Topic: Political Psychology
Presentation Type:  Communication for parallel session

TRANSFORMATION OF YOUTH VALUES BY THE EVENTS ON THE INDEPENDENCE SQUARE

Mrs. Oleg Surenschikov 1 and Dr. Lyubov Naydonova 1
Institute of Social and Political Psychology, Kiev, Ukraine1
Radical social modifications cause deep changes of the set of base vital values and there’s hierarchy, revision of the mass view about what is valuable and what is not. Events took place on the Independence Square in the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv, during the elections of the president of Ukraine characterize the beginning of the radical social changes in the society. Those events demanded to give much more attention to the changes in the valuable orientation of youth, which could appear under there’s influence. To verify this fact among the direct participants of the tent city on the Independence Square a research was held. This research was directed to verify valuable orientations of the participants of political action. The main contingent was student from 17 till 22 years old (n=100). The research was held by the Rokeach’s method (1968), adapted under the direct situation. Each one was offered to acquaint with a list of 40 values and choose 10 the most actual in this moment for themselves. It showed, than first 6 ranks are filled with such values as (from first till the last): love, peaceful situation in the country, well-being of the country, unity of the country, health. To verify the specific of this data they were compared with data of the similar research which were held in 1999 in the Pedagogical University, where 6 first ranks of the values was (from first till the last): health, material maintains of life, presence of good and loyal friends, future family life separate from parents, love, happy life with the family. This gives us reason to talk that significant events and life situations influence valuable orientations of youth. This means that we can consider significant events as one of the factors of the formation of the valuable orientations of youth.
*Correspondence concerning this abstract should be addressed to:
Oleg Surenschikov
p.o. box 65 Kiev 04074
Ukraine
Keywords: social changes; values; mass political action ;