Dynamics of reading habits of modern Russian students: a sociological analysis

The features of reading habits and their transformation are the subject of interdisciplinary scientific analysis, as well as of a broad public discussion about the effective response of the Russian state to the challenges of a technogenic society. The areas of sociological reflection on this phenomenon are quite broad, such as the reading crisis, interest in books, the impact of globalization, e-books and other electronic formats for reading. Sociological analysis allows finding answers to questions about the state and features of reading habits as a component of social capital, the social quality of specific geographical, social and demographic groups. Bookishness (love and respect for books) is an important feature of the Russian mentality, an indicator of socio-cultural continuity, which is why the study of reading habits of modern Russian students’ culture acquires particular relevance. This article presents the results of a sociological research conducted in Astrakhan and Volgograd (2016, 2019), as well as in Moscow (2019). These empirical studies provide insights into the main trends in the dynamics of the reading habits of modern Russian students, and help to conduct a comparative analysis of these habits of Russian cities’ students, among other things in terms of socio-cultural space levels (the “core - periphery” coordinate system). We identified the dominance of the axiological component of reading habits; determined that classical literature is the basis of the content structure of reading; noted that the frequency of reading habits falls with decreasing population of the settlement - people read more in Moscow, less in the province. We think it would be promising to use the results and conclusions in monitoring studies and sociological projects on similar topics in other regions, and to continue studying the obtained results in the framework of interdisciplinary analysis.