Regional youth in a nonlinear global-local society: New forms of social tension

Abstract

The current state of society is characterized by the multidimensionality and non-linearity of social processes, mobility of social structures, dynamism and inconsistency of cultural transformations. Modernity is difficult to describe and understand; as a result, there are many attempts to conceptualize it with the categories of risk, consumption, McDonaldization, etc. An important feature of modernity is global locality which implies the complex interaction of global and local social-cultural systems in every regional and national society. One of the global trends of our time is the change in forms of social tension, which is determined by the processes in the sphere of culture, terminal and instrumental values, and motives for social activity. The article considers the relationship between these processes and changes in the system of life values of the Russian youth. The authors believe that these changes are caused by new forms of social tension, which are the result of the global-local cultural matrix. The classical forms of social tension, determined by the high social value of success and the lack of institutional means to achieve it, were described in the middle of the 20th century by R.K. Merton. Contemporary forms of social tension are supplemented and modified according to the changes in the value-motivation sphere. Tension is ‘psychologized’: under the cultural mosaic of the global-local society, the ‘discourse of self-realization’ prevails and replaces the ‘discourse of success’ of classical modern societies. These changes determine the specific content of the youth’s system of life values, and egocentricity and individualization become its key features. Students as the most globalized and reflective part of the youth are especially influenced by these cultural trends. These processes are considered on the basis of large empirical studies of the youth in the Krasnodar Region. The data of surveys of young people aged 14 to 30 in the Krasnodar Region (N = 7898) are compared with the data of the survey of university graduates (N = 2051) to clarify the life values of the regional youth and the factors affecting them.