Influence of socio-economic diff erentiation of youth on its political identity

This article examines the features of the political identity of provincial youth based on socio-economic diff erentiation. It is noted that the youth environment is not homogeneous in its socio-economic status and such diff erentiation in the context of a Special Military Operation, an unstable political situation, and social tension presupposes a diff erent political identity. In turn, this leads to destructive activity of young people in relation to government offi cials, as well as to intergroup confl icts. This assumption formed the basis of the author’s analysis in considering the possible dependence of the ideological identifi cation of young people on their place in the social structure of society. The scientifi c tasks to be solved by the analysis are the understanding and conceptualization of the political and ideological orientations of modern youth in the context of socio-economic diff erentiation. The working hypothesis was that the least fi nancially protected groups of young people are the most radical in relation to the authorities. Therefore, the author conditionally distinguishes two groups of young people. The fi rst group of young people are those who have a low standard of living, suff er from a lack of social elevators and social injustice, do not have the opportunity to get a good education and are ready to change their position in society during protest actions. The second group of young people is the generation that grew up as “qualifi ed consumers”, who saw risks in reducing their consumption levels and are therefore ready for protest actions in order to defend their rights as consumers. However , the study of this problem revealed that modern youth are quite apolitical, this was shown by answers to the question about choosing an ideology whose values are closest to the respondent, as well as a rather low percentage of radically minded youth, regardless of fi nancial situation, which does not signifi cantly aff ect the political process. At the same time, in conditions of political instability and elite confl ict, these groups of youth can become a destructive resource for political actors in the confl ict.