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4RUSSIAN MILLENNIALS IN MODERN CONSUMER SOCIETY: RECENT TRENDS, PERSPECTIVES AND FUTURE PROSPECTS
Abstract
For academic community, investigating social behavior of modern youth is an actual trend. The aim of this article is to present results of the research of the young generation's behavior using statistical methods and to formulate useful conclusions from them. The dynamic pattern of value orientations of Millennials generation in postmodern society was investigated. The generational identifiable key trends were measured on a national representative sample (n=1,500) of South Russian youth. The analysis of value system was used to predict behavior transformed by three the most important actions as future career, social status and model of youth financial behavior. The author presents the results of the study of survey project "Me and the world in 2030" held by positive economy forum, which is showing modern point of view of the world of Millennials in the South of Russia. The implications of the research can also be used to discuss same issues in sociology, politics and business.
Keywords
value's system, consumer society, social behavior, identity, youth, Millennials
AUTHORS
Elena G. Zubareva
Associate Professor, Department of Information Technology, Don State Technical University, sq. Gagarina 1, Rostov-on-Don, 344000, Russia. E-mail: [email protected]
Svetlana S. Zubareva
Post-graduate student, Department of Filosophy and world religion, Don State Technical University, sq. Gagarina 1, Rostov-on-Don, 344000, Russia. E-mail: [email protected]
Introduction
In modern conditions in the Russian society, it has changed the cultural focus of at the postmodern period have a special actuality in connection with the leading role is the global information community. Nowadays individuals will have to be up to the modern society and matters of a new social reality. The study is relevant due to the dynamic change of the vector of the cultural values of today's youth generation in the post-modern period. Formed in a new socio-cultural environment patterns environment interaction and student-oriented meanings in the future will have an impact both on the mental and moral state of society and the system of industrial relations.
Recently, the world community has begun to ponder its future more and more. It can be seen not only by looking at long-term development strategies of some countries as well as government plans for region improvement.
Socio-economic environment with its distinct inner culture allows young community to implement dynamic generation of new patterns for interaction with outer world and
search of self-oriented meanings. Generation, which was born in the end of the XX century, is interested in comprehension of the world view. They also formed their minds with the help of specific factors that altered the way of viewing the surrounding world majorly and rebuilt the consumer values system of youth.
The rate of studies of such phenomenon as "youth" grows as the research becomes more complicated and seeks identification in society. According to Kon defined community of young citizens as socio-demographic group identified by distinctive features of social status and a complexity of age-related characteristics due to some socio-psychological attributes. At the same time, the role of the youth in history is the formation of future moral values as Mannheim.
Doing the survey of value orientation dynamics of youth in modern world it is quite important to pay attention to the works of some western researches (W. Straus and N. Howe, L. Lancaster and D. Stillman, D. Tapscott) and works which study problems of individual and collective identity in modern society and culture (Zakovorotnaya, 2010).
Before continuing with describing concepts of values' influence at social development of modern young generation, it is important to give definition to a term for describing the generation studied.
The study of such social phenomena as young people grew as the separation and the complexity of the social group in socio-cultural space. The interpretations of this definition have shown that in domestic science, the following definition of the community's young citizens: "the socio-demographic group, allocated on the basis of features of the social situation and the aggregate age characteristics caused by various socio-psychological properties" (Kon, 2003). At the end of the twentieth century, the youth was defined as "...a generation of people passing the stage of socialization, assimilate, and in adulthood already mastered, educational, cultural and other social functions; depending on the specific historical conditions of the age criteria of the youth range from 16 to 30 years" (Lisowsky, 1990). Some scholars write the following way: "...social age group of young people, on the one hand, they carry the results of various factors influence, in general, represent a formed personality, but on the other hand, their values are flexible, susceptible to various influences. Life experience of this group is not rich, understanding of moral and ethical values are often not completely defined" (Surtaev, 1999). At the same time, the role of young people in the historical process consists in the crystallization of the values of the future (Mannheim, 1992).
Current researchers cannot agree upon a single time of period, within which the generation can be determined. Some sources state that the starting point should be 1978, at the same time others set it in 1982.
By using the method of definitions' analysis and text examples of use of objects studied there were pinpointed names and chronological periods of generations: according to W. Straus and N. Howe, Millennials were born in or after 1982; according to L. Lancaster and D. Stillman, Millennials are the generation born between 1981 and in the early 1999;
according to K. Martin and B. Talgan, Millennials are the generation born between 1978 and in the early 2000's;
according D. Oblinger and J. Oblinger, Millennials are the generation born between 1981 and in the early 1995.
As we can see, authors opinions differ on this subject, however the generation theory was created by american economists William Straus and Neil Howe in 1991, thus becoming a base for further research was approved by scientific society therefore, their classification and demographic curve will be used.
According to modern generation theory created by W. Strauss and N. Howe chronological period during which generation is formed has a length of approximately 20
years, at the same time values promoted and used by a generation are fully formed at age 12-14 years as a result of influence of different social events (political, cultural, economic, social, etc.).
A distinguishing feature of mental world picture of Millennials - generation, those born after 1980, and the first generation to come of age in the new millennium that when the members of this generation were going through period of ideology and value-base formation. They were influenced mostly by such events as the collapse of the USSR, Perestroika, financial crises, Chernobyl disaster, terrorist acts (such as September 11 attacks) and military conflicts (including north Caucasus and Near East), worldwide commercial globalization and digital technology development (the rapid development of the Internet, popularization of communicational gadgets). All abovementioned contributes to formation of values promoted by a generation: freedom, fun, civil duty and morality, responsibility, naivety and the ability to obey, instant gratification. It should be noted that many of the values that have emerged under the influence of certain events that may occur in each individual representative of Millennial generation to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the individual psychological characteristics of personality.
Materials and Methods
For identify the status, trends and prospects of the professional identity of the Russian youth we conducted an analytical study of materials using the results of the 1500 people survey as a part of the project "Me and the world in 2030". It was held in the framework of the first Forum of Positive Economics in Russia, held June 16, 2015 in the city of Rostov-on-Don, (positiveforum.ru). We analyzed data using modern data-processing methods to offer and justify specific measures to see the expectations of survey participants. One of the key principles of positive economy is the representation of the interests of future generations. Modern analysis methods allow to analyze the survey results in more detail, taking into account the strategic objectives addressed by government, education and business.
There are qualitative and quantitative analysis of the types of media. Qualitative species include:
- Functional analysis aimed at identifying sustainable invariant object relations;
- Structural analysis associated with detection of the internal components and method objects combinations thereof;
- System analysis, which is a holistic study of the object.
The quantitative (statistical) analysis of information includes a set of statistical methods for processing, comparison, classification, modeling and evaluation of data obtained as a result of sociological research.
Crosstabs allow to analyze the impact of any sign of other visual and rapid analysis of mutual influence of the two signs. There are two main classes of statistical conclusions that are made in the analysis of contingency tables: to test hypotheses about the attributes of independence and to test the hypothesis about the relationship between the features.
In the process of analyzing the results of the survey questionnaire "Me and the world in 2030" we addressed the following methods:
- cluster (taxonomic) analysis - the classification of signs and objects in the absence of preliminary data or expert group on information;
- log-Linear Analysis - search and evaluation of the relationship in the table, a succinct description of the tabular data;
- correlation analysis - to establish the relationship between the signs. Note that there is no consensus about what specific method will adequately assess the current
situation a priority when assessing connection strength acts as a Pearson's correlation coefficient r (point - share factorial variation), so used, and the other - Fisher statistics directly related to the fundamental for statistical significance levels;
- factor analysis - statistical analysis features, the establishment of the internal features of the relationship;
For the processing of the initial statistical information have been used software packages MS Excel.
Results
3.1. Selection characteristics
The study involved 1,500 young people aged 17 to 23 years: 90% of which students of the South Russian universities, representatives of Russian Millennials.
3.2. The results of the research
The main question worrying many researchers: practicians and theoreticians is which sector of economic activity current generation of students will choose. This question is especially relevant not only because of current situation on the world market but also in Russian Federation's market, thus below is given a prognosis for South of Russia's perspectives (Southern Federal District). In this paper, only part of the results of the study is presented because it is versatile and voluminous.
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
. Public Educati . . Finance adminis Services
0П 4- 4.'
tration
Science, Constru culture ction, and art, manufa trade cturing
у Factors 18%
11% 11%
9%
8%
5%
Agricult ure
4%
old,
transpo Health rtation care,
and security commu nication
3% 2%
Didn't respond
29%
FIGURE 1. THE MOST ATTRACTIVE ACTIVITIES FOR RUSSIAN MILLENNIAL GENERATION Source: Questionnaire results at forum "Позитивная экономика: Юг России", Rostov-on-Done, 2015.
The result shows that a most attractive for Russian Millennials is the financial sector. We can see young generation's priority change as such spheres as transportation, communication, health care and security attracts only 3% and 2% of respondents respectively (Table 1). The motivation behind the choosing an area of occupation is not always based on profession itself, but determined by rather outer then inner factors, that in turn automatically form inner motivation for mastering future area of expertise and has no underlying ideal motives like duty, vocation or hobby .
45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0%
I Factors
111
The head of the company's own
23%
Skilled Worker
19%
Employer 19%
Didn't respond 39%
FIGURE 2. THE MOST ATTRACTIVE SOCIAL STATUS RUSSIAN MILLENNIAL GENERATION Source: The results of the questionnaire Forum "Positive Economy: South of Russia", Rostov-on-Don, 2015.
Regardless the fact that the industry sees development of their professional activ'ties by representatives of Millennial generation, the majority of them see themselves as managers of their own businesses - 23%, but 19% of them see themselves in the future as a qualified professionals and employers (Table 2). Certainly, the most attractive social status is a sole proprietorship, which allows realizing their ambitions in accordance with the Millennials' generational values.
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Factors
Saving and reinvesting money
26%
Credits provided by a bank
24%
Investments made by financial companies
13%
Investments Financial aid made by provided by
independent
market participants
20%
relatives and/or friends
13%
Didn't respond
4%
FIGURE 3. THE MOST PROBABLE SOURCES OF FINANCIAL AID FOR RUSSIAN MILLENNIAL GENERATION Source: Questionnaire results at forum "Позитивная экономика: Юг России", Rostov-on-Done, 2015.
Predictive tendency of economic behavior can demonstrate the mental picture of the world through eyes of Millennial generation, it is expressed in readiness of modern youth to manage their savings on their own in the future. 46% of respondents are planning to invest their savings on their own (Table 3). Millennials trust in financial institutes and hope in relatives' and/or friends' financial aid. Tendencies studied allow scientists to
conclude that under the influence of globalization there is a destruction of principles that young people tend to have that has its focus on mental beginning.
Discussion
In 2002, American scholars L. Lancaster and D. Stillman published results of related researches pinpointing the idea that the generation is characterized by high level of immersion and demand for info-communication technology presence in their lives [6, p. 18]. The domination of electronic means of communication at the beginning of XXI century contributed to making an information society, a notable part of which is members of Millennials. A Canadian researcher D. Tapscott made quite interesting conclusions: "thanks to networking this generation is more open when it comes to interethnic relationships, politically active, more resistant to an advertisement, has consumption knowledge and on average has even higher IQ". The author points out at a brand new phenomenon that majorly determines as social image of Millennials: the onset of social media-platforms, development of "remote work" by the means of modern telecom technologies, finally, introduction of these technologies into the education process (Tapscott, 2011). Thus, socialization process at a certain point in time and under specific conditions forms a mindset and behavioral models of modern youth.
The subject of the research is the generation, members of which were born in between 1980 and 2000, that is why it is possible to track a social and cultural influence on identity formation. The globalization process is contradictive when it comes to its influence on modern youth's lives; it sets high standards in self-realization of an individual, his or her professional and creative needs. Identity can be defined as a process of person's mental formation by making a choice and forming life model in social interaction for the sake of historical self-realization (Zakovorotnaya, 2010). A person itself carries out normalization of multitude of things surrounding an individual by using data about current situation, acquired knowledge, rational deeds as he or she goes through everyday routine. An individual is capable of controlling his or her behavior, chase own goals in unstoppable current of social time.
From a point of identification of modern generation, it is interesting how social subjectivity of Millennials in economy, professional and consumer spheres develops.
Analysis of the survey youth of Southern Russia in the framework of "Me and the world in 2030" showed that young people today have a proactive stance. Despite the fact that the current generation attaches great importance to the realization of individual options it can be considered a consequence of the development of the economy, as well as the widespread use of innovations and production technologies. As a result of the survey we found out that the younger generation in the future plans to work in-house, open on home soil, at the same time grow at least two receivers. Currently, the South of Russia has all the necessary conditions to support young people, especially since most of them are planning to acquire the necessary knowledge in regional educational institutions. Considering economic behavior in 2030, we can observe the readiness of young people to manage their own personal savings and at the same time, the willingness to establish long-term relations with financial institutions. With regard to citizenship, according to young people, social problems which they did not have the character will be able to resolve only the state, underscoring the trust of the citizens to the main carrier of political power in society.
It seems likely that these global trends, projected in 2030, as the growth of individual opportunities, distribution of spheres of influence, demographic trends and aggravation of the acute social problems can have a big impact on the change of the key stages of quality human self and society as a whole.
Sometime, as the citizens believe, the decision will ultimately depend on how the process of development will be going, the impact of megatrends and what transformations take place in the world in the future.
Conclusion
The results showed that the dominant majority of the survey answered to the question about the future place of residence - the South of Russia (54%). In this regard, the following problems occur: housing, the availability of the necessary infrastructure, social support of the population. More than half of survey participants (53%) decide to choose their region instead of Moscow and foreign educational institutions for their education. 18% of the respondents see their future work in the financial sector. But it is necessary to pay attention to the agricultural sector in the Southern Federal District. There is a positive trend in the financial sector: - the emergence of new investment projects; - the development of lending trends; - reception of new means of providing futures and forward contracts. These measures will lead to an influx of capital in the financial markets. 47% of those surveyed believe that in 2030 social problems should be resolved by the state. This requires the development of business, leading to an increase in taxes, voluntary health and pension insurance at the expense of the organization, preferential tax treatment for charitable activities.
Young people have done transformed relationship between themself and usually, for past generations, things. For example housing, marriage, brands and retail, wellness and communication. The most part of Millenials prefer live with parents and do not to hurry a marriage with somebody. Independent life, own housing, constant job is not value for them now. Millennials have been reluctant to buy items such as cars, apartments and luxury goods. They are turning to a new set of services that provide access to products without the burdens of ownership, as Uber (taxi), flat for rent, food delivery, Internet shop for clothes and etc. However, they buy some things, which create them an image, mostly electronics. Laptops and gadgets, smartphones and personal pocket computer, PCP are an integral part of the modern young man.
While creating cultural-anthropological Millennial generation portrait modern liberal arts researches were used as an additional source of data.
Thus, we can make a conclusion that the majority of representatives of youth of South of Russia are planning to become CEOs of their own enterprises and want to go into financial sphere in the future and have their future main business goal - to increase income of a business. Today we can see that the modern generation's main priority is to increase the number of opportunities therefore, a desire to develop themselves and improve their own habitation, spread influence that triggers the change of demographic tendencies. However, in few years they may alter the interaction pattern that would lead to a formation of another world.
Recommendations
The results of the research can be used in the teaching of subjects "Statistics", "Econometrics", "Social work" in the educational process.
This work can be a contribution to the study of sociology and the methodological techniques of the sociological studies. Author considered and selected the most interesting variables of dynamics social-orientations youth. This article will be useful for sociologists, psychologists, parents, teachers and pedagogues who work with modern students.
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