Student religiosity: the search for compliance in the polarization of connotations (based on the results of a sociological study in Vladimir and Kazan)

Abstract

The aim of the study is to analyze reproducible regional features of agreement in understanding religion and religiosity among students studying in Vladimir and Kazan. The methodology of the 2025 study includes organizing a pilot survey of students using an online questionnaire. Quota sampling was used to select respondents. Links to the questionnaire were sent to students through group leaders, taking into account statistical data on the proportion of students in the humanities, technical and natural sciences. The socio-demographic parameters of the sample included quotas for the gender and age of respondents. The survey assessed non-compliance with the norms of “orthodoxy” accepted in certain traditions (Christian or Muslim jurisdictions), but students had the opportunity to classify themselves as “believers” or “non-believers”, with the former accounting for about a third of respondents (30.8 %), and the latter being slightly less (19.4 %), while almost half could not decide on this issue, forming a group of “doubters”. The results show that three collective groups of young people have formed in the student environment, which differ significantly from each other in their assessments of both historically established images of the phenomenon of religion and in a number of other aspects, especially in the desire to support such constitutional norms as “freedom of conscience” and “freedom of religion”, respect for science, the educational system and teachers, allowing them to actively and consciously distance themselves from the many constantly emerging “superstitions” and so-called “deviations”, including manifestations of intolerance, extremism and a number of other intolerant social manifestations.