State Identity in Graduates from Economic and Humanities Universities of Saint Petersburg

Abstract

Anna Sanina - Ph.D. in Sociology, Associate Professor at the Department of Public Administration, National Research University — Higher School of Economics — St. Petersburg, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation, Head of the Research and Study Group on the Economics and Sociology of Change. Email: anna.g.sanina@gmail.com  Address: 16 Soyuza Pechatnikov St., 190121, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation.

Ani Zakaryan - second-year Master’s degree student at the National Research University — Higher School of Economics — St. Petersburg, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation, intern researcher in the Research and Study Group on the Economics and Sociology of Change. Email: anizakaryan@gmail.com Address: 16 Soyuza Pechatnikov St., 190121, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation.

Oleg Obidovsky - second-year Master’s degree student at the National Research University — Higher School of Economics — St. Petersburg, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation, intern researcher in the Research and Study Group on the Economics and Sociology of Change. Email: oleg_obidovskiy@mail.ru  Address: 16 Soyuza Pechatnikov St., 190121, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation.

The authors analyze results of an empiric study of state identity in graduates from Saint Petersburg universities. They explain why the modern ‘model’ of a graduate doesn’t contribute to formation of state identity, the key components of which (cognitive, emotional and evaluative, normative-value, and behavioral) are largely disintegrated. The efforts made to increase young people’s knowledge of the state and to develop their idea of what is due and right don’t actually change their behavior towards the state, while demonstration of a certain level of knowledge is neutralized by distrust to the existing political realities, which results in treating the state much as an external enemy.

Today, higher education is still focused on producing qualified professionals demanded in the labor market, but not citizens who would develop and support the state they live and work in. The function of developing civic identity is almost entirely restricted to secondary schools and disappears as soon as children leave them. However, state and citizenship are absolutely valuable for young people today, although they don’t always realize it. Moreover, an absolute value is conveyed by their own state, as it provides a perception of community which, on the one hand, sets very strict limits of the difference between ‘us and them’, while, on the other hand, accepting other identities and granting necessary freedom to an individual. Nevertheless, these normative-value attitudes are not supported by cognitive or behavioral ones.