YOUTH’S ATTITUDE TOWARDS POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS: LEVEL OF TRUST AND APPROVAL
Background. Institutional trust is an important indicator that determines the social well-being of the population, ensures understanding and dialogue of interacting actors. Together with the approval of activities of institutions of power, it can ensure the formation of civil society and sustainable development of country. The purpose of the study is to analyze level of trust and approval of activities of political institutions and politicians by modern youth. Materials and methods. The research used systemic and structural-functional approaches. Based on materials of the author’s research among student youth in Russian regions (2010; 2018-2019), quantitative and qualitative studies among youth of the Penza region (2021), data from other studies (IS RAS, VCIOM, Levada Center, etc.), a sociological analysis of youth attitude to institutions of state power was carried out. Results. Based on these studies, the dynamics of trust level in political institutions and approval of their activities by Russians and youth were revealed; the features of institutional trust are revealed depending on some social and demographic characteristics of respondents; it has been established that young people who trust and approve the activities of various political institutions are more often “rather satisfied” with the current policy in the Russian Federation. Conclusions. The study showed that in general, confidence in political institutions among youth is not high; the exception is trust to the President of the Russian Federation and the army. The level of approval of activities of political institutions by young people is slightly higher than the level of trust. The degree of trust and approval is associated with some social and demographic characteristics of respondents. Young people are more often not satisfied with the current policy in Russia.