Life Goals of Youth and Ways to Achieve Them (a survey in the South-Western and Southern regions of Russia)

Abstract. The article is devoted to the analysis of the value orientations of the youth of the regions of the South of Russia in the context of life goals, methods and conditions for their implementation. The hierarchy of young people's value priorities (life goals) is headed by family, health and material wealth. Self-realization is on the semi-periphery of the value hierarchy, service to society is on the periphery. At the same time, as factors of success in life, interpreted as instrumental values (means of achievement), social conformism (observance of the rule of law, adherence to moral standards), professionalism, good friends and family support come to the fore. Values associated with social responsibility (citizenship, helping others) are of medium importance in the hierarchy of life success factors (means of achieving life goals). The following contradiction has been fixed in the value picture of the world of young people: if life goals are formulated in the paradigm of privacy and traditionalism, then the means of achieving them are considered to a large extent through social conformism and professionalization. The most rational way to regulate the imbalance in the conditions for the realization of life goals that has developed in Russian society, young people consider territorial, including cross-border mobility.

Key words: youth, value orientations, value contradictions, life goals, life success, self-realization, privacy, conformity