Social ontology of youth sub-culture: theory and practice

The article substantiates the applicability of socio-ontological approaches and methods of theoretical ontology to the study of social reality. А wide range of references to traditional research in this area conducted by sociologists, legal scholars, economists and cultural scientists are provided. From the standpoint of social ontology, the key principles of the flow of some social processes are considered, first of all, the features of the development of youth sub-cultures. Using the classical methodology of categorical analysis, the attributive characteristics of their existence are identified. The examples show how atypical contradictoryaspects of a given social phenomenon can be explained, namely, how ideas about non-physical space and time relate to traditional ontological categories; the predominance of processes of "horizontal mobility" in the activities of the subculture was discovered. The intervals of "quantitative stability" are defined as those in which the development of socially dynamic processes of a new quality occurs. Using the categorical pair "identity-difference", the specific features of the manifestation of social inequality in the education and functioning of the youth movement are considered. 1n the course of modal analysis, the role of the necessary, random and possible in explaining the current status of a social phenomenon, which has a "floating" ontological status, combining an indication of its physical and virtual existence, was revealed. The "problematic" mode of the possible as a way of manifesting the phenomenon of youth sub-culture allows us to point out the possibility of the predominance of "online culture" features in it. Based on the results obtained, prospects for further studyand practical work with "complex" social phenomena are identified. 1t is shown that the prevention and suppression of illegal actions by representatives of youth cultures should be based not only on sociological, legal, etc. data research but also on a deep, comprehensive theoretical and philosophical analysis.