The article considers the issues concerning the inclusion of modern Russian youth in the processes of modernization; the study is based on the analysis of the results of a sociological research carried out using questionnaires. Modernization in the broadest theoretical terms is understood as a comprehensive and manageable process of renewal of the social system, its approximation to a qualitatively new state on the basis of deep civilizational changes with the aim of improving living conditions. In this case the specific and long-established features of the value system of specific regions are investigated as the most important resource of modernization projects. It is shown that there exists a system lag in the pace and quality of modernization processes in the regions of the Southern Federal District of Russia, as recorded in the statistics and responses of the representatives of the young generation of the macro region. The reason for this situation lies in the scale of alienation from the results of labor activity that are more clearly seen in the Southern Federal District than in Russia as a whole, and this is largely caused by the artificial (institutional) pumping of surplus value produced in its territory to other regions of the country. A large part of the added value obtained from the products and services produced in the district is not allocated to the development of its social infrastructure (in particular, education) and people’s welfare. Under certain conditions, the project called “Modernization” could become a program image of the future of modern Russia; this idea is registered in the answers of modern students. But in reality, in many regions, modernization projects on the indicators vital for the population acquire a character of quasi-modernization or even de-modernization. This is reflected in the high migration request of students, which in the Southern Federal District is higher than that in the amount of respondents in Russia as a whole. Thus, there exist two phenomena, the social value of which consists largely in their focus on the future – youth and modernization. But the vectors of this orientation among modern Russian youth and modernization projects of the country are different, which requires adjustment of youth policy
Keywords
region, youth, modernization, values, students, social processes, federal district, southern federal district