The political culture of youth in scientific sociological discourse

Abstract

In the context of transforming political systems, young people are not only the object of political influence but also the subject, actively shaping new political practices and identities. The political culture of young people determines the long-term political development pathway of society. The purpose of the article is a systematic review of scientific discourse in the definition and empirical verification of elements of youth political culture. Methods. Based on a critical analysis of publications, the authors structured the key issues of youth political culture. They revealed that the research field presents a fragmentary study of the elements of that one. The authors note, that there are significant gaps in understanding the phenomenon of political culture. They also emphasize that the mosaic and unsystematic nature makes it difficult to implement a long-term social forecast and necessitates the formation of a systematic methodology for comparative data analysis. The authors conclude that the distinctive features of youth political culture are the processes of primary and secondary socialization, self-determination and self-regulation. In addition, the authors emphasize that in modern scientific discourse, problematic accents in the study of youth political culture are associated with the identification of unformed political consciousness, as well as the ineffectiveness of political socialization. This assessment is due to the lack of targeted influence of social institutions and the formal organization of socialization processes (education, upbringing and formal communication). It is established that a wide range of scientific papers explores forms of activity related to the analysis of conditions and barriers to youth participation in elections, and also examines the activities of political activists from the perspective of possible inclusion in the political sphere (as a political potential). As a result, it is argued that there is a dissonance between the dynamically changing reality of political participation, including the formation of hybrid and network forms, which predicts the expanding the framework of categories and concepts.