Problems of youth subcultures, informal youth organizations

Recently, discussions concerning youth development have not subsided among researchers. The issues under discussion touch upon the contradictory processes and problems that occur in the youth sphere. In addition, the values, lifestyle and socio-cultural behavior of young people raise doubts.

It is the value system of modern youth that helps to distinguish it from the overwhelming share of societies and gives an understanding of what a subculture is. The main factors influencing the formation of subculture are often not only age and religion, but also ethnicity, even the attitude to social strata or a certain place of residence. The values embedded in a certain association can have a strong influence on the formation of the personality of the person who is a member of the group.

It may not be a prerequisite for the group to renounce ethnicity or simply to deviate from it, but, as a rule, the attitude of most adults to subculture is, to put it mildly, distrustful or even disapproving.

For a long time, the concept of “youth” did not exist in the minds of people, because it was not considered as an independent, autonomous group of people. The existing ideas about the class division of society, at that time, did not provide an opportunity to single out the youth group as a part of society.

For the first time the concept of “youth” was formulated by V. T. Lisovsky in 1968. In his opinion, “youth is a generation of people passing the stage of socialization, assimilating, and at a more mature age already assimilated, educational, professional, cultural and other social functions; depending on specific historical conditions, the age criteria of youth can vary from 16 to 30 years” [5, с. 33].

The modern world is often undergoing changes, so nowadays the process of socialization takes longer than before. In this regard, the factors influencing social maturity have changed. They may be the beginning of labor activity, higher education, material independence from parents, marriage or possession of civil rights.

The action of the above factors may be parallel or not simultaneous in different spheres of social life. That is, a person can be responsible for the family, financial situation, have higher education, but not know his civil rights and behave like a child in another sphere.

Therefore, there are basic criteria of personality formation: school, family, mass media, labor collective, friends or spontaneous groups. All these criteria can be one mechanism or work separately, but each of them directly performs its functions in the process of socialization.

Youth is a rather difficult period for a person's mental state. If we talk about the adolescent period, the processes of self-discovery, youthful maximalism and formation of one's own “I” take a special place here. It is important at this time to set the boundaries of their personality, to realize the possibilities and find their place in society.

The main features of youth as a social group are the desire for the unknown, the desire for technology, the desire to be on a par with adults, the thirst for activity. In addition, for a young person, in particular for a teenager, the period of acquiring social skills is one of the important stages of life, as at this time there is a conditional “withdrawal”, which affects almost all aspects of his life activity.

In addition, the formation of moral attitudes and values can be considered an equally important feature of youth. They are formed under the influence of various circumstances and become a reference point on the path of life, so it is extremely important that the child undergoes the process of socialization in a safe environment, without bad habits, without the desire to go against the system.

Another peculiarity is the formation of moral ideals. To some extent it is related to the previous feature of youth, but still there are significant differences. Ideals, as a rule, arise in two expressions: it is an image of some person in whom a representative of the youth group sees highly valuable qualities of personality and tries to imitate them in every possible way. A change in behavior in the direction of “parent - ideal” can be observed. In the process of growing up there is a process of rethinking certain values and foundations. In this regard, people who used to be respected and were an ideal, cease to be special, the urge to imitate disappears, and instead a new image is formed, taken from the Internet or from the circle of close friends.

Therefore, when they mention the dual nature of youth, they talk about its social and psychological aspects. In sociology, youth is the achievement of a self-sufficient position in society, making responsible, balanced decisions. And in psychology - it is a period of self-identification, the search for one's own “I” and the formation of character.

Thus, young people are oriented to the inner emotional aspects of their souls. As they grow up, representatives of youth become less conflictual, the emotional background is equalized, a full-fledged character is formed without recourse to extremes. In the youth environment priorities in relationships change: relations with peers become more significant, relations with representatives of older generation become less significant.

In this regard, a different system of relationships is formed between the subjects. The diversity of elements of this system is explained by the differentiation of social actors by various criteria, such as income level, profession, age, place of residence, type of settlement, religious and ethnic characteristics and others. One of the key social actors are social groups, which, due to their differences in certain conditions, contribute to the establishment of unique cultural values, patterns of life, styles of behavior, as well as choice of dress and language. This feature is the source of the emergence of subcultures, and representatives of these social groups act as their carriers.

When one hears a conversation about subcultures among the adult generation, one hears anything but a word of understanding. In each subculture there are fierce representatives of their movement. They, like kites, strictly control everything that happens within the community.

The diversity of subcultures is so great that if you take a period of time in 5–7 years, it would be difficult to count the number of associations. All of them are completely different from each other, each has its own values, its foundations and even unofficial statutes. Often, in order to appear separate from the national culture, individuals put a completely different meaning, different feelings into common words, and, of course, behind all this there is a certain symbolism.

Most often the concept of “subculture” is applied to young people as a factor of deviant behavior. This is due to the fact that the younger generation is more characterized by adherence to group identity and opposition to traditional cultural and social patterns. This is what brings young people into peer groups. Each subculture carries a set of distinctive features. In the absence of any of them, the subculture loses the opportunity to relate itself to the phenomenon of ideological association.

It should be noted that young people are inclined to participate in subcultures both because of objective factors of their uniqueness in comparison with other social groups, and because of the fact that subculturalism is part of the life attitudes of young people, based on self-affirmation, self-identification and the formation of attitudes to the world around them. However, this natural inclination of young people to subcultures does not mean that most of them belong to certain subcultural groups or that all young people are such a group.

Among the reasons for young people's interest in subcultures are: 

• mania for imitating those who do not follow the system;
• mysterious, unusual members of associations;
• lack;
• their own opinions;
• susceptibility to fashion trends.

The social need for communication, self-affirmation and prestige, as well as the desire to improve the quality of life motivate adolescents to interact. The diversity of youth associations is due to the different interests and needs that shape the relationships of adolescents and young people in the groups.

Thus, youth subculture always exists in modern society. It usually occupies a marginal social position and a relatively small proportion of the population in relation to both the social landscape and the dominant type of culture within it. Nevertheless, subcultures can have a significant impact on the development of a society and shape its circumstances and goals, as evidenced by events in the 1950s and 1960s similar to the modern era. The United States experienced this during the twentieth century. Subcultures that control fashion, fashion and behavior to hundreds of thousands and millions of young people are among the leading subcultures. A young person's race and social status in Russia can be determined by their physical features and symbolic attributes, which are often the defining features of a particular subculture. The groups' specificity was manifested in a certain type of clothing, unique emblems and design elements (such as jewelry and individual hairstyles), specific jargon, and slang. Regardless of affiliation, the main function of any association is the desire for self-determination and subjective embodiment.

The current crisis in Russian society requires in-depth sociological analysis to identify the causes and ways of overcoming it. Special attention should be paid to such interrelated aspects as youth subculture and manifested aggressiveness among younger generations, a phenomenon that clearly indicates the existing conflict between age groups.

To solve this problem, it is necessary to carry out comprehensive research in the field of sociology of youth. Only a comprehensive and systematized approach will make it possible to understand the fundamental causes of intergenerational tensions. This includes: studying the deep motivations and value orientations of contemporary youth; understanding the essence of their cultural search and self-expression; and rejecting the unequivocal criticism and condemnation characteristic of many public discussions around youth culture.

An important step will be a differentiated approach to analyzing various aspects of young people's lives. In particular: consideration of the diversity of subcultural phenomena; analysis of socio-psychological factors contributing to aggression and conflicts; study of the impact of economic conditions on the behavior of young people.

Only such an approach will allow not only to identify the root causes of the existing crisis, but also to develop strategies to overcome it through constructive interaction between different generations in society.

In the modern world, the problem of youth informal associations has acquired a global status and is rooted in a deep systemic crisis of traditional approaches to the social adaptation of the younger generation.

In Russian society, the current problems of youth socialization are becoming especially acute. Today's youth, finding themselves at the crossroads of historical changes in the country and society, are actively forming new life principles, values and goals. Under the conditions of dynamic evolution of society, young people undergo a radical change of priorities: from interests to ideals, from needs to preferences. This leads to the emergence of specific social niches for mastering life experience, where some immerse themselves in the culture of pop and show business, others become hostages of the virtual reality of the Internet, and others find refuge in informal communities.