Citizenship and patriotism as a base for social consolidation of the Russian society

Abstract

The article presents the sociological analysis of the specific features of the development of the citizenship and patriotism as values. The secondary analysis of the nationwide opinion polls shows considerable changes in the value component of the national culture, the reduced patriotism, solidarity, involvement and loss of moral base. Studying solidarity as a social consolidation allows understanding problems encountered on the way towards nationwide solidarity ad realization of socio-cultural modernization in Russia. The empirical base for the study was a research titled “Patriotism among students” (2013, n=326) conducted among Russian and Turkmen students of the Penza State University. The authors conclude that patriotic orientations of youth are declarative. Though students identify themselves with patriots, they are lacking any patriotic behavioral strategies. Turkmen students have higher patriotic self-identification; at the same time, there are divergences in the patriotic system of Turkmen and Russian students. Students have formal approach towards citizenship which is based on the legal and territorial ties. There is a negative trend towards reduced sense of patriotism and civic responsibility. Disagreement between the declared principles and patriotic behavioral settings leads to a decrease in social consolidation of the Russian society.