FORMATION OF PERFORMATIVE NATIONAL IDENTITY OF YOUNG RUSSIANS IN POLITICAL PRACTICES

Abstract

This article proposes to make analysis of the problem of constructing a performative national identity of young Russians in the process of political participation. The research is based on the results of an empirical study. The purpose of this paper is to identify the typology of performative national identity based on the perception of the political image of the state. The methodological basis of the study is social constructivism; the representation of national identity is analyzed as a social performance. A focused group interview was chosen as the research method. Between July and September 2021 and January-March 2022, 9 focus groups were held with representatives of different categories of young Russians: teenagers (from 14 to 17 years old), adult youth, working youth, "Orthodox youth" in the St. Petersburg State Budgetary Institution "City Center for Social Programs and Prevention of Antisocial behavior among youth "CONTACT". The results of the study would help to reveal the difference in the representation of the national identity of Russian youth, depending on their political views and forms of political participation. Typology can be represented as a continuum, on one pole of which is the national identity as complex of political practices in the traditionalist model, on the other - in the globalist model. Also, the study showed a close relationship between the categories of "patriotism" and "national identity" in the context of the perception of various symbols used to construct historical continuity. The results help to identify and describe the existing types of performative national identity of modern Russian youth, which could contribute a lot to increase the effectiveness of educational work with youth.