Psychology and Sociology

Ershova I.F., Grigorieva G.B.

South-Russia State University of Economics and Services, Russia

Social foundations of religiosity of youth in Russia.

Faith becomes more and more demanded in Russia in the XXI century. Faith is a peculiarity of the soul inherent in every person. In the period of socio-economic change, the destruction of spirituality, more and more people are looking for a symbol of faith. The Church is understood as a refuge for weary souls. And a lot depends on an individual.

Sociology of religiosity of the youth is a specific sociological subject developing at the intersection of religion, sociology of religion, sociology of the youth and other subjects. The subject of the sociology of religiosity of the youth is to study the state, typologies and tendencies of forming the religious consciousness which includes faith, philosophical views, experiences and knowledges as well as religious experience and behavior of young people (aged from 16 to 30 years) in the individual, group and mass forms.

In contrast to the religious studies covering the study of religion in the broad complex of ontological, phenomenological and ethnological, sociological and psychological, national and political, scientific and philosophical, sociology of religiosity of youth restricts its subject by the methodical research possibilities [1]. And in this case a sociological approach can be understood quite extensively, it is not strictly limited to matters of social typology and dynamics, but involves the use of social and socio-psychological, cultural, comparative historical, legal, ethnological, political and other possible methods, provided it contributes to the effectiveness of achieving a complete picture of religious state of the youth.

If religiosity of the population in general has long been a subject of attention of Russian sociologists, especially before and after the 1000th Anniversary of Christianity in Russia, special sociological studies of religiosity of the youth have been started recently.

The central concept of sociology of religion among young people is “religiosity of the youth” which means, first of all, determination of the degree of familiarizing young people with religious values and systems. But such a traditionally developed attempt to condence sociology to a single, though the most characteristic concept, does not mean that the problems over and above religiosity and secularity of the youth can be out of sight of a sociologist.

It is very difficult to study religiosity, as a matter of belief is rather personal, reflecting the view of a person’s perception of the sense of life, revealing the essence of their world outlook. A sociologist must always remember about it, because during the study several ethical questions occur such as: 1) to what extent a sociologist can enter the inner world of a person and whether they have the right to do it, and 2) whether a respondent is open and frank.

It is also important to note that the results of research are often influenced by the sociologist’s own religious beliefs, their life position. Developing the program and methods of research a sociologist must adhere to an impartial, neutral position.

All three concepts - “religiosity”, “non-religiosity” and “secularism” - are an integral whole due to the interdependence of their contents. Religiosity, being represented as a definite form or degree of religious consciousness, experience and behavior of young people is a basic concept, which the sociologist’s subject attention focuses on, because without the study of religiosity the non-religious study is meaningless. Non-religiosity regarded as an ontological reflection of religiosity is the degree and form of a neutral, indifferent or radically negative attitude to religiosity. A truly non-religious person may not think of the problem of religiosity due to rather obvious reasons.

Secularism, considered as the degree and form of the youth participation in the liberation from the influence of religion, of its values and norms, reflects the real transition from religiosity to non-religiosity. Although the secular status of the population and the youth which occurs in the structure of a particular cultural and historical context can exist in parallel with the phenomenon of non-religiosity and in fact coincide with it. Yet it is secularization that gives non-religiosity an active, atheistic character. Sociological studies indicate that atheists and non-religious people are not the same thing.

The difficulty is that the problem of consciousness and the individual psychology of faith are intertwined with many social forms of organization of the religious way of life. Religiosity and secularity differ not only in the type of consciousness and behavior, but the nature of institutionalization. To understand this, we must explain the definitions of the concepts of “religion” and “secularization”.

Religion is a complex social, cultural and historical institution, which includes the following systems:

1) religious consciousness (beliefs);

2) worship (rituals), religious organizations (institutions),

and performs several functions in the society - social integration, communication and social control.

Secularization is the process of liberation from religious control in secular affairs, the liberation of a person from the power of religion, the liberation of the various spheres of public life from the influence of religion and the Church, from its regulation with religious norms. Secularization from the very beginning proved to be the establishment of secular control over the spheres of the former monopoly of the Church. This involved the alienation of the Church and monastery lands, transfer of Church authority to secular courts, replacement of the clergymen (members of the church hierarchy) by lamen in government bodies, separation of the Church and education, etc. [2].

In the historical sense secularization is opposite to sacralization process, which meant the spread of religious influence on various spheres of social life during the formation of social and cultural domination of the Church as a special type of religious organization, built on the basis of a strict centralization of hierarchy of relations between the clergy and the believers and responsible for the preservation and reproduction of norms of religious consciousness and behavior.

The variety of forms and extent of socio-historical institutionalization of religion is so great that for a sociologist it is preferable to consider religion as a natural manifestation of social life but not as non-pathological deviations from its laws. In the modern society there is a dual tendency: on the one hand, the process of secularization is getting larger, and on the other hand the variety of forms of religious life is getting wider, followed by a search for a new sense of religion and the desire for ecumenism - the achievement of better cooperation and mutual understanding between different religions, faiths and creeds. Thus, the issue of religion, despite the processes of secularization and desacralization of political power continues to be very important. [3].

Many young people become members of different sects, trying to find their salvation from the hardships and hopelessness of the life around, care and calmness. The ideals were destroyed, the sense of life was lost, present and future is shrouded in darkness for many of them. That is why there is no need to get surprised that the “revelations” and calls to believe in “a new, only true god” get on well prepared ground.

We should adopt an objective approach to religion, historically; its ideology is a powerful reservoir of human culture. Therefore, some elements of the scientific religion can find a place in school curricula. Every educated person should have some ideas about the Bible and the Koran, some images and characters inherent in them. They have had a huge impact on the development of culture, including arts and literature.

Our society is changing: the instability and lack of social security, uncertainty in the future generate anxiety and confusion, fear and fatigue, anger and aggression. Thus, the return of faith into the society is of great importance. Faith is a deeply intimate affair of each individual. Faith helps to overcome life’s difficulties, to seek and find the sense in life.

Reference

1. Garaja V.I. Religious Studies. / Tutorial. M., 1991. -. P. 163-175.

2. Cox H. Secular town: secularization and urbanization in theological perspective. - M., 1995.: P. 40 -45.

3. Secularization // Christianity. / Glossary / Ed. L.N. Mitrokhin. M., 1994. - P. 422.