Youth as the subject of social reality

The article presents the results of analysis of “youth” phenomenon as a subject of social reality. The main approaches to analyzing youth as a generation of certain age, as a social group and as a group of people with a particular set of social and psychological characteristics are given considering the history of study of the phenomenon. It is noted that studying youth according to the above mentioned criteria has its cultural peculiarities, closely connected with historical, ethnic and religious world views which were relevant at a certain historical period. In the modern socio-cultural context youth represents one of the most vulnerable groups which is subject to transformations in their world view. The author comes to conclusion that inner development of a young person as a subject of socio-cultural activity is determined both by their social environment and psychophysiological features.