Social Media as a Factor Forming Social and Political Attitudes, the Russian Context

Abstract

The paper examines the influence of social media on the social and political attitudes of citizens, their political communication, and grassroots activism. Basing on the sociological data, the author concludes that regular communication with like-minded people via social media does not directly entail the growth of social and political interest, awareness, or subjectivity, does not directly motivate citizens to grassroots self-organization and political activity. At the same time, the culture of the online communication cultivated by social media forms a request for public expression of views, including the political ones, as well as for information openness and communicative freedom among users of the Internet and social networks. The Russian social media audience is characterized by a higher demand for changes in the country and society.

Acknowledgements. The study was supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (Project No. 20-18-00505) at the Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.