Religious xenophobia in the everyday consciousness of Russian progressive youth: Risk assessment

Shapovalova Inna

(Belgorod State University, Belgorod, Russian Federation)

Lebedev Sergey

(Belgorod State University, Belgorod, Russian Federation), serg_ka2001-dar@mail.ru

Blagojević Mirko

(Institute for Social Sciences, Centre for Sociological and Anthropological Research, Belgrade, Serbia)

Religious xenophobia in the everyday consciousness of Russian progressive youth: risk assessment

This article is devoted to the sociological analysis of the attitudes of religious xenophobia among the most socially and culturally developed part of modern Russian youth, represented by students. The research discourse is formed at the intersection of the problems of “risk society”, revitalisation of religion, and xenophobia. The main purpose of the study is to obtain a reflexive assessment of the religious characteristics of Russian students in terms of xenophobic reactions, discrimination, and violations of citizens’ rights on religious grounds. The method of data collection was a mass survey of Russian students from one of the regions of the Russian Federation. It was revealed that at least 20% of students find some extremist practices around them. The internet is the leading platform for xenophobic and extremist antisocial practices. In the environment that young people observe, religious xenophobia has a much larger scope than it would seem, and the “isthmus” that brings it into a position of extremism is much narrower than it appears at first glance. The lack of understanding of the continuity between the phenomena of xenophobia and extremism constricts the area of management of the situation and creates the possibility of critical risks of conflicts with destructive consequences

Keywords: religious xenophobia, religious extremism, youth self-reflection, social attitudes, students

INTRODUCTION

The issue of the risks of religious xenophobia in young people’s everyday consciousness is relevant in several closely interrelated perspectives, which are at the same time independent. First of all, it should be noted that in the social system, especially in a modern society, young people are carriers of risk per se. “Risk is one of the essential properties of youth” (Zubok 2007: 172). This is due to the objective factor of instability of many young people’s social status, their incomplete certainty of the choice of a biographical project, the incomplete formation of professional and family roles and statuses, as well as the subjective factor of a high level of life activity and ideological “responsiveness,” accompanied by critical thinking that is not always sufficient. The combined impact of these circumstances makes young people a “risk group” in terms of exposure to charismatic leaders, ideas, and practices

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