The Attitude of Student Youth to Manifestations of Various Types of Extremism (the Case of the Saratov Region)

The article is concerned with the phenomenon of extremism among youth. Analyzing the features of modern youth extremism the authors substantiated their conditioning by social, age, historical, and cultural factors. Young people tend to protest and reject the existing system, all-or-nothing thinking. While the phenomena identified as extremism today, repeatedly arose in the process of historical social development. A distinctive feature of the majority of extremist organizations at the present time is their focus on the issues of national identity or the political structure of the Russian society and state, using the principles of a totalitarian sect. In their activities destructive religious organizations themselves are also, as a rule, based on radical ideas, which is why they are recognized as extremist. The article presents the findings of the sociological study conducted in Saratov’s higher educational institutions. Based on the analysis of the study results the authors came to the conclusion that extremist sentiments among student youth are growing towards representatives of various nationalities and religions. The authors assumed that in order to successfully counter youth extremism, first and foremost it is necessary to clearly distinguish its causes, rooted in the society itself and shortcomings of state youth policy, from the forms of its manifestation that have social and group specific features.