The Concept of «Russian Nation» and Formation of Civic Identity in the Perception ofthe North Caucasus Youth

Abstract

The article presents the results of a survey conducted among the North Caucasus youth regarding the understanding of the semantic content of the «Russian nation» concept, as well as factors that affect the formation of the all-Russian civic identity (positively or destructively). It is shown that despite the widespread practice of using the concept of «Russian nation» in
the official socio-political discourse, including on the agenda of youth policy, a full understanding among young people of this dogmatic phrase meaning has not developed yet. It is only fragmentally comparable with the definition fixed in the Strategy of the State National Policy of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2025, and it has the character of compliance with one of the formal criteria of some kind (the presence of citizenship of the country, residence or the fact of birth on its territory, ethnicity to Russians). The perception of oneself as a subject endowed not only with a set of characteristics inherent in the members of the Russian nation, but also with a full awareness of responsibility for the fate of the country and its future is practically not typical for the reflection of young people regarding the semantic content of the concept under consideration. The survey results show that young people consider that the most significant for forming civic identity are education, state policy and specific actions of the authorities (these factors have a very important, but ambiguous in terms of consequences influence today), the media (destructive influence). The article also provides an overview of the main subjects implementing research on the formation of national unity and strengthening of civic identity at the regional and federal levels.