Culture in the lives of young people: necessity, interest, value

This article analyzes the role of various forms of cultural activities in the life structure of young people, in their needs, interests and values. The involvement of various groups of young people in the production and consumption of culture, as well as the impact of young people’s involvement in this process, is considered to be a reflection of conflicting tendencies when it comes to forming youths’ cultural preferences and their place in the realm of culture. An analysis was conducted, which allowed for concluding that the structure of cultural necessities is quite representational, while also being deformed due to a prevalence of passive-contemplative forms together with isolation within the confines of one’s home or watching television; maintaining alignment towards the main types of activities, while shifting their form and relative weight in the structure of leisure; reorienting young people from the need for self improvement towards hedonism, while cementing a perception of culture as something of pleasure and with entertainment value, accompanied by the development of corresponding expectations from the consumption of culture. Young peoples’ interests in the realm of culture are characterized by a mild expression and dominant role of real and virtual communication in that fraction represented most prominently; they reflect opposing expectations from consuming classical and modern culture, while indicating young people’s rather high creative potential, which in itself is a prerequisite for them participating in cultural production. When it comes to the way modern Russian youth’s relate to culture in terms of values, it shifts drastically depending on life situations, and the degree of stability or instability in one’s living conditions. Given conditions of stability, culture’s terminal value increases, given risky conditions – its instrumental value increases. Shifts in the cultural needs, interests and values of young people, depending on the socio-demographic characteristics of various groups, reveals the specifics of restrictions when it comes to young people participating in the production and consumption of culture, as well as differences in terms of their cultural preferences and forms of cultural activities. Observed is a reduction of cultural space depending on the age and living conditions of young people. This article was put together based on empirical data from a study conducted by the Center for Sociology of Youth of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Socio-Political Research in 2017, using a sample represented by young people ages 15 to 29 from 7 subjects of the Russian Federation.

Culture, youth, production of culture and consumption of culture, necessities, interests, values.

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