Youth Recruitment into Digital Civil Activity: From Needs to Engagement Technologies

The article argues that the expansion of information and communication technologies in the people’s life world determines the vector of development of civil society and forms a new type of modern person – a digital citizen. The digital environment contributes to the mobilization of the young generation as a subject of social development. The article discusses technologies for engagement of young people in digital civic activism from the perspective of identifying needs (external: goals-values associated with wealth and prestige; internal: goals-values associated with a sense of community, personal growth, and help) underlying the motives for participation. Based on the theory of needs by E.L. Desi and R.M. Ryan, the authors substantiate the position on the priority of internal goals-values and recruitment technologies based on them in activism. Based on an all-Russian survey of experts (n = 32, targeted selection, 2023) and a survey of youth in the Sverdlovsk region aged 14–25 years (n = 1150, quota selection, 2022), an author’s typology of technologies for engagement in digital activism is proposed. The typology includes 8 technologies focused on the internal and external goals of the individual: ideological, declarative, captivating, transformative, infrastructural, communicative, bonus, and trend. The ratio of the positions of experts and youth is shown, and an assessment of the key characteristics of each technology is given. Problem areas and barriers to youth participation in digital civic projects are identified, taking into account different needs, on the basis of which experts’ recommendations for overcoming them are structured. The study noted the priority attention of experts and youth to motives related to internal goals, the importance of the needs for autonomy, competence, and interaction with people in the system of motivation, and the engagement of youth in civic activism.