationofanewgenerationofyoungpeopleinRussia,
whohaveconsciouslymaturedinthewakeoftheBolotnayaprotests,noteveryone’s
interestinpoliticsgoesbeyondtheexchangeofNavalnymemes.
Westillhavealottostudyinordertopreciselyunderstandwhatcausesthe
dińerencesinpoliticalsocialisationwithinthesamegeneration.Mediaattention
totheyouthcanplayintothehandsofresearchers,stimulatingtheirinterestand
workingtoattractnewideas,bothfromthesideofthestateandfromcivilsociety.
However,thissameattentioncanbedeceiving,thuscausingtemptationtoońer
simpleandneatanswerstocomplexquestions.
Needlesstosay,thereisnouyouth”ingeneral,therearepupils,studentsand
youngadults.Tereareyoungpeoplelivinginlargecitiesandsomelivinginless
populatedtownsandinvillages.Terearedińerentsubgroupswithinthesame
generationwho,indińerentways,familiarisethemselveswiththepublicsphere
andparticipateincivilpolitics.
Inaddition,itmustbeunderstoodthatyoungpeople,adolescentsandschool-
childrenarenotjustexoticmediaimages.Tesearethepeoplewhowilltomor-
rowenrolinuniversitiesandentertheworkforce,andtheywillfacetheeconomic
realitiesthattheleadershipofourcountryiscurrentlyconstructing.Incountries
withmoreadvancedcivilsocieties,highschoolanduniversitystudentsbecomea
symbolofnotonlyradicalism,butalsoofsocialissues,suchasinaccessibleeduca-
tion,unemploymentandloansforhousing.
Duringtherecentanti-corruptionralliesinRussia,youngpeoplespokeoutnot
onlyagainstthedishonestyofpowerandthelackofpoliticalfreedominthecoun-
try,butalsoagainsttheunfairdistributionofincomebetweendińerentgroups,
theinaccessiblemedicalservices,thehighfeesforstudenthousingandgrowing
foodprices.Perhapsthroughoutthepost-Sovietspace,youngpeoplewillsoonbe-
comeasymbolofsuchproblemsandhopefullytheagentsoftransformationfor
theirownfuture.
TranslatedbyYuliaOreshina
SvetlanaErpylevaisaRussiansociologistbasedattheSchoolofAdvancedStudiesat
theUniversityofTyumen,Russia.SheisalsoaresearcherwiththePublicSociology
Laboratory.SheisaPhDcandidateoftheEuropeanUniversityatStPetersburg.
