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This article examines the management problem associated with creating conditions for the implementation of social activity of the population in municipalities of a large Russian region. The authors argue that an important role in the development of the non-profit sector — non-profit organizations, the social projects and programs of which involve the local population, including young volunteers — is played by municipal employees. Having different experience of work in the system of state and municipal administration, municipal employees with different experience can implement their functions in different ways, for example, by introducing the federal standard of state assistance to volunteering. The methodology is based on the sociological theory of volunteerism infrastructure. According to it, the authors consider the professional activities of officials, who are supposed to promote social initiatives of the population in the framework of a normatively defined course of public policy, as a factor of the institutional environment that determines the variability of social activity management within local territories. The purpose of this work is to analyze the institutional characteristics of managing the social activity of the population of the Sverdlovsk Region and to identify the features of the models of managing the social activity of youth, due to the specifics of the activities of municipalities, whose employees have different length of service and practical experience in municipal service. This article analyzes the data of an expert survey of municipal employees of the Sverdlovsk Region responsible for interaction with socially oriented non-profit organizations (SO NPOs), interaction with children, teens, and youth public associations, whose powers are to create conditions for the development of volunteer activity of the population in municipalities (2018; n = 95). The authors have used correlation, comparative and chronological analysis to formalize the results obtained. Based on the research data, three models of managing social participation of the population, including youth volunteering, are identified and described, which are implemented in various administrative districts of the region. The first model of management is inherent in territories where a generation of municipal employees, who began their careers no more than 12 years ago, are responsible for this direction. Based on the totality of the revealed characteristics, the model was identified as youth-centric. The second model of management is implemented in administrative districts, where a large proportion of officials responsible for the analyzed area have more than 12 years of municipal service; it is focused on maintaining hierarchical relations with regional bodies and is designated as an institutional model. The third management model is distinguished by the orientation of municipal employees to interact with local social institutions, especially socially oriented non-profit organizations and to maintain their activity through subsidies from the regional budget. The third model of governance is designated as a paternalistic model.

The subject of the research is the phenomenon of dissipation of the social identity of young people in modern Russian society. Purpose: to compare the reflection of this phenomenon in the academic and public consciousness. Hypothesis: the dynamics and structure of the idea of the social identity of young people at the present stage of Russia's development is not the same in the academic and public consciousness. The hypothesis was tested on the example of publications included in the RSCI database. There are two categories of publications: 1) scientific journals, dissertations, 2) conference materials. The first reflects ideas about social phenomena in the minds of the academic community; the second is in the mass consciousness of the general scientific community. Search depth 11 years (2012–2021). It included the annexation of Crimea to Russia, pension reform, the C0VID-19 pandemic, and the merger of two social support funds for the population (PF and FSS). The volume of empirical data amounted to 86341 titles of publications. The views of the authors of publications on the phenomenon under study were recorded according to five search queries: “social identity of young people”, “social security”, “social protection”, “social assistance”, “social support”. The algorithm of the relationship between these topics was studied using paired correlation analysis. It was found that the peak of publications for these requests coincided with the three-year period 2016–2018. The reflection of the problem of the social identity of young people in academic publications preceded its active discussion in conference proceedings by 4–6 years. Fundamental differences are found in the ideas about the social identity of young people in the academic and public consciousness. In scientific articles and dissertations, the social identity of young people is considered as a special case of self-organization of complex social systems, in conference materials – as a separate element of a hierarchically built deterministic financial system. The results obtained are regarded by us as proof of the correctness of the null hypothesis put forward. Possible areas of application of the results of the study: youth, social and demographic policy of the state at a new stage of socio-economic reforms. The limitation for the implementation of the research results in the practice of social management may be the effect of inertial public opinion and mass consciousness, as well as the financial interests of individual lobbies currently involved in the implementation of social projects. Directions for future research – targeted monitoring of the transformation of the mass in accordance with the requirements of the modern technological revolution.