Conceptualisation of the social agency of youth in sociological studies of the Soviet and post-Soviet periods

  • Ilona G. Nedelevskaya Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno, 22 Azheshka Street, Grodna 230023, Belarus; Grodno Regional Institute for Educational Development, 6 Gagarina Street, Grodna 230011, Belarus

Abstract

The article presents the results of a comparative analysis of the conceptualisation of youth social agency in Western, Soviet and post-Soviet sociology. The problem of social agency is known in sociology within the framework of the structure-action dichotomy. However, for a significant part of history, sociologists tended to focus on the deterministic nature of social structures in individual behaviour. A new assessment of the interdependence of structures and individuals became possible due to historical events and the development of integrative theories in sociology. This problem is becoming increasingly important for scientific communities in many countries due to the increasing dynamics of socio-economic and demographic change. In relation to youth, it is complicated by the incomplete social and epistemic status of this social group in the system of both everyday and scientific perceptions. The article reviews the current state of the problem of youth social agency in Western sociology, explores the conceptualisation of this research topic during the Soviet period, and attempts to establish continuity between modern sociological knowledge on this problem produced by post-Soviet sociologists and the body of Western and Soviet sociological knowledge.

Author Biography

Ilona G. Nedelevskaya, Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno, 22 Azheshka Street, Grodna 230023, Belarus; Grodno Regional Institute for Educational Development, 6 Gagarina Street, Grodna 230011, Belarus

PhD (sociology); associate professor at the department of political science and sociology, faculty of history, communication and tourism, Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno, and senior lecturer at the department of educational technologies, faculty of professional self-realisation, Grodno Regional Institute for Educational Development

 

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Published
2024-04-03
Keywords: social agency, dichotomy of structure and action, social agency of youth, sociology of youth, Soviet sociology, concrete sociological research
Supporting Agencies The research was supported by the Belarusian Republican Foundation for Fundamental Research and Russian Science Foundation within the framework of the project G23RNFM-011 «The youth of Russia and Belarus about themselves: the economic and socio-cultural challenges of the present and the construction of future horizons for cooperation».
How to Cite
Nedelevskaya, I. G. (2024). Conceptualisation of the social agency of youth in sociological studies of the Soviet and post-Soviet periods. Journal of the Belarusian State University. Sociology, 1, 37-44. Retrieved from https://journals.bsu.by/index.php/sociology/article/view/6166
Issue
No 1 (2024): Journal of the Belarusian State University. Sociology
Section
To Know so that to Foresee...

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