Purpose: This article is aimed at revealing the specifics of civil and Patriotic practices in the youth environment of the South Russian region. Methodology: The sociological study used methods of qualitative operational analysis and theoretical interpretation of the obtained empirical data, as well as methods of sociological diagnostics aimed at the conceptual generalization of the results of empirical research by social recognition of the qualitative characteristics of civil patriotism in the youth environment as an integral social phenomenon. Result: In modern Russian society, patriotism is positively perceived by the majority, including young Russians, who associate it with love for the Motherland and a willingness to stand up for it. However, state patriotism in the youth environment lacks citizenship, that is, the desire of young people to actively participate in social Affairs, working for the benefit of society and the social environment. Applications: This research can be used for the universities, teachers and students. Novelty/Originality: The sociological analysis and diagnostics reveal the reasons for the low level of civic patriotism among young people, as well as the factors that hinder its development in regional communities in the South of Russia.

Patriotic practices in the youth environment of the South of Russia are characterized by considerable diversity, which can be studied using various indicative scales aligned here with the criteria of the form of organization and content. Patriotic practices among the youth of Russian regions have not yet been researched from such perspective. The methodological basis of the study is formed by the activity approach. The dominance of state patriotism in the student environment of the South of Russia gives rise to several risks associated, on the one hand, with the threat of the development of negative forms and types of patriotism (imitative, declarative, “blind”), and, on the other hand, the lack of patriotic subjectivity as a necessary condition for the implementation of the civic type of patriotism demanded by youth.

The analysis of the key agents for the formation of patriotic practices in youth and the nature of their influence on young people as subjects of patriotic activity is of considerable interest to sociological science and practice which determines the purpose of this work in the specified format.  The methodological basis of the study is formed by the provisions of the activity paradigm, The article also uses the results of a large-scale sociological survey conducted as part of the research project “Civic patriotism in the formation and development of solidaristic practices in the south of Russia: resource potential and conditions for its implementation”. The study concludes that one of the reasons for little involvement of south-Russian youth in patriotic activity is that the patriotic ideas translated at the level of patriotic value formation by such agents as family, educational institutions, government agencies, and the media diverge from the youth’s orientation on the content of patriotic practices involving different agents and institutes.