It's no secret that now the whole world is going through a hard time. Crisis phenomena occur in all spheres of life: economic, social, in the sphere of value orientations. The older generation has already established values that do not change so easily under the influence of events. And the youth is that part of the society that is still developing its value system, and this system largely depends on what is going on around. In turn, the life values of modern youth will depend on what will happen in individual countries and in the world in a few years.
By 18-20 years a person, as a rule, forms a system of basic values, that is, those that affect all of his decisions and actions. In the future, with the passage of years, it remains practically unchanged, and a significant value revolution in the consciousness of a mature person is possible only under the influence of a great stress, a life crisis.
Hierarchy of values of modern youth
Nowadays, numerous sociological studies are conducted on the identification of the basic values of modern youth, conducted in different cities and regions of the post-Soviet space. Summarized, this information can be presented in the form of a list in which, in order of decreasing importance, the values favored by young people aged 16-22 are located:
- Health.
- A family.
- Communicative values, communication.
- Material wealth, financial stability.
- Love.
- Freedom and independence.
- Self-realization, education, favorite work.
- Personal safety.
- Prestige, fame, glory.
- Creation.
- Communication with nature.
- Faith, religion.
As can be seen from this list, young people place a high place in their lives in family values. High ratings have young material values - including as a means of achieving family well-being. This material and financial orientation of young people is understandable: the present young generation was born in the era of change, and its childhood fell on hard years for the entire post-Soviet space. Children of the 90 had to see enough how their parents adjusted, literally survived, trying to earn a minimum of funds to meet basic needs. The memory difficulties of those years make the current youth want stability and money as a means to achieve this stability.
Moral and moral values are almost not included in the list of basic values of modern youth, and spiritual and cultural values occupy the last lines. This is due to the fact that young people coordinate their system of values primarily with the criteria of life success. Such concepts as an honestly lived life, a clear conscience, modesty go, unfortunately, to the background.
Thus, the value system of modern youth is a mix of traditional values: family, health, communication and values associated with achieving success: money, independence, self-realization, etc. The balance between them is still unsustainable, but perhaps in the coming decades on its basis a new stable system of values of society will form.