The role of social environment in reading practices of modern Russian students

The aim of the research is to study the role of social environment in the formation of reading practices of modern Russian students. The empirical basis was the data of sociological research in the form of a questionnaire survey, carried out by the Interuniversity Research Group in 2022. Reading through the implementation of accompanying and socializing functions occupies a special place in the processes of self-development of personality, cultural reproduction. Modern reading trends, characterized by diversification, ambivalence of attitudes to reading, digitalization, genre diversity, actualize the need for interdisciplinary and narrow disciplinary study of the influence of parents and friends on students’ reading practices. The results of the study indicate that the vast majority of respondents had family reading practices in childhood. It was found that there is no direct correlation between the indicators of reading together with parents in childhood and satisfaction with the amount of reading in adulthood. However, family reading stimulates more reading or brings those who realize that they read little, but it is enough for them into the group. It is noted that students who have a positive perception of family reading practices prefer printed books, have a home library, discuss novelties with close people, often choose fiction as a leisure activity, and in general have a traditional view of reading practices in the life of modern students. It is noted that more than half of the respondents do not discuss issues related to reading practices with their friends. At the same time, almost one in five students often discusses book topics with their peers. These young people read a lot and enjoy reading, prefer to familiarize themselves with the full text of a work in print, and choose traditional formats of book search strategies. The article presents an overview of theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of reading practices, the experiences of sociological research, and gives recommendations for further theoretical and practical study.