The contribution of youth to Russia: participation, development, peace. The role of youth in the development of the social environment My bill on Youth

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Youth is a special socio-age group, distinguished by age limits and their status in society: the transition from childhood and adolescence to social responsibility. Some scientists understand youth as a set of young people to whom society provides the opportunity for social development, providing them with benefits, but limiting the possibility of active participation in certain spheres of social life. The age limit for classifying people as youth varies from country to country. The lower age limit for youth is set between 14 and 16, the upper - between 25 and 30 or more years, 36 years inclusive according to the modern Quinn classification of age periods.

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Youth in today's world According to the World Youth Report 2005, the number of young people (those aged 15 to 24 years) in the world has grown from 1.02 billion people (in 1995) to 1.15 billion people ( in 2005). Young people currently make up 18 percent of the world's population; 85 percent of the world's youth live in developing countries, with 209 million living on less than $1 a day and 515 million living on less than $2 a day. Currently, 10 million young people are living with HIV/AIDS. Although the current generation of youth is the most educated in all previous human history, today 113 million children are out of school - a figure that is quite comparable to the 130 million illiterate group of young people in the world today.

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Youth as a special social group

Young people, in large part, have a level of mobility, intellectual activity and health that distinguishes them favorably from other groups of the population. At the same time, any society faces the question of the need to minimize the costs and losses that the country incurs due to problems associated with the socialization of young people and their integration into a single economic, political and socio-cultural space. The German sociologist Karl Mannheim (1893-1947) determined that youth are a kind of reserve that comes to the fore when such revitalization becomes necessary to adapt to rapidly changing or qualitatively new circumstances. Dynamic societies must sooner or later activate and even organize them.

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Youth, according to Mannheim, performs the function of animating mediator of social life; This function has as its important element incomplete inclusion in the status of society. This parameter is universal and is not limited by either place or time. The decisive factor that determines the age of puberty is that at this age young people enter public life and in modern society for the first time encounter the chaos of antagonistic assessments. Young people, according to Mannheim, are neither progressive nor conservative by nature, they are potential, ready for any undertaking. Young people, as a special age and social group, have always perceived the values ​​of culture in their own way, which at different times gave rise to youth slang and shocking forms of subculture. Their representatives were hippies, beatniks, dudes in the USSR and the post-Soviet space - informals.

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Youth in the Russian Federation

Today, the youth of the Russian Federation are 39.6 million young citizens - 27% of the total population of the country. In accordance with the Strategy of State Youth Policy in the Russian Federation, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of December 18, 2006 N 1760-r, the category of youth in Russia previously included citizens from 14 to 30 years old. However, recently in most regions of the Russian Federation there has been a tendency to shift the age limit for young people under 35 years old.

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Youth and politics

The results of some studies show that young people are generally apolitical. Less than half of young Russians participate in federal elections; only 33 percent of young citizens under the age of 35 are interested in politics. At the same time, young people are interested in politics quite intensely, especially during election campaigns. As Russian experience has shown, the first active involvement of young people in the electoral process was tested in 1996 during the presidential elections. Then it was important to attract young people to the polling stations who were ready to support Boris Yeltsin’s reform course. As a result of the difficult situation with the elections in Russia, a kind of conflict has arisen between the ideas of young people about participating in elections and their actual political behavior. Thus, if 66 percent of young people consider it their civic duty to participate in elections, then only 28 percent of them took part in voting in the elections of deputies to the State Duma of the Russian Federation in 2003.

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In the periods between elections, the political activity of young people, as a rule, decreases. Only 2.7 percent of young people take part in the activities of public organizations. At the same time, in recent years the number of youth political organizations has increased: the Youth Movement “Nashi”, “Young Guard of United Russia”, which, along with the youth communist organizations revived in the early 90s and the youth wing of Yabloko and the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, make up a motley palette of bright and noisy political youth structures. Their activities often come down to actions aimed at attracting media attention. In the context of globalization and the forced influx of migrants, young people are called upon to act as a conductor of the ideology of tolerance, the development of Russian culture and the strengthening of intergenerational and interethnic relations. However, at the moment, 35 percent of young people aged 18-35 experience irritation or hostility towards representatives of other nationalities, 51 percent would approve of the decision to evict certain national groups from the region.

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Considering that in recent years the first post-Soviet generation has grown up, Russian researchers from the Carnegie Center note (2013) that especially young people from large cities demonstrate greater political and ideological independence; this happens not only in connection with the growing up of post-perestroika children, but also due to internal migration: young people are increasingly moving to cities, where they join a progressive environment.

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According to a study conducted in July 2004 by the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM), young people aged 18-24 consider pop and rock stars, representatives of the “golden” youth (52%), successful businessmen, oligarchs (42%), athletes (37%). President V.V. Putin is the idol of 14% of Russian youth. The vast majority of respondents who believe that a healthy lifestyle depends rather on the individual’s own efforts proceed from the fact that the transformation of Russia into a country of a healthy lifestyle will only take place sometime in the distant future (65.9%). It is symptomatic of modern Russia that the number of respondents who, in principle, do not believe that Russia will become a country of a healthy lifestyle (22.4%) is almost twice as large as the proportion of respondents who answered this question - “yes, and quite soon". Youth and politics

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The Russian Federation has a high unemployment rate among young people aged 15-24 (6.4 percent). Since the 90s of the last century, the number of young couples who lived without legal marriage increased to 3 million, which led to a real increase in illegitimate children and an increase in the number of single-parent families. One of the most pressing problems facing young people and society is housing. Problems caused by the aging housing stock and underdeveloped forms of rental housing provoke an increase in prices and rents for housing in the Russian Federation. Mortgage interest rates remain unaffordable for young people. In this regard, the implementation of the priority national project “Housing”, which provides housing subsidies for young families, deserves attention. Youth and socio-economic situation

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Youth is a large socio-demographic group that unites individuals based on socio-psychological, age, and economic characteristics.

Youth in modern society

From a psychological point of view, youth is a period of formation of self-awareness, a stable system of values, as well as social status. Young people represent the most valuable and at the same time the most problematic part of society.

The value of the younger generation lies in the fact that, as a rule, its representatives have increased determination, the ability to assimilate large amounts of information, originality and critical thinking.

However, these advantages give rise to certain problems in the realization and existence of young people in society. Thus, critical thinking is often aimed not at the search for truth, but at the categorical rejection of already existing norms and dogmas that guide other members of society.

Modern youth are also characterized by new negative qualities that were absent in their predecessors, in particular, detachment from the world around them, reluctance to work, and increased negativism.

Youth as a social group

Often the concept of “youth” refers to a large social group, which consists of people from 16 to 25 years old. The boundaries of youth age can be flexible: for example, in developed countries, the youth group includes people aged 14-30 years.

This social group is influenced by such social institutions as school, university, family, work collective, spontaneous groups and the media.

Development of social roles in adolescence

In adolescence, every person is faced with the need to change their social role. Often the first seed of a social role occurs at the moment of graduation: the student acquires the status of a student.

It should be noted that before this time the student already occupies certain social positions (daughter, son, sister, brother). Subsequently, if they are preserved, the status of worker is acquired at a young age.

Statistics show that today many teenagers acquire worker status earlier than student status. This is the reason for the unstable economic situation.

youth subculture

Youth subculture is part of the culture of society, whose members differ in their behavior from the overwhelming majority, and, as a rule, are representatives of youth.

Youth subculture is a broad concept that includes many cultures that have their own value system and behavior patterns. Youth subcultures are formed under the influence of socio-economic changes.

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Introduction

Man is a social being, but, being born into society, he must go through a long process of inclusion in it in order to become a full-fledged and full-fledged member of society. For this purpose, society has created educational institutions for the younger generation - kindergartens, schools, higher educational institutions, the army. The essence of socialization of young people is integration into society through the assimilation of generally accepted norms and rules, as well as the establishment of their own, interpersonal connections and relationships through active activity. The main task of a person in this process is to become part of society, while remaining an integral person.

The relevance of this topic, in our opinion, lies in the fact that at the present time, when all social relations and social institutions are radically changing in our country, the study of the characteristics of the socialization of youth is becoming a particularly popular and pressing problem, attracting the attention of not only scientists, but also teachers , parents and teenagers themselves.

The problem of this topic is that the emergence of new directions and a radical change in traditional trends in the socialization of the younger generation in a modern transitional society have led to an increase in the number of young people leading an asocial and immoral lifestyle.

Our interest in this issue is explained by the fact that we are one of the representatives of the modern generation of young people who are experiencing new processes of change in society. And since radical changes in the world have a huge and not always positive impact on the development of young people, we want to reveal this problem in detail in order to know exactly what can stand in our way of life and the path of our peers.

Purpose Our work is to consider the process of socialization of youth in modern Russian society, to identify the main problems and prospects for the socialization of youth in Russia.

We have supplied the following tasks:

Define socialization.

Consider factors influencing socialization.

Analyze the process of personality formation.

Show the influence of economic and socio-political factors on the socialization of youth.

Determine the role of youth socialization for the future of Russia.

And the following are used research methods:

Theoretical analysis of literature

Observations

It is believed that a person reaches physical maturity at an average age of 14 years. Around this age, in ancient societies, children underwent a ritual initiation— initiation into the number of adult members of the tribe.

However, as society became more advanced and complex, it took more than just physical maturity to be considered an adult. It is expected that an accomplished person should acquire the necessary knowledge about the world and society, acquire professional skills, and learn to independently provide for himself and his family. Since the volume of knowledge and skills has continuously increased throughout history, the moment of acquiring adult status has gradually been pushed back to a later age. Currently, this moment corresponds to approximately 25 years.

When I was young It is customary to call the period in a person’s life from 14 to 25 years - between childhood and adulthood.

The youth- this is a generation of people going through the stage of growing up, i.e. formation of personality, assimilation of knowledge, social values ​​and norms necessary in order to become a full-fledged and full-fledged member of society.

If we consider youth from the point of view of leading activities, then this period coincides with the end education(educational activities) and entry into working life.

Let's consider this difficult concept from the points of view of various sciences:

From a psychological point of view youth is the period of acquiring one’s “I”, establishing a person as an individual, unique personality; the process of finding your own special way to achieve success and happiness.

From the perspective of law, youth - the time of coming of age (in Russia - 18 years). An adult person receives full legal capacity, i.e. the opportunity to enjoy all the rights of a citizen (voting rights, the right to enter into a legal marriage, etc.) At the same time, the young man assumes certain responsibilities, including compliance with laws, paying taxes, caring for disabled family members, and protecting the Fatherland.

From a general philosophical point of view youth can be seen as a time of opportunity, a time of looking to the future. Youth is a time when nothing has happened yet, when everything can be done and done.

Based on all these characteristics, we can say that youth- this is the time of our life path when a person gets to know himself, and whose character is determined by a combination of (1) age characteristics, (2) characteristics of social status and (3) a special psychological make-up.

Socialization of youth

As we have already said, youth is, first of all, the formation of ideals, the development of social norms and attitudes, the acquisition of skills that help to exist and function successfully in society. Let's take a closer look at this process. In the modern world, this process is commonly called socialization.

In different dictionaries, socialization is defined as:

“the process of assimilation by an individual throughout his life of social norms and cultural values ​​of the society to which he belongs”

“as a process of assimilation and further development by an individual of socio-cultural experience”

as “the process of personality formation, learning and assimilation by an individual of values, norms, attitudes, patterns of behavior inherent in a given society, social community, group”

as “a complex, multifaceted process of including a person in social practice, acquiring social qualities, assimilating social experience and realizing one’s own essence through fulfilling a certain role in practical activity”

In the modern world, there are many factors and problems that influence the process of a person acquiring the skills necessary for a full life in society.

Consider these main influencing factors:

Economic forces most of all influence the situation of young people. For the most part young people are not well off financially, does not have her own home, and is forced to rely on financial assistance from her parents. The desire to get an education delays the start of working life to a more mature age, and the lack of experience and knowledge prevents people from obtaining highly paid positions. Young people's wages are much lower than the average wage.

Spiritual factors no less important. In modern times it is intensifying the process of losing moral guidelines, erosion of traditional norms and values. Young people, as a transitional and unstable social group, are most vulnerable to the negative trends of our time. Thus, the values ​​of labor, freedom, democracy, interethnic tolerance are gradually leveled out, and these “outdated” values ​​are replaced by consumer attitude towards the world, gregariousness.

The most important problem remains the problem of fathers and children", associated with the conflict of values ​​between youth and the older generation. In any type of culture, the family is the main unit in which the socialization of the individual occurs. In modern society, socialization occurs mainly in small families. As a rule, a child chooses a lifestyle or behavior that is inherent in his parents and family.

In our opinion, the most important factor in the process of personality development is intergenerational relations. It is the relationship between “fathers and children” that deserves special attention in our work.

Now there are three types of intergenerational relationships:

postfigurative - have long been established, acquired clear contours, took shape in the form of habitual, stable figures of thinking and behavior and imply an orientation towards the past and traditional values. Young people learn from the experiences of the older generation. The development of post-figurative cultures is slow, innovations have difficulty making their way;

configurative- are in the process of formation, focused on the present: both young people and adults correlate their actions with the changing modernity. Socialization occurs mainly in the process of communicating with peers. A youth counterculture is born;

prefigurative- not yet defined, aimed at the future. Old values ​​and stereotypes are abandoned because past experiences turn out to be useless or harmful. The older generation is increasingly learning from young people.

Obviously, the question of which is preferable—the values ​​of fathers or the values ​​of children—does not have a precise answer. But still, we must say that in a steadily developing and sustainable society, the values ​​of the older generation are in demand, but in conditions of a deep social crisis we have to abandon many outdated values ​​and begin to search for new guidelines that correspond to the changed living conditions.

Trends in the development of youth culture

Youth as a special demographic group is characterized by the following main features:

high level of social mobility;

active search for one’s place in the social structure, a satisfactory way of life;

mastering professions and career prospects;

assimilation and critical assessment of generally accepted social norms, values, standards of behavior;

territorial mobility;

instability and internal contradictions of the psyche;

radicalism of social, political, cultural views;

the desire to stand out, to be different from others;

association in informal, unofficial groups based on interests and hobbies;

the existence of a specific youth subculture.

Therefore, the following trends in the development of youth culture can be identified:

1. The crisis state of society has led to stratification and polarization of youth social groups and strata in terms of material well-being, quality of life, and, consequently, in terms of the level of development of cultural goods. The previously existing system of mass-accessible forms of culture has collapsed. The distribution of benefits in the field of youth culture occurs according to the principle of ability to pay.

2. The privatization of cultural objects has led to the fact that The main place for young people to spend their free time is increasingly becoming the street, the entrance and a person’s apartment, which is due to the increased need for relaxation, rest, and lower material costs for home leisure.

3. One of the results of the crisis is an increase in socio-psychological tension, which is expressed in an increase in the deviant behavior of young people on the one hand, and in health problems on the other. The desire to relieve these conditions leads young people to try to get away from life’s problems with the help of mysticism, religion, drug addiction, suicide. From within, the need of young people to suppress strong stressful emotions is intensifying, and here the search for ways and mechanisms of “peace” is very important.

Thus, modern reality has confronted the young man with a lot of problems. They are determined both by macrotrends (general civilizational changes, the nature of political and economic development of Russia, etc.) and miscalculations in state youth policy.

What are modern youth interested in?

According to the survey results, the Internet ranks first among interests. Why? Now the younger generation cannot imagine life without social networks and other Internet resources. The Internet is used in all areas of life (study, work, communication). Of course, the Internet is a necessary and useful thing, but in no case should we forget about the real world. Besides the Internet, clubs and cinemas are the most popular entertainment among young people.

Second place is given to communication. The communication of young people themselves is noticeably different from communication with the older generation. They have their own interests, life views, their own opinions, which can be very difficult to challenge. Popular topics of conversation: music, films, hobbies, cars, fashion.

Money is another integral part of our life. It is not surprising that today’s youth are thinking about their future income now.

Let's talk separately about the popularity of sports among the youth. Now it has become even more important than ever. Our generation is really interested. Football, hockey, volleyball, basketball are the most popular sports among young people.

What else are young people interested in? Undoubtedly, it is worth noting education, modern art, and fashion trends. But, unfortunately, many drink alcohol and energy drinks and smoke.

The younger generation is trying to create a beautiful, carefree life for themselves. But to achieve all this, you need to make a lot of effort. We are the future of our country and must live up to this definition, achieve new heights, improve and pave our own path to a happy tomorrow!

Deviant behavior

Unfortunately, teenagers' behavior does not always correspond to norms. This is manifested in the use of drugs and alcohol, harsh treatment of the environment, and vandalism. All this can be attributed to one concept - the concept of “deviant behavior”.

Deviant behavior is behavior that deviates from the most common, generally accepted, and well-established norms and standards.

Deviant, negative behavior is eliminated by applying certain formal as well as informal sanctions (treatment, isolation, correction, punishment of the offender). The problem of deviant behavior has been a central problem of riveted attention since the emergence of sociology.

The reasons for the deviant behavior of adolescents lie in insufficient supervision, lack of attention from loved ones, in anxiety and fear of punishment, in fantasy and daydreaming, in the desire to get away from the care of teachers and parents, in cruel treatment from comrades, in an unmotivated desire to change a boring environment.

Separately, I would like to note the early alcoholism and drug addiction of adolescents. Among delinquent adolescents, most are familiar with drugs and abuse alcohol. The motives for such use are the desire to be in the company of others and become an adult, to satisfy curiosity or to change one’s mental state. In subsequent times, they take drugs and drink for a cheerful mood, as well as for self-confidence and relaxedness. The emergence of a group addiction to getting drunk at a meeting of friends carries the threat of alcoholism. And a teenager’s desire for drug use is an early sign of drug addiction.

Deviant behavior of adolescents is marked by a characteristic orientation towards material and personal well-being, as well as towards life according to the principle “how I want”, asserting oneself by any means and at any cost. In most cases, young people are not driven by the desire to satisfy needs and self-interest through criminal means, but are attracted to participate in the company in order to be considered brave. Adolescent deviations are a common phenomenon that is accompanied by the process of maturity and socialization, increasing throughout adolescence and decreasing after 18 years.

Deviant behavior of adolescents includes antisocial, anti-disciplinary, illegal, as well as auto-aggressive (self-harm and suicidal) actions. Actions are determined by various deviations in personality development. Often these deviations include children's reactions to difficult life circumstances.

The causes of adolescent deviation are associated with the conditions of upbringing, characteristics of physical development and social environment.

Reproaches and hints from others regarding appearance, as well as awkwardness, provoke violent emotions and distort behavior. The emergence of deviant behavior is determined by psychological characteristics. Features of deviant behavior of adolescents are noted in the unstable mood of adolescents.

Thus, the development of a teenager’s personality is carried out under the influence of society and culture and is directly related to the economic.

Conclusion

While working on this study, we studied the process of socialization, its characteristics and phases. And they concluded that the term “socialization” refers to the totality of all social processes through which an individual assimilates and reproduces a certain system of knowledge, norms and values ​​that allow him to function as a full member of society.

We studied the features of the process of socialization of youth and the problems that the younger generation faces during socialization.

We came to the conclusion that during the reform of Russian society, modern youth, as a social group, faced the problems of self-determination, finding work, acquiring a guaranteed social status, and obtaining a quality education.

To summarize, we can say that the changes occurring in society affect all spheres of its life, and especially the younger generation. Young people are constantly forced to adapt to these changes. In this regard, new problems arise in the process of socialization, therefore, in modern Russian society there is an urgent need to understand the main problems of socialization of youth.

Bibliography

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Voronkov S.G., Ivanenkov S.P., Kuszhanova A.Zh. Socialization of youth: problems and prospects. Orenburg, 1993.

Grigoriev S.I., Guslyakova L.G., Gusova S.A. Social work with youth: a textbook for university students / S.I. Grigoriev, L.G. Guslyakova, S.A. Gusova. - M.: Gardariki, 2008. - 204 p.

Zaslavskaya T.I. Stratification of modern Russian society Inform. Bulletin monitoring by VTsIOM. - 1996. - No. 1. - P. 7-15.

Karaev A.M. Socialization of youth: Methodological aspects of the study. Humanities and socio-economic sciences. - 2005. No. 3. pp. 124-128.

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Youth as the “future of the nation” has at all times been of particular value to society. It occupies an important place in social relations, the production of material and spiritual goods. The position of young people in society and the degree of their participation in the development of the social environment depends both on the state and on their own active life position. On the one hand, young people plan and build their future, therefore they must take into account the experience of generations and not make mistakes and mistakes. On the other hand, society and the state must rethink how to rediscover youth as a subject of history, as the main factor of change, as a social value. In modern Russia, the concept of state youth policy has been built, which represents the purposeful activities of government bodies, public associations and other social institutions aimed at solving the problems of young people in all spheres of their life. Today, the state offers a system of measures and programs in order to create conditions for the realization of the social, intellectual, cultural and economic potential of the younger generation. On the one hand, modern authorities are interested in the development of the “youth sphere”, motivating the younger generation to cooperate in the development of society. On the other hand, young people carry out innovative activities and contribute to the creative potential of society. Using their creative abilities, thoughts, proposals, young people create new organizations, associations and movements. For example, in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, with the support of the federal and regional authorities, they were formed; Krasnoyarsk regional student teams, Yenisei Patriots, Union of Professionals, Young Guard, KVN, labor teams of high school students, volunteers, voluntary youth squads, regional youth congresses, summer youth camp “TEAM Biryusa”. Thanks to their creation, hundreds of young residents of our region join the ranks of active youth every year. In the field of leisure, media (television and radio), artistic life, pop music, cinema, fashion, young people are an important factor in the formation of tastes. Its spiritual values ​​spread throughout the world. Her views are increasingly influencing those in power. Young people have a special interest and feel involved in solving problems of socio-economic development, independence, democratization and peace. She demonstrates enthusiasm and ability to strengthen international understanding and participates in the movement for the ecology of the planet. Speaking about the role of youth and the state in the development of the social environment, one cannot remain silent about the other side of this issue. At the moment, the role of youth in social development is much lower than it should and can be. In addition, society and the state have not yet completely overcome the consumer attitude towards youth, which in turn negatively affects the position of the younger generation. Today, the subjectivity of young people is just being formed, based on the principle “what I did for my country, and not what the country did for me.” This principle requires appropriate approaches from the state and society, the creation of a new system of youth work. The future cannot be built without the conscious and active participation of young people themselves. The problem of the participation of younger generations in social development is a question of the pace, nature and quality of human development. A significant part of young people are alienated from the process of participation in all spheres of life, which complicates their integration into society. Failures in social adaptation and alienation of young people from society and the state are manifested in youth crime, drug addiction, alcoholism, homelessness, prostitution, the scale of which has become unprecedented. The formation of a young person as an individual, the process of socialization of youth occurs in very difficult conditions, the breaking of many old values ​​and the formation of new social relations. Modern youth must adapt to new requirements, master a system of knowledge, norms, values ​​and traditions in the labor, political and legal spheres of life. The role of youth in the development of society is great. She is smart, proactive, energetic, and thanks to this, she is a driving force in strengthening and modernizing society. The model of youth participation in all spheres of society has changed. In many countries, young people support the changes and social reforms that are taking place. Russian youth are an important subject of social change. It is with this that the reforming country associates possible future changes. In general, students have enough strength and knowledge to take on many problems, but they still need to show an active position in life.

So, our analysis of the behavior of modern humanity has shown that today the transition to sustainable development seems extremely unlikely - the level of consciousness and responsibility for their actions among the world community is too low. Our planet is in dire need- importance in the formation of a new society, more developed both intellectually and spiritually. Only such a society will exist is able to foresee the consequences of his actions and refrain from committing them if these consequences are negative. Fundamentally new types of machines and equipment, The latest technology, control systems can be created and are constructively applied only by people of a new, non-traditional type of thinking.

As is known, many global changes in societyhappened precisely thanks to the young. It is no secret that world-famous scientists made most of their discoveries inunder 35 years of age. A number of reasons contributed to this:

Youth are critical views and attitudes towards I exist - in reality, these are new ideas andenergy, which is especially needed at the time of fundamental reforms.Youth is the bearer of a hugeintellectually- th potential, special abilities for creativity (increasedsensuality, perception, imaginative thinking, etc.).Youth is an accelerator implementation - putting into practice newideas, initiatives, new forms of life, because she is an opponent of conservatism and stagnation by nature.

Youth is the most physically healthy part of the population, it is vital - a strong force of society, a bundle of energy, unspent intellectual and physical strength that requires outlet. Through these forces, society can be revitalized.The value of youth in the modern world is increasing andin connection with the increasing importance of education and professional skills necessary in the conditions of the scientific and technological revolution. In youth, a person easily acquires basic knowledge, skills and abilities. Therefore, young people are not afraid of the need for continuous education.

But what is the attitude of our society towards the young and talented? Do modern “Newtons” have the opportunitycreative self-realization in our country? According to the rectorMoscow State University, academician V.A. Sadovnichy, training one specialist at this university costs about 400 thousand dollars. Leaving Russia,only MSU graduates annually “take” 120 abroadmillion dollars. And this is not counting scientific developments. According to the latest data, the cost of the “brain drain” from Russia over the past 10 years is estimated at severalhundreds of billions dollars!

Young scientists emigrating to the West can be understood- high intelligence, ambition and the desire for a decent, happy life drives them away from the country, where the stereotype of a beggar, a useless inventor, vegetating for years in his laboratory, has taken root.But no matter how hard they are from the time of - new conditions, right now Russia has a real chance to rise againfrom your knees Despite the difficulties, the leader of the domestic nanotechnology business, Concern Nanoindustry, is todayis rapidly gaining momentum, building long-termpartnerships with China, India and Western countries.The first commercial products are successfully implemented,created using nanotechnology, demand is increasingfor highly qualified talented personnel capablework in the field of nanotechnology.

Fig. 223. Logo of the 1st competition

To attract youth interest in this promising area in

April 2004 companyNanotechnology News Network in collaboration with Concern “Nanoindustry”with the support of CB Uniastrum Banksuccessfully held the 1st All-Russiancompetition of youth projects to create domestic molecularnanotechnology, which aroused the genuine admiration of Russian scientists.

Fig. 224. Team photo from the awards ceremony for the winners of the 1st competition

The winners of the competition presented the most interesting developments. 1st place was taken by a team of young scientists led by Galina Popova (Russian Chemical Technology University named after D.I. Mendeleev), who created biomimetic (life-like) materials for

optical nanosensors, molecular electronics and biomedicine. Second

graduate student Marina took the placeFomina with a targeted delivery system- karstov to the necessary tissues, and the third - student Alexey Khasanov with technology for creating nanoceramic materials with unique properties. The winners received valuable prizes and funding for their projects.

Nanotechnology News Network decided to give suchcompetitions the status of traditional and in December 2004 announcedthe beginning of the II All-Russian competition of youth projects in the field of nanotechnology. This time the organizers decided to mobilize everyone who is capable and ready to take part in the development

nanotechnology. For this purpose, the competition received the widest coverage in the media and educational institutions.

Speaking of the public’s attitude towards the competition: find sponsors to support youth projects inThe field of nanotechnology turned out to be much more difficult than the organizers imagined. Of the 500 largest companies in the country invited to join the sponsorship committee, only Uniastrum Bank, pleased with the results of the first competition, and Powercom, an international manufacturer of uninterruptible power supplies, responded to the offer - organizations interested in rich and high-tech Russia.

If a philanthropist, usually an experienced person with a broad outlook, understands that it is important to support what is in the futurewill become real achievements capable of leading the countryto a qualitatively new level, then the heads of PR_departmentsprefer to spend money on charity, calculate- tantamount to philistine thinking, thirsting for “bread and circuses.” Unfortunately, in our country it is still considered morenoble to console victims of famine, disease and terrorist attacks thansupport the creation of funds for them prevention...

Despite this, thanks to the assistance of sponsors and the management of the Nanoindustry Concern, the prize fund of the secondThe competition has been replenished with new unique prizes. In particular, the participant who takes first place will receive the latest Russian nanotechnology laboratory "UMKA", created in October last year by the Nanoindustry concern. INunlike foreign analogues costing $50-100 thousand, itdoes not require special premises and refrigeration for operation installations.

Project areas are extremely diverse _ frompromising nanomaterials for the automotive industry andaviation to implants and neuro - technological interfaces. The competition committee is represented outstanding - by scientists and experienced industrialists.

Fig. 225. Logo of the 2nd competition

Works will be accepted until July 1,and the organizers have already received a number interest - new projects. We hope,that the competition will become a good tradition and the activity of Russian youth in nanotechnology is finallywill stop decreasing and begin to increase. We believe that if those peoplewho have to live and workin the 21st century, will be able to increase production and ecology in the near future- position of your country on the world marketlevel if the export of timber, oil andgas from the country will not be “justified” by the low quality of domestic goods, then Russia has every chance to become one againof the economic superpowers.

A striking example of this is Japan. After World War IIwar, this hungry, impoverished country threw all its strength intodevelopment of science and production and... became world economic leaders. If we take the example of Japan today andIf we abandon our stupid resource-based economy, then, given the amount of oil in the depths of our country, we can predict that we will run out of it later than anyone else on the planet. INThere are no periods in Russian history when it simultaneously exported raw materials and was a great power.

In the meantime, the situation is very reminiscent of an episode from a movie“White Sun of the Desert”, where careless grandfathers light uphookah on a box with dynamite. Russia, as they say, has two troubles... The third trouble is that the number of people who are unable to seefurther than his nose, exceeds all permissible standards.