Professor Bulat Alishev at the Institute of Psychology and Education KFU studied how the value systems of young people have been transforming.
Young people are the most dynamic and responsive to change group of Russian society (the total number of young people in Russia is 30 million). Bulat Alishev have been questioning whether values are actually changing that much.
He conducted a longitudinal research focusing on values over the past 15 years. Three groups of students from three Tatarstan cities participated in the study. Bulat Alishev focused on young people specifically because their value systems are more dynamic and changeable (in comparison to adults).
The first group was surveyed in 2000-2001. It consisted of 309 students around the age of 19 (177 female students and 132 male students).
The second group was surveyed in 2008-2009. 303 students filled in the questionnaire then (171 female students and 132 male students).
The third group was surveyed in 2015-2016. 291 students participated in the survey (118 female students and 172 male students).
Bulat Alishev’s findings suggest that between 2000 and 2008 the Russian youth experienced social optimism and relative infantilization. It could be explained by the fact that life quality improved over this period: people started earning more which enabled young people to spend more time and money on holidays and leisure activities while worrying less about their future. As a result, Bulat Alishev argues, young people started experiencing “value euphoria”.
