Civic Activism of Russian Youth in the Digital Environment as a Predictor of Offline Activity: Results of a Population Survey and Multi-Agent Modeling

Abstract

The paper regards the influence of social and media communications on the civic and political activism of young people who make up the core of the Russian Internet audience. The study is aimed at identifying scenarios for the development of civic and political mobilization in Russia. The authors define the basic types of civic activism of Russian youth in offline and online environments (active citizens, involved citizens, clicktivists, inactive citizens) and build a mathematical model that takes into account the relationship between different types, their personal value portraits, and dominant Internet strategies. The empirical part of the study bases on data from a mass population survey and methods of multi-agent modeling.

Multi-agent modeling allowed to develop a system of agents consisting of five groups, to reveal the main functions of individual agents, and the parameters by which these agents are combined into one group. Basing on these results, the authors constructed a detailed scheme of the interaction of agents, described the algorithms of the agents’ interaction depending on external factors, and presented methods of transferring agents from one group to another.

The authors established that the scale, direction, and conventionality of the activities of collective actors in the context of their mobilization through digital communications depend on the ability of agents (public opinion leaders, contextual public opinion leaders, involved, etc.) to change roles and environments, thereby strengthening interpersonal ties.

Acknowledgements. The article was prepared based on the results of research carried out at the expense of budgetary funds on the state order of the Financial University.