Abstract:

Social activity of young people is the basis for innovative social development, civil and creative initiatives that affect social democratization. The problem of social activity of the student youth is interdisciplinary, as it is located at the crossroads of psychology, pedagogy and sociology. The relevance of the problem can be explained by the need to analyse factors of young people’s social activity. This type of scientific knowledge will make it possible to gain better understanding of differentiated attitude of students to different types of activity, to support the most important forms of activity that affect students’ socialization, grasping the attitudes of innovation and competence, values of civic and educational activity, and volunteerism.

The purpose of the present study is to investigate psychological factors of students’ social activity in the province and in the capital city (based on the analysis of a number of tests performed in Saratov region and Moscow, Russia).

400 students from Saratov region and Moscow (Russia) took part in the study. They filled out questionnaires and tests. The value-related sphere and its proneness to conflict were studied using T. Fantalova’s technique; the modified methodology of J. Mutod’s method called “d'induction motivatio nnelle “(MIM) was used to reveal basic meaningful categories of social activity (a questionnaire was developed with open and closed questions covering a number of spheres); 11 unique scales were used to assess preferences of social activity and behavior.

It has been shown that social activity of the student youth is highly differentiated: the most preferable types of activity are hobby-related and educational activity, and the least expressed types of activity are political and subcultural activity, regardless of the region. The remaining activities are used to varying degrees. Social activity of students from the province and from the capital city is conditioned by different meaningful categories, which form two factors: the meanings of family and love (Saratov) and career and independence (Moscow). Social activity in the future as understood by the students of the province and the capital is related to the achievement of well-being and prosperity (53% vs. 71%), belief in prospects (21% vs. 39%), self-actualization (33% vs. 32%). The provincial students have strong hopes for external forces (God, the state) (21% versus 3%). The social activity of students in the province and in the capital is determined by different levels of value differentiation: the capital youth demonstrates low differentiation, while the provincial youth high level of differentiation (the difference index is 3.7 versus 7.8).

The differences in factors of social activity of the student youth in the capital city and in the region are associated with adherence to traditional values (the region) and hedonistic values (capital city), different meaningful factors, and the notion of the future. Conclusions regarding the prospects of the results of the study for educational practice of higher education institutions have been made. The study explains the need for students’ inclusion into voluntary associations, support of civic initiatives, as well as individual activity and leadership. Subsequent studies are related to the definition of basic needs and characteristics of subjective well-being as factors of various forms of students’ social activity.

Keywords:

Personality, social activity of students, educational activity.