Student Youth in Russian Megacities: Value Orientation and the Effects of Political Online Mobilization

The paper is dedicated to identifying the specific configuration of the meaning-of-life and ideological values of Russian students in megacities in the context of forming certain patterns of their reaction to online political protest mobilization. The paper includes the results of an online survey of Russian students living in megacities (1,333 respondents selected by gender, age, level of education, and place of residence). The analysis showed the prevalence of liberalist values in the mass consciousness of students, the focus on calls for justice, and the unconditional importance of material values. The configuration of these values in the factor analysis demonstrates the narrowest (the most provocative) topics in terms of the risks of using them in protest agitation. Personal success in the minds of students contrasts with the principle of justice, and the norms of law contrasts with open, trusting communication with the others, human rights — with the interests of the state, and the general well-being — with the interests of individual citizens. The interests of one’s ethnic group, not family, correlate in the minds of students with the preservation of traditions. Finally, the value of human life, recognized as highly significant, is seen as negligible in the real life of society and the state. 
The analysis showed the stabilization of students’ values approximately by the third-fourth year of their study and a slight decrease in the willingness to engage in public protest activity at this age (21–22 years old). Sophisticated modelling methods allowed us to identify four main types of students’ reactions to online political mobilization and observe the connection between these models and students’ value orientation.