Russian Studies in Law and Politics (Mar 2024)
CIVIC IDENTITY AND FAMILY MEMORY OF THE URBAN YOUTH IN THE RUSSIAN ARCTIC ZONE (ON SOCIOLOGICAL SURVEYS IN POMORIE)
Abstract
The article represents data from sociological research held in 2021–2023 among the youth of the Arkhangelsk region (Pomorie), characterizing the state and characteristics of civic identity, its relationship to family history, which, in its turn, is treated as the basic level of historical memory. The specificity of the indicators is determined, among other, by the fact that they were obtained in the most ethnically homogeneous region of the Russia with the largest proportion of ethnic Russians in the population. Surveys of people, primarily aged 18–25 are, are presented in comparison with data from projects on similar topics implemented by leading sociological centers in Russia. Materials from Pomorie, i.e. in one of the bearing regions of the Russian Arctic zone, indicate that representatives of the post-Soviet generation in the Arkhangelsk agglomeration have a generally formed identity, based on the awareness of the legal connection with the state, as states by the novels in Russian Constitution from 2020 and the principles of current Russian nation-building policy. Another significant trend is changes in young people’s interpretation of ethnicity is performed in increasing importance of culture and language as its main criteria. Surveys also have confirmed the growing interest of young people to family history, with an average level of knowledge, as well as the presence of a personal, emotionally charged attitude towards the main events of Russian history. The presented results indicate the demand for new tools for stimulating, supporting and satisfying youth’s interest in history, which prospectively is an effective factor in the formation of a stable civic identity among a generation that in the next decade will form the majority in the political, economic, scientific and cultural elite of the Russian Federation.
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