Leave or stay. Choices Young people make in a big city
Discussion in Yekaterinburg
The sociological study conducted by the Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom with the support of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany is focused on the perceptions young people in large Russian cities have, their behavioral patterns, values and beliefs and expecta-tions about the future. The findings of the study show that 44% of polled respondents in a Russian sample are willing to leave the country. This number is lower than in the neighboring countries of Belarus and Ukraine, but it is an important point to be discussed by researchers, poli-ticians and other stakeholders of any big city: what do young people are deprived of in their cities and what tools could be used to make them stay?
Yekaterinburg is a modern large city in Russia that offers a diversity of lifestyles for its residents. However, the problem of accelerated youth emigration is acknowl-edged by the city administration. It is a subject to be ex-plored by cultural and educational institutions. Local businesses are encouraging young people to take up em-ployment with them. How efficient are the existing pro-grams designed for the youth? Do young people associate their future with Yekaterinburg?
Date and place
December 9, 2018
Yeltsin-Center (Boris Yeltsin Str. 3, 620014 Yekaterinburg, Russia)
Speakers
- Denis Volkov – sociologist and Head of the Department of Applied Sociological Research of the Levada-Center. Presented the study overview and explored behaviour-al patterns of young people who reside in large cities.
- Fedor Krasheninnikov – author and political scientist. Assessed the impact of the socio-political context on the sentiments among the youth and offered his ideas about the future devel-opments of the situation.
- Elena Pryamikova – Doctor of Sociology, Director of the Institute of Social Sciences of the Ural State Pedagogical University. Presented the findings of the study of young people of Yekaterinburg and their strategies of behaviour in the big city.
- Evgenia Prosvirnina – Urban Initiatives Foundation Yekaterinburg. Provided an assessment of the implementation of the youth ini-tiatives in Yekaterinburg and presented new opportu-nities for self-realization.
Discussion moderator
Dmitry Moskvin – Ph.D. in Political Science, participant and initiator of youth projects in 2000–2010
Essay by Fedor Krasheninnikov “An inconvenient youth”