The Image of the Future in the Subjective Space of Politics of New Citizens of the Russian Federation: Experience of Empirical Research of Youth in New Regions

In the context of the changes taking place in Russian society, research on the value and ideological foundations of politics is necessary to develop a strategy and identify technologies for working with different categories of citizens, especially in new regions. An important part of the processes of social consolidation is the image of the future shared by citizens. The article conceptualizes the concept of “image of the future” as part of the subjective space of politics, the purpose of the study was to approve a conceptual model based on empirical research of the youth in new subjects of the Russian Federation, fulfilled based on focus group interviews with schoolchildren and students of Russian new regions. It is determined that the youth image of the future in the new territories of Russia are simultaneously defined and limited by the content of the political world view. Three life trajectories have been identified in which the youth of the new subjects of the Russian Federation sees their future: returning to their small homeland; moving to another subject of the Russian Federation; emigration. It is shown that these trajectories correlate with models of new Russian citizens’ civil identity. The originality of the results is determined by the interdisciplinarity approach used in the study, the new research focus and the novelty of the empirical data being introduced into scientific turnover.