The sociology of youth religiosity is a special direction in sociological science, which is being formed at the intersection of religious studies, the sociology of religion and the sociology of youth and other disciplines.
One of the most famous scientists who deal with the problems of the religiosity of young people in Russia is V.T. Lisovsky. The textbook on the sociology of youth published by him says that the subject of the sociology of youth religiosity is “... the study of the state, typology and trends in the formation of religious consciousness, including faith, worldview ideas, experiences and knowledge, as well as the religious experience and behavior of young people (in age interval from 16 to 30 years) in individual, group and mass forms.
It may seem to many that the sociology of youth religiosity, as a science, is identical to religious studies in its tasks and object of study. However, in contrast to religious studies, which covers the study of religion in a wide range of aspects (cultural-historical, anthropological and ethnological, sociological and psychological; national and political, scientific and philosophical). In turn, the sociology of young people's religiosity is limited here by the methodological possibilities of research that are permissible for it. Nevertheless, the sociological approach in this case is understood quite broadly, it is not limited to issues of social typology and dynamics proper, but also involves the use of socio-psychological, cultural, comparative historical, legal, ethnological, political science and other possible methods, if this contributes to the effectiveness of achieving a holistic picture of the religious state of youth.
If religiosity in general has long been the subject of attention of Russian sociologists, then special sociological studies of the religiosity of young people have begun quite recently.
Basically, the sociology of religion in the youth environment operates with such a concept as "the religiosity of youth", it is central to this area of sociological science. The concept of "religiosity of youth" according to V.T. Lisovsky suggests "... first of all, identifying the degree of familiarization of young people with religious values and systems." But it would not be fair to tie an entire sociological discipline to a single, albeit most characteristic, concept. Sociologists interested in this topic also come to the attention of the problems of non-religiousness and secularity of young people.
V.T. Lisovsky writes about the relevance of the topic of our study in the following way: “The problem of the religiosity of young people is very significant on a global scale, it does not just reflect the acute processes of sacralization and secularization in a particular country. The magnitude of this problem is clearly underestimated by sociologists who write with satisfaction about the expanding secularization of the secular world.
In addition, in our opinion, the problem is not so much whether young people are predominantly a religious stratified group or predominantly non-religious, secular. Most of all, the researcher should be concerned about whether young people are capable of fulfilling their avant-garde historical destiny and with what outcome for the fate of the whole society. After all, it is the youth, by its social nature, that represents the reflection of all the contradictions and possibilities of society. In this sense, youth is a kind of phenotypic code for the evolution of a particular society. It is the youth who chooses the trajectory of its historical movement.
Religious and secular processes in the youth environment are extremely important for determining the historical fate of society. After all, one of the leading social functions of religion at all times was nothing more than meaning-making. And the point here is not so much what kind of faith should prevail in the end, but first of all, it is the youth who turns out to be the implementer of the semantic self-determination of society.
Karl Mannheim, an outstanding German sociologist and philosopher, wrote: “A special function of youth is that it is a revitalizing mediator, a kind of reserve that comes to the fore when such revival becomes necessary to adapt to rapidly changing or qualitatively new circumstances ... The youth is neither progressive nor conservative in nature, it is a potency ready for any undertaking.” However, this does not mean that young people are a neutral intermediary between historical zones; on the contrary, they are a historical leader with all the socio-cultural drama that follows from this.”
Of course, youth, as the driving force behind both secular and religious development of social meaning-making, manifests itself precisely during periods of instability in history, in contrast to periods of relative stability or stagnation, when the function of meaning-determination is monopolized by more mature age groups (as, for example, during the period of stagnation in the USSR).
In the classical sociology of religion, unfortunately, no special attention was paid to the characteristics of religious and secular processes in the youth environment. This is rather characteristic of researchers of the late 20th century, when the outcome of the struggle for the youth of the ruling and ideologically controlling structures and the consequences of the struggle of the youth themselves for freedom of self-determination are of particular importance for the fate of the 21st century.
So. Can our Russian society boast of an abundance of youth non-religious organizations dealing with enlightenment and education in the field of religious studies and problems of youth religiosity? What is the true typology of young people's attitude towards religion and what is the degree of their religiosity or, on the contrary, religiosity or non-religion? Are there independent (!) youth organizations today dealing with issues of secularization, issues of freedom of conscience, issues of education and enlightenment of young people in a secular society, issues of democratic dialogue between the state and the church, issues of religious tolerance of various confessions, etc.?
All these questions constitute the problematic field of the subject of the sociology of religion in relation to the youth environment. At the same time, this is the meaning of the youth sociology of religion.
Let us proceed to a more detailed examination of the distinctive features of the religious orientations of young Russians.
3. Study of the peculiarities of the religiosity of modern student youth (on the example of the youth of the city of Yaroslavl)
The choice of this research problem is justified by the fact that today, in times of crisis in society, the influence of religion on the public and private life of people is growing, the range of their religious and non-religious beliefs is expanding. This is especially noticeable among young people. This is understandable, since it is in the youth environment that the formation of value orientations takes place. For this layer, the conditions for entering life have changed dramatically, the possibilities of a full-fledged socio-civil development are significantly limited, it has lost social and moral and ideological guidelines. There is a fairly widespread opinion that in the modern world the role of youth socialization institutions has been sharply weakened, be it the family, school, vocational education system, socio-political organizations, movements, mass media and communications. It is these problems of society, in our opinion, that determine the relevance of this study. Over time, various religious organizations are actively striving to take their place among the institutions of youth socialization, making their contribution to the more complicated process of social development of boys and girls.
For the study, we chose such a stratum of the city's youth as students. Student youth is of interest as a generation that, due to a significant educational level, active working age, and dynamic social behavior, will take the place of the main intellectual and productive social force in the near future. Students occupy an intermediate position between the younger and older age categories of the population. Adaptation to innovations occurs in the student environment more consciously than among children, and at the same time more gently than among people of mature age. Being the most progressive part of the youth, the students are especially keenly aware of the ongoing changes in the life of society.
Object of study: student youth of the city of Yaroslavl.
Subject of study: religiosity of student youth.
Purpose of the study: to identify the features of the religiosity of modern student youth. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to solve the following tasks:
1. To study the elements of the religious worldview and the religious activity of the younger generation,
2. To trace how the degree of religiosity of students affects their behavior,
3. To study the manifestation in the minds and behavior of modern youth of such types of religiosity as formal and true religiosity,
4. To study the attitude of student youth towards new religious movements.
Since this problem is poorly understood, our study does not have a hypothesis and will be of an exploratory nature.
Research method: sample survey using an individual questionnaire. The choice of this method is due to the fact that questionnaires are widely used to obtain information about the actual state of affairs in the study area. A survey is an indispensable technique for obtaining information about the subjective world of people, their opinions, interests, inclinations and motives for activity. Also, a big advantage of a questionnaire survey is the low material costs of conducting it.
To study the religiosity of the youth of the city of Yaroslavl, we used a questionnaire consisting of 28 questions, of which 8 questions are aimed at determining the socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents.
Sample size: 50 people. Of these, 25 boys and 25 girls aged 17 to 30 years.
Sample Passport:
1. Empirical object - residents of the city of Yaroslavl;
2. The study is selective;
3. The general population is the inhabitants of the city of Yaroslavl;
4. A two-stage cluster sampling is used: at the first stage, all higher educational institutions of the city are identified using a city map; at the second stage, students of selected educational institutions are interviewed using the continuous survey method.
5. The unit of observation is an individual.
This study was carried out in 3 stages:
1. Preparation of tools.
2. Collection of sociological information by the method of individual questionnaire survey.
3. Processing of received data.
Operationalization of concepts:
Age for study: young people from 17 to 30 years old. The choice of these age limits is due to the fact that the respondents should not only belong to the social group of young people by age (in accordance with this, the upper limit of the age distribution was chosen), but also be students of higher educational institutions in Yaroslavl (which determined the lower limit of the age corridor) .
Religiosity is a person's commitment to religion, that is, its positive perception and assimilation, adherence to its norms, regulations and traditions, inclusion in its institutional structures, its reproduction in behavior.
True religiosity is a state of individual consciousness that expresses adherence to a particular religion, faith in its basic postulates, acceptance and adherence to its prescriptions.
Formal religiosity is an external form of religiosity, expressed in demonstrative observance of the ritual side of a religious cult while showing indifference in matters of faith.
Respondents were provided with a questionnaire consisting of 24 mandatory questions and 4 passport questions. The main structure of the questionnaire consisted of closed-ended questions with multiple choice answers.
The Microsoft Excel program was used to process the results of the study. And on the basis of the results obtained, corresponding graphs and diagrams were constructed, which made it possible to more clearly present the results of the study.
This study used the criteria of religiosity, named in one of the publications by Sinelina Yu.Yu.: self-identification as a believer, attending a temple, prayer frequency, fasting, confession frequency, celebrating religious holidays, reading religious texts, the presence of sacred objects in the house .
According to the listed criteria, it becomes possible to determine the religiosity of the social group of interest to us. The manifestation of true religiosity will be determined by the priority values in the mind of the respondent and the presence of religious faith.
One of the most important, in our opinion, can be considered the question of self-identification of respondents.
To the first question of the questionnaire: “Do you consider yourself a believer?” 84% of respondents answered positively, and 16% were non-believers who took part in the survey.
Moreover, it can be noted that among young men there are much more respondents who identified themselves as non-believers than among girls: respectively 28% and 4% of all respondents of both sexes.
On the issue of religion, the respondents were divided as follows: the majority of respondents (76%) consider themselves Orthodox Christians, 4% adhere to the Muslim religion, as before, 16% called themselves unbelievers or atheists. Interestingly, 4% of respondents, although they consider themselves believers, found it difficult to answer the question about religion, which can be interpreted as the uncertainty of life positions and the blurring of sociocultural orientations in the minds of respondents who answered in this way.
Let's move on to the consideration of respondents' answers according to the criteria of religiosity Yu.Yu. Synelina.
The first of these criteria is a visit to the temple. To the corresponding question of the questionnaire: “How often do you visit church (mosque, synagogue, etc.)?” the following responses were received.
None of the respondents answered that they attend church once a week or even once a month. Most of the respondents (60%) attend church several times a year. Divine services and religious holidays are attended by 28% of the respondents, including the polled Muslims. This may be due to the fact that this group of believers does not have the opportunity to visit the mosque more often, since they are few in the region. Also, among the respondents who attend church on holidays, there were 50% of those surveyed who called themselves atheists. Perhaps this fact is explained by the presence of certain rules and traditions in their families and immediate environment, which are imposed on them. This factor can be considered evidence of formal religiosity, since the respondents did not identify themselves as believers.
12% of those surveyed have never been to church. Moreover, such an answer was given only by those respondents who did not identify themselves with any religion, as well as those who found it difficult to determine their own religious affiliation.
The next criterion of religiosity is the frequency of prayer. To the question "How often do you pray?" the following results were obtained:
Most of the respondents pray only when they are in a critical life situation. This answer was chosen mainly by Orthodox respondents. However, an interesting fact can be answered that 37.5% of non-believing respondents also pray in a critical situation. This fact can also be regarded as speaking about the formal religiosity of those who answered in this way. In a critical situation, prayer is carried out unconsciously, just in case, one might even say mechanically. In the absence of self-identification with a religious culture, such behavior can be regarded as an imitation of the behavior or even just the linguistic formulas of the environment.
16% of respondents never pray, and 24% found it difficult to answer this question. This can also be explained by the blurring of socio-cultural orientations and the formality of the very process of prayer for such respondents. They do not formalize this religious ritual in their lives and do not attach sufficient importance to it.
Fasting is the next criterion of religiosity according to Yu.Yu. Synelina. To the question: “Do you observe the fasts?” The answers were distributed as follows:
The vast majority of respondents do not observe fasts. These respondents included all atheists, all respondents who found it difficult to determine their religion, as well as 84% of those surveyed who consider themselves Orthodox. This fact can also be attributed to the indicators of formal religiosity among today's young believers. At present, there is a tendency towards selective observance of the moral and ethical norms of a particular religion. Simply put, modern believers themselves choose which of the commandments is easier for them to fulfill.
Only 4% of respondents observe fasts from time to time, and only those who adhere to the Muslim faith answered this way. It can be assumed that the absence of those who constantly observe all fasts among the respondents is explained by their social status. All the respondents are students, which makes it difficult to strictly follow all religious norms.
12% of the respondents tried to fast at some time, but they did not succeed. Among those who answered in this way were only 16% of the Orthodox.
The next criterion is the frequency of confession. The respondents were asked the question: "Have you been to confession?".
None of the respondents answered that they attend confession regularly or at least several times a year, which means that this religious norm has practically ceased to be observed by modern believers. The vast majority of those surveyed have never attended confession, and among them there are both atheists and respondents who consider themselves believers. 22% of the respondents attended confession 1-2 times. It can be assumed that these visits were of a formal nature and were made under the influence of an older environment, traditions, or out of curiosity and were never repeated. Moreover, this answer was also given by a quarter of all respondents who identify themselves as non-believers, which can also be explained as a single visit to confession under the influence of the environment or customs.
To the question "Have you read the holy books (Bible, Koran, etc.)?" respondents responded as follows:
Almost all respondents had ever read cult literature, including non-believers. Only 4% of respondents have never read religious books, and only those who identified themselves as atheists.
To the question “Are there any items that are related to a religious cult in your house?” without exception, all respondents responded positively. Even in the modern world, it is difficult to meet a person who would have absolutely no such items in his house. However, the motives for their storage differ significantly.
More than half of those surveyed really regard the cult items stored in their homes as sacred. This group included only those respondents who consider themselves to be believers. Such an attitude to religious subjects can be regarded as a feature of true religiosity in today's believing students. However, 67% of all respondents who identify themselves as believers nevertheless answered that religious objects are kept in their homes only as a memory of relatives. This fact indicates the manifestation of formal religiosity in the minds of the majority of believing respondents. 12% answered that religious objects are kept in their homes without a specific purpose. This group included only non-believers.
Thus, all the criteria of religiosity are present in the respondents' answers. But to confirm them, additional questions were asked that could point to interesting features of the religiosity of young people as a separate social group.
When asked in what cases the opinion of a clergyman matters to the respondent, the following answers were given:
The vast majority of respondents indicated that the opinion of the clergy has absolutely no meaning for them in any of the spheres of life. This group included both non-believers and 55% of those respondents who identified themselves as believers. This fact may indicate both the formal religiosity of the respondents, and the general decline in the level of trust in the church as a social institution, the fall in the popularity of its ministers. 32% of respondents are still guided by the opinion of the priests in matters of morality and ethics. And only 4% of respondents are ready to follow the advice of the clergy in matters relating to solving family problems. Decision-making at work and assessment of the political situation for the respondents are not areas where the advice of persons with clergy would be required.
In order to more accurately determine the degree of religiosity, it is also necessary to find out how religion affects the behavior of respondents. To do this, the question was asked: "How does religion affect your behavior?".
Most of the respondents (76%) build their behavior based on the real situation, and not on the requirements of commandments. This group included all respondents who called themselves atheists, as well as more than half (71%) of believers, which can be considered a sign of formal religiosity in their behavior. Only 24% of the respondents answered that they try to follow the commandments as far as possible, this can be regarded as a reliable sign of their religiosity. Constant adherence to religious precepts is not characteristic of today's young believers, none of the respondents answered this way.
Respondents were given several statements. They were asked to express their agreement or disagreement on this issue.
Only 10% of respondents believe that science is more important to society than religion. This group included only non-believers. 90% of respondents believe that religion and science are equally important for a person. Some non-believers also believe that religion is necessary because performs a number of important functions in the life of society. Believers also consider science useful and important. This distribution of answers reflects the social status of respondents who are students, i.e. people in whose lives science occupies an important place. None of the respondents answered that religion is more important for a person than science, which indicates that religion has lost its dominant role in the minds of today's youth.
To find out how the respondents are aware of the position of religiosity in modern society, they were asked a control question: “What do you think, what is the process of the revival of religiosity in modern Russia connected with?”. Several response options were listed to answer this question. The following results were obtained.
62% of respondents believe that the process of revival is caused primarily by the need to revive morality in Russia. Half of the respondents believe that the revival of religiosity is associated with difficult living conditions in the country. Many turn to religion when they need psychological support, or when all other ways to improve their own situation are powerless. This is where the psychological function of religion is realized. 38% of respondents cite the fashion for everything new and mysterious as the reason for the revival process. This phenomenon is due to the fact that in recent years the media have been increasingly promoting interest in the supernatural, numerous magicians, healers, etc. Thus, people try to fill their lives with something unusual, mysterious, distracting from the gray everyday life.
The respondents also determine the process of the revival of religiosity by the inability of science to answer many questions (25%), interest in the traditions of their people (16%), the imposition of religion by the state (12%) and the need to raise national self-consciousness (10%).
In order to trace the presence of true religiosity in the minds of the respondents, several statements were proposed in the questionnaire. Respondents had to express their agreement or disagreement. The following results were obtained.
All representatives of unbelieving youth do not agree with the statement that God is the essence of everything that exists on Earth. The rest of the opinions were divided: 38% of the respondents agreed with this statement, and most of all respondents (46%) found it difficult to answer this question. The group who found it difficult to answer included only respondents who consider themselves believers. This group makes up 55% of all believing respondents, which may indicate the precariousness and unformed views on the world of modern believers. In their minds there is no specific answer about the place of God in the world around.
Equal proportions of respondents (26% each) agreed and disagreed with the judgment about the presence of convincing evidence of the existence/non-existence of God. Almost half (48%) of all respondents do not have a definite opinion on this issue either. Moreover, this entire group is represented exclusively by respondents who called themselves believers (57% of all believers found it difficult to answer). Such a response can be explained both by an unformed worldview and a lack of information among young people about the existence of such evidence.
Only unbelieving respondents agreed with the statement that only the world in which he lives should be of real interest to a person. The believers' opinions were again divided: 28% deny the validity of this statement, more than half of the respondents (56%) find it difficult to answer this question as well.
To determine which function of religion is realized more in the modern world, the respondents were asked to continue the phrase: "Religion gives a person ...". The following results were obtained:
Almost half of the respondents indicated that religion gives a person peace of mind (peace of mind, calm heart, calm life, calmness, etc.), 26% of respondents believe that religion gives confidence. Respondents also expect support from religion (4%), hope for the best (12%) and an increase in internal strength (2%). In general, all these answers (96%) can be regarded as the realization of the psychological function of religion. In turn, 8% of respondents, among whom are exclusively non-believers, believe that religion does not give anything positive to a person, but only supports false hopes and illusions in his mind.
In order to determine whether respondents have true religiosity, we need to identify the presence of religious beliefs and beliefs. To determine the beliefs of the respondents, the question was asked: "Do you believe in ...?":
Only 12% of respondents believe in life after death, and all of them consider themselves believers. 26% answered negatively to this question. This group included both unbelieving respondents and believers. 19% of all believing respondents answered in a similar way, which can be attributed to the manifestation of formal religiosity, as a discrepancy with the main religious beliefs. Most of the respondents found it difficult to answer this question. This answer was given by both unbelieving and believing young people (66% of all believing respondents answered this way), which may indicate the uncertainty of their worldview. Most young people do not have a definite opinion on this matter.
24% of respondents believe in the Devil, the Devil or Satan, all of them consider themselves believers. All non-believing respondents, as well as some believers (26% of all believing respondents), answered this question in the negative, which also contradicts the main religious canons of Orthodoxy and Islam, whose representatives were included in the sample. The bulk of believing youth found it difficult to give a specific answer to this question.
The vast majority of respondents do not believe in the transmigration of souls. But both among believers and non-believers there were respondents who gave a positive answer to this question. 17% of the respondents found it difficult to answer. Only believers were included in this group.
No one found it difficult to answer the question about belief in divination. All respondents unambiguously indicated their position on this issue. Most of the respondents believe in fortune-telling, and half of the non-believing respondents also gave a positive answer to this question.
Opinions about belief in omens were divided equally between a positive and a negative answer to this question. Interestingly, most of the non-believing respondents answered that they believe in omens.
Exactly half of the respondents believe in magic and sorcery, and non-believers are again among them. 36% of all believers and half of all non-believers do not believe in witchcraft. Some respondents also find it difficult to answer this question.
Thus, one can note the uncertainty and selectivity of beliefs, judgments and views among today's youth. Young believers do not yet have their own fully formed position and worldview, so they are greatly influenced by traditions, customs, fashion and opinions of the environment.
84% of respondents believe that it is absolutely not important to strictly observe religious rites. This is the opinion of all non-believers and 81% of all believing respondents.
The modern views of young people are such that a person can truly believe in God sincerely, but not express this in his behavior (do not go to church, do not fast, etc.).
Respondents mainly single out material values as priority values, such as health, family, friends, etc. Only 4% of the respondents consider faith as a value.
To determine students' attitudes towards new religious movements, respondents were also asked a question. The answers were distributed as follows:
The diagram reflects the uncertainty of opinion on this issue of the majority of respondents. Just over a quarter of respondents said that their opinion is influenced by the direction of the movement. However, none of the respondents had an unambiguously positive or negative opinion about this phenomenon.
In addition to the above, the respondents were asked a few more questions.
When asked how often respondents are interested in a personal horoscope, only 36% of respondents said that they do not believe in horoscopes and are not interested in them. The remaining 64% of respondents, among whom were both believers and non-believers, answered that they are still interested in their horoscope from time to time. However, to the next question about how often respondents turn to fortune-tellers / healers / astrologers, the majority of respondents (64%) already answered that they do not believe and do not use such services. The remaining 36%, among whom both believers and atheists are again observed, visited such specialists 2-3 times.
In assessing the image of the clergyman, the majority of respondents (62%) expressed negative opinions. For them, a priest is an ordinary person, a specific worker, and even a deceiver. Only 38% of respondents had a positive image. In relation to the clergyman, they used such definitions as “friend”, “mentor”, “assistant”, etc.
For 80% of the respondents, the religiosity of friends and acquaintances does not in any way affect the respondent's attitude towards them. For 20% of respondents, the opinion of a colleague or acquaintance depends on what exactly he believes.
The definition of "Religious freedom" has a positive connotation in the minds of the majority of respondents, and 84% of respondents associate it with the freedom to choose one's religion, regardless of the boundaries of society and the state. 6% of respondents reacted negatively to this phrase, defining it as a set of religious frameworks and illusory freedom.
64% of respondents talked with family members and parents about God and religion, the remaining 36% indicated that family members did not conduct such conversations with them.
Youth and religion
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
The earth was formless and empty,
and darkness over the abyss,
and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters.
And God said: let there be light. And there was light.
We all know that this is how the most important scripture of Christianity - the Bible - begins. Orthodoxy has played a big role in the history of our country and in the formation of culture. In this article, we will try to analyze the attitude of modern youth towards religion using the example of Christianity and will partially touch upon other beliefs.
Why are we considering youth? After all, it is the youth of today who will be the bearer of culture, including religious culture, in the near future. The older generation is still a little different. Today, the youth of Russia is 39.6 million young citizens, 27% of the total population of the country. In accordance with the strategy of the state youth policy in the Russian Federation, approved by the order of the Government of the Russian Federation of December 18, 2006 No. 1760-r, the category of youth in Russia includes citizens of Russia from 14 to 30 years old. It is possible to understand the peculiarities of the consciousness and behavior of believing and unbelieving youth in Russia only by taking into account the presence of two oppositely directed tendencies. On the one hand, this is the increase in the popularity of religion, the strengthening of its role and the influence of religious institutions, on the other hand, the deployment of the processes of secularization and globalization, the assertion in people's minds of non-religious values and ideas as the deepest motives for life.
Recently, there have been frequent studies of the religiosity of young people. One of the first all-Russian studies of the religiosity of modern Russian youth in the post-perestroika period (February 1997) was the work of S.A. Grigorenko "Youth Organizations of Russia and Religion", in which the author noted that 39-46% of young Russians consider themselves believers. He pointed to the fuzziness of religious ideas, but did not highlight what exactly young people believe.
In the late 1990s The Russian Independent Institute for Social and Ethnic Problems conducted three all-Russian studies: the first - in November-December 1997, the other two - in October 1998 and April 1999. They were conducted to study the religious views of young people before and after the economic crisis of 1998 city in Russia. 32.1% of the respondents called themselves believers, 27% vacillated between faith and unbelief, 13.9% are indifferent to religion, 14.6% are unbelievers. In contrast to the previous study, this clearly shows the division of respondents into confessional subgroups. According to this study, those who identify themselves as Orthodox can be found not only among the hesitant (56.2%), believers in supernatural forces (24.1%), but also among the indifferent (8.8%) and even among 2.1% of non-believers. .
The retrospective of the economic crisis of 1998 in Russia allows us to draw conclusions by analogy and predict the development of young people at this stage, because, as you know, in 2008 the economic crisis began again, and this time on a global scale. S.A. Zutler concluded that the crisis of August 1998 and subsequent socio-economic processes did not seriously affect the actual worldview - religious or atheistic - views of youth groups, but they manifested themselves in the peculiarities of attitudes towards certain political events, economic and moral realities.
In the 2000s the religious situation has not changed much, the results are comparable with the studies of the 1990s. According to the data obtained by the Center for Social Forecasting (2005), there is an increase in religiosity (44.5% of young respondents declare faith in God), a weakening of the position of conscious unbelief (8.8% of young respondents do not believe in any supernatural forces). At the same time, the religious worldview of a significant part of young believers - especially those who are inclined, following a kind of "fashion", to external, ostentatious religiosity - is characterized by blurring, uncertainty, lack of clear content.
At the same time, in 2006, the Laboratory of Youth Problems of the Research Institute for Comprehensive Social Research of St. Petersburg State University conducted a study of the religiosity of young people, the results of which were considered by N.V. Klinetskaya: those who believe in God, but do not observe religious rites and rules, in Russia 58.2%, but deeply religious - only 2.3%. At the same time, 80% of young people consider themselves believers to one degree or another, but only half of them are adherents of any denomination, more than 90% tend to prefer Orthodoxy. N.V. Klinetskaya notes that among the numerous studies conducted by the Laboratory of Youth Problems, this survey for the first time recorded the influence of youth religiosity on the feeling of patriotism. In general, as we see, over the past 15 years, the religiosity of young people has grown. If in 1997 S.A. Grigorenko provides data on 39-40% of the percentage of believing youth, then already in 2006 N.V. Klinetskaya names 58.2% of those who believe in God.
Studies show that religiosity has grown. But these are all studies that I, and you personally, have not conducted. Let's try to analyze the situation ourselves. Many have grandparents, and parents who go to church, who observe church rites. Who heard from them: "Do not do this, otherwise God will punish." They taught us that we should go to church, thanks to this, there are still young people in churches. But rarely someone was dragged there by dragging, they themselves went. And they didn’t read the Bible to us at night, as it turns out that we are interested in the church ourselves. We adopted something from the older generations without much pressure from them. So we need it. We have preserved the faith carried by the Russian people through many trials, withstood the test of the Soviet atheistic era and ensured the uninterrupted unity and integrity of Russian history. The absence of a broken bridge with the past, which provided religious continuity through collective religious memory, can be seen as a necessary condition for a religious renaissance.
But is this the religiosity that the Orthodox Church preaches to us? Religions prescribe certain norms of behavior and restrictions for a person. it takes a lifetime of effort to follow a particular creed. as a rule, each of them considers his own norms to be the best, the only saving and correct ones. Now a curious transformation is taking place in the youth environment with religion. During the session, some students run to the church to light a candle for passing their exams. Then they again lead a typical "student" way of life, not different from the way of life of medieval students.
Attitude towards religion has ceased to be something lofty, mysterious, highly spiritual. So it was in the time of the pagan gods, they tried to appease them for good luck, happiness, love, getting rid of diseases. Young people begin to behave piously only at critical moments and consider themselves believers, despite the fact that in everyday life they do not observe church canons. And those who consider themselves unbelievers, no matter what, celebrate such church holidays as Easter and Christmas.
Students note in religion, in particular in Christianity, first of all, "beauty". For young people, a wedding is a beautiful ceremony, and today it is becoming more and more popular. According to the religious scholar, “wedding is a solemn ceremony, and this solemnity, when chants are heard and when the newlyweds leave the church to the sound of bells, attracts young people. Another point is that the wedding allegedly “makes the marriage stronger”, this is a rite “just in case”, “for good luck”. However, as statistics show, church marriages break up just as easily as marriages without a wedding.
For young people, religion is now becoming part of a new culture. And often much is simply borrowed from Western traditions. For example, Valentine's Day, Halloween and St. Patrick's Day quickly became "their own" in the Russian expanses. They argue about these holidays, the clergy call them "blasphemous", and for young people they are just an excuse for another party. At the same time, the names of the saints become "signs without meaning", completely inconsistent with their original Christian meaning.
It turns out that religion has become pragmatic, although in my personal opinion it was so, only the goal has changed. Now it's for the fact that it's "good" in and of itself. And before that they tried to pave their way to paradise.
And in fact……
I want to leave my purely personal opinion, which hardly anyone is interested in, but the article is mine, because I want to write it: Due to the fact that heaven and hell were invented, religion turned out to be a cash register where tickets to a good afterlife are sold for good deeds, and this is - selfishness, albeit in a slightly different form. God may exist, I don’t know, but he probably didn’t need admiration and constant attention from our side, he already has a lot to do. And if, as the Bible says, he loves us, then he would like us to live well. So let's, let's be kind, honest, generous, loving, etc. not in order to go to heaven, but we will make our own here. Peace to you.
3. Attitude of youth towards religion
In connection with the peculiarities of the historical situation, or rather with the transition from socialism to democracy and, as a result, the strengthening of the position of religion in society, such a segment of the population as young people, whose birth time coincided with this time, becomes interesting for study.
A study of youth attitudes towards religion was conducted by the Nizhny Novgorod State Institute. 65 respondents aged 16 to 32 were interviewed. Various facts about the respondents regarding religious views and values will be given below.
Table 1
Among 65 people, 19% were unbelievers, 44% were Orthodox, 28% were Protestants, 2% were Hare Krishnas, and 2% adherents of the ancient Vedic faith.
Approximately twice the percentage of Orthodox is greater than the percentage of non-believers, the middle position between them is occupied by Protestants (Christians of the Evangelical Faith (Baptists) and Adventists of the 7th day). The percentage of representatives of other religions is insignificant.
The percentage of Orthodox Christians has a great influence due to the historical features of Russia. It is likely that a considerable percentage of non-believers are associated with the propaganda of atheism and with the remnants of the Soviet Union.
table 2
The same people were asked about the idea of the church. 51% indicated that the church is a source of spiritual support, 30% see a community of fellow believers in the church, 16% - an element of social life, 16% the church helps, for 15% the church is an opportunity to find meaning in life and 10% with the help of the church improve themselves.
Half of the respondents consider the church a source of spiritual support, and only a tenth of the respondents approach the question of self-improvement.
Young people perceive the church, first of all, as a source of spiritual support and a community of fellow believers. The church is not particularly significant for young people as a help and self-improvement. According to verified data, it can be said that the church performs its main function of uniting believers.
Table 3
A third of the respondents come to church to pray, about a third more come for a sermon, a fifth of the respondents receive aesthetic pleasure in the church, 13% and 16% come to meet fellow believers and experience positive emotions, respectively, 6% come to retire, 2% come to a spiritual mentor and 8% have their own reasons for this.
Approximately the same number of people come to pray and listen to the sermon, half as many young people come for positive emotions. Their number is approximately the same as the number of people who want to see their co-religionists.
It can be assumed that young people, showing their religious feelings, go to the temple, looking for participation in a common religious action there (to pray, listen to a sermon), but not for the sake of individual instructions or reflections.
Table 4
Also, in order to understand the idea of youth about religion, a question was asked about their understanding of faith in God.
As it turned out, for a third of young people, faith in God contains the acquisition of the meaning of life, for a fifth, faith in God is psychological help and support. With the help of faith in God, 7% improve themselves and for 7% this is just something supernatural. For 3%, this is one of the moral standards, for another 3% of people it is an element of culture, and for the same number of people, faith in God does not mean anything.
For the majority of young people, faith in God is a meaningful value in life, or psychological support, hope for the best. The rest is insignificant. That is, faith in God among young people is an important component of understanding reality.
According to VTsIOM data, young people do not differ much from the opinion of the population as a whole in the matter of attitudes towards religion.
Young people in general have a more than positive attitude towards religion. The results of opinion polls show that about 80% of today's youth is in religious religions, half of which are Orthodox.
Thus, religion in Russia is very popular among young people, which is manifested in a small percentage of non-believers. Christians predominate among them, but there is also a percentage of representatives of other religions. The church is properly perceived by the youth and fulfills its functions.
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Youth and Religion in the Modern World
At all stages of the development of human civilization, religion has been and remains one of the most important factors influencing the worldview and way of life of each believer, as well as relations in society as a whole. Every religion is based on belief in supernatural powers, organized worship of God or gods, and the need to observe a certain set of rules and regulations prescribed by believers. Religion in the modern world plays almost the same important role as it did millennia ago, because according to polls conducted by the American Gallup Institute, at the beginning of the 21st century, more than 90% of people believed in the existence of God or higher powers, and the number of believers was approximately the same in highly developed countries, and in third world countries.
The rapid development of world religions and the emergence of many new religious movements at the beginning of the 21st century caused an ambiguous reaction in society, as some people began to welcome the revival of religion, but another part of society strongly opposed the increase in the influence of religious denominations on society as a whole. If we characterize the attitude of modern society towards religion, then we can notice some trends that apply to almost all countries:
a more loyal attitude of citizens towards religions that are considered traditional for their state, and a more hostile attitude towards new trends and world religions that "compete" with traditional beliefs;
- · an increase in interest in religious cults that were common in the distant past, but have almost been forgotten until recently (attempts to revive the faith of ancestors);
- The emergence and development of religious movements, which are a symbiosis of a certain direction of philosophy and dogmas from one or several religions at once;
- · the rapid increase in the Muslim part of society in countries where for several decades this religion was not very common;
- · attempts of religious communities to lobby their rights and interests at the legislative level;
- · the emergence of currents that oppose the increasing role of religion in the life of the state.
It is obvious that the flourishing of world religions and the emergence of numerous new religious movements directly depend on the spiritual and psychological needs of people. The role of religion in the modern world has not changed much compared to the role played by religious beliefs in past centuries, if we do not take into account the fact that in most states religion and politics are separated, and the clergy do not have the power to exert a significant influence on political and civil processes. in the country.
Nevertheless, in many states, religious organizations have a significant impact on political and social processes. Also, one should not forget that religion forms the worldview of believers, therefore, even in secular states, religious organizations indirectly influence the life of society, as they form views on life, beliefs, and often the civil position of citizens who are members of a religious community. The role of religion in the modern world is expressed in the fact that it performs the following functions:
- Satisfaction of spiritual and mystical needs of people. Since most people have an inherent interest in global philosophical issues and related experiences, it is religion that provides answers to these questions, and also helps people find peace of mind and harmony;
- Regulatory function of religion. It lies in the fact that every religion has a set of established rules and moral standards that every believer must adhere to. Therefore, it can be said that religious organizations create and substantiate moral, ethical and behavioral norms, which are followed by the entire believing part of civil society;
- The educational function of religion. A person’s belonging to a particular religious organization forces him to comply with the rules and norms prescribed for all believers, therefore, after coming to church, many people correct their behavior and even get rid of bad habits;
- The comforting function of religion. In moments of tragedies, difficult life situations and severe mental suffering, many people turn to religion because they want to receive solace. In religious organizations, people can not only receive the necessary support from believers, but also gain hope for the best, believing in the possibility of the help of higher powers;
- The communicative function of religion. In almost all religious organizations, believers communicate with each other, find comrades and friends among fellow believers. Religion unites people of one confession into a group, gives them certain moral, spiritual and value orientations.
Despite the fact that most people have a positive or loyal attitude towards various religious movements and their fans, the attempts of believers to dictate their rules to the rest of society often cause protests in atheists and agnostics. One of the striking examples demonstrating the dissatisfaction of the unbelieving part of society with the fact that the state authorities rewrite laws for the sake of religious communities and endow members of religious communities with exclusive rights is the emergence of pastafarianism, the cult of the "invisible pink unicorn" and other parodic religions.
Nowadays, the role and importance of religion in the life of modern society is increasing significantly. Increasing attention is paid to the religious worldview of the individual and its impact on improving the social, individual life and mental health of a person. Recognizing religious faith as a psychological phenomenon inherent in a person from birth, many domestic and foreign scientists, pointing to the reality and value of religious life for a person, see it as a system-forming landmark in the organization and streamlining of the human psyche in the moral development of the individual and the improvement of society. religion society personality worldview
The study of the target audience on the topic “The attitude of modern youth towards religion” showed that religion, as a product of natural desires and imagination, as a manifestation of subjective experience, plays a significant role in the life of modern youth. However, despite the growing need for religion and the growth of religiosity among young people, there is a low level of knowledge of the content of religion, the spontaneous nature of familiarization with its traditions and rituals, the inability to realize the psychological potential of religion in moral self-improvement. It would be absolutely wrong to deny that the growing need for religion and the growth of religiosity in modern society affects the attitude of young people towards religion.
Bibliography
- 1. Religion in the modern world. [Electronic resource] / http://sam-sebe-psycholog.ru/ - Access date: 03/16/2016.
- 2. The attitude of modern youth to religion. [Electronic resource] / http://bmsi.ru/ - Date of access: 03/16/2016.
- 3. Religion in the modern world. From the history of religion [Electronic resource] / http://religion.historic.ru/ Access date: 03/18/2016.
Non-state educational institution
Higher professional education
Chelyabinsk Institute of Economics and Law. M.V. Ladoshina
Faculty of Entrepreneurship and Law
Department of Public Relations
Sociological research
RELIGION IN THE LIFE OF MODERN YOUTH IN CHELYABINSK
Performed by student gr.
Scientific adviser:
Candidate of Sciences, Associate Professor
Date of defense "__" _____ 201_.
Grade__________ __________
________________ ___________
(manager's signature)
Chelyabinsk
2011
Table of contents
Methodological Section………………………………………………………3
Methodological Section………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….7
Analysis of the research results……………… …………………………..8
References………………………………………………………………11
- Methodological section
We observe this phenomenon today in Russia. There is a spiritual and moral crisis in our country. The problem of the revival of spiritual values and their assimilation by the younger generation is discussed at the state, social levels, as well as by the media and the pedagogical community. We observe examples of mass religious “conversion” in population groups of different ages and professions, but it is especially noticeable among young people. This is understandable, since the formation of orientations is taking place in her. For her, the conditions for entering life have changed dramatically, the possibilities of a full-fledged social and civil development are significantly limited, she has lost social and moral and ideological guidelines. The role of youth socialization institutions has been drastically weakened, be it the family, school, vocational education system, socio-political organizations, movements, mass media and communications. The church actively occupies its place in this row, introducing something new into the complicated process of the social formation of young men and women. The process of formation of youth spirituality is inextricably linked with religious values, in particular, the values of Orthodoxy.
Religion has always occupied a special place in the history of Russia, but the role it plays in the life of modern youth has not been sufficiently studied.
object of our study is the youth of Chelyabinsk (boys and girls 14-30 years old)
Subject- religion in the life of modern youth
Target- study of the religiosity of modern youth in Chelyabinsk
To achieve this goal, we have set the following tasks:
- to study the religiosity of young people in general, the percentage of believers;
determine the significance of faith and religious values for the personality of a young person;
study the needs of young people in the Orthodox Church; in visiting, in communion with the clergy, in the performance of rites
- the religiosity of the youth of Chelyabinsk is at a low level;
young people are not attracted to the Orthodox Church and its values;
young people do not show interest in performing Orthodox rites (this is tiring, there is no time, other interests)
- System analysis of the object
The concept of "youth" has undergone a long evolution. In different periods of history in different countries, it was understood as different groups of society. For example, Pythagoras divided a person's life according to the seasons: spring - from birth to 20, summer 20-40 - this is youth. Jean-Jacques Rousseau divided the youth age into 5 periods: from birth to a year, from a year to 12 years, 12-15, 15-20, 20-25. Now there is a tendency to increase the youth age. This is due to the fact that the period of study has now extended, and young people later enter an independent life. In the Russian Federation, it is customary to refer to the youth category of people aged 14 to 30 inclusive (in Luxembourg, the upper limit is 31 g, in France - 25).
In a traditional society, a person directly from childhood entered adulthood, without any intermediate stages. There were special rites of passage into adulthood (initiation). In Kievan Rus, a 10-year-old person was considered as a legal entity and formally could occupy certain state bridges, and 12-year-old princes, who had completed their studies by that time, were subjected to a ceremony of initiation into warriors with the official assignment of the status - “Warrior-Warrior of the Druzhina”.
Youth as a special social group began to be perceived only with the transition to the industrial phase of development. Why?
1) The further deepening of the division of labor caused by the industrial revolution separated the family from the process of production and management of social processes. This made family education insufficient for mastering many social roles.
2) The complication of technology, the growing specialization required for mastering the necessary knowledge and skills to lengthen the period of general education.
3) The growth of people's mobility, the complication of social life, the acceleration of the pace of social changes led to the fact that the way of life of the older and younger generations began to differ significantly; a youth subculture emerged.
On the way of growing up, there are two stages: adolescence and youth. However, the age limits of each of the stages are rather vague. Youth as a social group covers people aged 16 to 25 years. Adolescence is most often considered the age of 11-15 years, and early youth - 16-18 years, but in some cases the upper limit is 20 years of age. From Western psychology came the term teenager, covering young people from 13 to 19 years old, i.e. at the age indicated by numerals ending in "teen".
The completion of adolescence is associated with: graduation, marriage, childbirth, the beginning of a professional career, economic and social independence, the acquisition of political rights, a clear formation of a value system.
Youth is a generation of people passing through the stage of socialization, assimilating educational, professional and civic qualities and being prepared by society to fulfill adult roles.
- Interpretation and operationalization of concepts
Religiosity- a characteristic of the consciousness and behavior of individuals, their groups and communities who believe in the supernatural and worship it. Religiosity of youth- the degree of familiarization of young people with religious values and systems. A certain form or degree of religious consciousness, experience and behavior of youth.
Religiosity is determined by how often people attend church, celebrate Orthodox holidays, and read religious literature. Do they have religious objects in their apartment, do they attend a parochial school, etc.
confession- religion. Identification of oneself with believers of a certain denomination is the confession of a certain religion.
Church- 1. The type of religious organization, a social institution that carries out religious activities, while using authoritarian centralized, hierarchical rule, established provisions of religious beliefs, systems of norms, morality and canon law. 2. A synonym for religion, denomination, religious movement 3. In Christianity, a religious building, a room for worship.
- Methodical section
The strategic research plan is descriptive.
The general population is the youth of the city of Chelyabinsk aged 14 to 30 years.
The sampling method is a "snowball". Becausethe advantage of this sample is that it significantly increases the probability of finding the characteristic under study in the population. It also has a relatively small sample variance and low cost.
Study plan
| Stage of work | Implementation timeline | Responsible |
| Literature analysis | 39.04.11 – 30.04.11 | Volkova Svetlana |
| Program development | 01.05.11 – 02.05.11 | Volkova Svetlana |
| Development of questionnaires | 02.05.11 – 04.05.11 | Volkova Svetlana |
| Pilot studies | 04. 05. 11 – 05. 05. 11 | Volkova Svetlana |
| Field Survey | 06. 05. 11 – 09 .05.11 | Volkova Svetlana |
| Preparation of primary data for processing | 10. 05. 11 | Volkova Svetlana |
| Data processing, analysis and interpretation | 11. 05. 11 | Volkova Svetlana |
| Presentation of the results, preparation of the report | 12. 05. 11 | Volkova Svetlana |
- Analysis of the results of the study
- Report
81.25% of respondents have incomplete higher education, 6.25% have secondary general education, 6.25% of the total number of respondents have secondary vocational education and 6.25% have higher education.
56% of the total number of respondents consider themselves believers. 31.5% of respondents do not believe in God, 12.5% find it difficult to answer. Respondents explain their faith in God by the fact that God helps them, you need to believe, since God is love and protection, this has been the case from generation to generation. Young people who do not consider themselves believers explained this by saying that the existence of God is unprovable, this is an invented image, so there is no point in believing in him. 43% of young people could not name the reason why they believe or do not believe in the existence of God.
81.25% of respondents consider themselves Orthodox, 12.5 profess Islam, and 6.25% identify themselves as atheists.
56.25% of respondents claim that they have been to church only a few times in their lives, 18.75% of respondents have never been to church, the same percentage attend church 2-3 times a year, and only 6.25% go to church several times. once a month.
25% of respondents celebrate Orthodox holidays, the same number do not celebrate at all, and 50% celebrate, but not always.
The majority, 75% of the respondents, at one time performed the sacrament of baptism, 6.25% of them also confessed and 6.25% received communion.
Only 6.25% of those who were not baptized would like to perform the rite of baptism, 56.25% of the respondents would like to get married (it is curious that all 56.6% of the girls), 18.75% would like to take communion.
81.25% are positive about the sacrament of baptism of children in youth (even those who do not believe in God), 6.25% are negative, 12.25% find it difficult to answer.
68% of respondents have Orthodox icons at home.
100% of the young people surveyed did not and do not attend a parochial school.
18.75% of young people read religious literature. The rest never read.
100% of the respondents do not attend any other church except the Orthodox.
12.5% of respondents believe that the Orthodox Church needs to be reformed, namely democratized. 25% of respondents say that the church should be left as is. The rest found it difficult to answer.
68% of young people in Chelyabinsk in a difficult situation would turn to their parents for help, 19% to friends, only 6.25% to a psychologist and the same number to a priest.
So, we have studied the religiosity of today's youth. We determined the percentage of believing young people, also determined the significance of faith and religious values for the personality of a young person, studied the needs of young people in the Orthodox Church, in visiting, in communicating with clergy, in performing rituals.
etc.................