The Influence of Internet Communications on the Formation of Political Identity and Political Behavior of Russian Youth

Abstract

Introduction. The author of the article develops a theme of the Internet influence on formation of ego- and collective identity of youth ages 18–24. Materials and Methods. Behaviorism, network approaches were used as the theoretical and methodological strategy of the study, as well as systematization of results, obtained during the 14 interviews. Results. We have come to the conclusion that political identity of Russian youth ages 18–24 isn’t formed. This fact can be one of the causes of low political participation of the studied age group. In order to set a trend for sustainable political identity of youth forming, we need to create a unified communication system, which will help to create conditions for internalization of citizen identity values by young generations. Experts agree on the opinion, that the legitimacy of Russian government in the eyes of youth can be enhanced by implementing Internet-technologies, adapted to the young audience’s special perception of information (gamified content, short video content, preferably with the opinion leaders participation), as Russian youth, firstly, tend to rely on the Internet as the most transparent source of information, secondly, young people of Russia use the Internet more often, comparable to other generations. Discussion and Conclusion. Underdevelopment of political identity of Russian younger generations is explained by several factors: first of all, the absence of well articulated by the Russian state image of the future, secondly, too frequent to adapt to them policy changes, thirdly, increasing distance between Russian government and Russian youths and, finally, creating conditions, that decrease the possibility of professional self-realization of younger generations. Raising its socializing effect on youth and becoming more significant mean of communication, the Internet can be used as a political tool, which could help with the forming of sustainable political identity of Russian youth but only if technologies, used by political actors in cyberspace, would be transparent and available for verification.