Growing up and social self – determination of Russian youth (teenagers from 16 to 20 years old) takes place in a difficult time of the cultural and social changes. Modern Russian society is very heterogeneous: the level of social stratification is very high, there are significant territorial and ethno cultural differences, and there are dynamic changes in the different social groups’ value orientations.
In the modern Russian society co-exist three different systems of values:
1. Traditional "Soviet" values are coming from the third generation (grandparents);
2. Christian values that are being actively implemented;
3. Modern individualistic values are coming from the media and the life realities.
The formation of a stable system of value orientations, when self-determination occurs and life plans are formed, happens in early youth. Most researchers consider life self-determination as a multidimensional and multi-stage process. The crucial role in the process of life self-determination belongs to the system of values, life aspirations of the individual, to understand which means to create "portrait of the future."
The purpose of our study: to study the peculiarities of life aspirations and value orientations of young people in different socio-economic conditions.
The methodological and theoretical basis of the study is the studies of Russian psychologists S. L. Rubinstein and B. F. Lomov, as well as the studies of E. Erickson, K. Levin, K. Rogers, R. Burns, and E. Fromm. They described the internal structure of the self-determination process, the formation of human identity in the changing world.
Our research hypothesizes that the social status of respondents, the place of their education (secondary school, vocational college, higher education institution), their national and ethnic affiliation, a region of residence, gender, the family cultural capital have a significant impact on the nature of life aspirations.
Testing the hypothesis, we surveyed respondents in different socio-cultural conditions (students of schools, universities, vocational colleges); the reviews also recorded their gender affiliation, place of residence and family cultural capital. In total, more than 200 respondents in different socio-economic conditions were interviewed, correlation analysis of the results was carried out, essential links and differences between the respondents were established.
Our research is based on the adapted methodology - the questionnaire of life aspirations by R.Ryan and E.Deci. We considered adding four more scales: Family, Work, Freedom, and Power. The technique allows evaluating the importance of different values for the individual, as well as the various values, and the power of motivation.
We hope that this study will be useful both for researchers and practitioners designing a system of educational work with young people.