Russian Identity in the Digital Age and social Perceptions of social media users

Abstract

The article proposes approaches to solving the problem of the ongoing crisis of national-state identification of young citizens of Russia and the associated socio-political risks of a delayed nature. Digitalization radically changes the structure of employment of the population, the nature of socio-economic and socio-political relations, the functioning and reproduction of the culture underlying group, ethnic, national-state identity, creates the possibility of effective cross-border external influence. These changes contain significant risks of destabilizing the state and its main institutions, the formation of a controlled "digital society". The results of the first stage of an empirical study of social representations of Russia by young users of social networks are presented. The article substantiates the dependence of national-state identity on social ideas about one's country, which are being transformed in the context of digitalization of all spheres of life. The structural-functional and content-morphological characteristics of the social ideas of young people about Russia have been determined. Differences in the social perceptions of young people of different categories were revealed, and differences in the significance and valence of the elements of the "core" zone were revealed. It is planned to conduct the second stage of research on the structure and content of social perceptions of Russia by young users of social networks with different ideological preferences, socio-political sentiments, in order to test the significance of the elements of the “core” zone depending on political orientations.