Persiyantseva, S. V., Akimova, M. K., Ivanova, I. I. Civil Practices as a Display of Civil Identity of Modern Youth

Abstract: The article is devoted to the relation between the level of civil identity and psychological component of social capital. Social capital is a term used to describe social intercourse and institutionalized relations based on mutual recognition. The basis of social capital is the basic positive characteristics of interaction between people and different social groups including trust, honesty, cohesion and solidarity. Distrust and dishonesty as well as the absence of a natural feeling of solidarity in human relations hinder cooperation and destroy he entire system of human and social relations. Psychological characteristics of social capital play an important role in the development of civil identity that is realized through special civil practices based on free choice, personal responsibility and their inclusion in the structure of social relations in a civil society. The hypothesis of the present research is that there is a linear relation between psychological components of social capital and the level of civil identity. According to the authors, this relation demonstrates that adoption of civil society attitudes creates grounds for the individual intensity of social capital. To diagnose characteristics of the civil identity, the authors have used the projective technique ‘Civil Identity’ offered by M. Akimova and E. Gorbachev. The stimulus material included 27 pictures of everyday situations. Interpretation of these situations allowed to say whether a person accepts or rejects values of civil society. To evaluate social capital, the authors have used the three questionnaires for trust-based relations, legitimization of dishonesty and solidarity. Social capital can be viewed as a consequence of civil identity of individuals while identity should be used as a factor of consolidation of social ties and regulation of individual’s behavior and social standards, attitudes and values adopted by the individual. This is explained by the fact that one’s identification with a social group does not only mean to be a member of the group, but also to accept the main attitudes and values of the social group as well as to understand whether these attitudes and values are acceptable for that individual. The comparative analysis of the two group of students (aged 19 – 22), from Moscow (n-27) and Orekhovo-Zuevo (n=50) has revealed that students from a Moscow University have higher results according to all methods compared to the students from Orekhovo-Zuevo. At the same time, while high results in civil identity, trust-based relations and solidarity tests create a positive image of Moscow students, high points received in the legitimization of dishonesty test mean that Moscow students more often allow themselves to be dishonest in their relations with the others (i.e. ‘legitimize’ dishonesty). However, the authors of the present article do not focus on the analysis and interpretation of these data because the main purpose of the present article is to prove the relation between the level of civil identity and psychological aspects of social capital. To statistically process the obtained data, the authors have used the Spearmen’s correlation analysis. The research has determined a statistically significant positive relation between the level of civil identity and trust and solidarity in both groups of students and a statistically significant negative relation between the level of civil identity and legitimization of dishonesty in case of Moscow students. This means that the more students identity themselves as members of the civil society, the more they trust one another, they more solidarity they have and the less acceptable they find dishonesty towards other members of the civil society.

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