Vectors of future development of Russia in the consciousness of youth (based on materials of political and psychological research)

The article presents the results of an empirical study of the ideas of Russian youth about the prospects for the future development of Russia. The study used political and psychological methods of in-depth interviews and projective drawing testing, which made it possible to study both conscious and weakly rationalized layers of consciousness by the subjects, which gives the data obtained signs of uniqueness. Among the important results, a number of scenarios for the future of the country that are dominant in the mass youth consciousness are «Renaissance», «nihilistic», «reformative-technological», «anxious-depressive» ones. The paper shows communicative and psychological mechanisms that contribute to the formation of identified future scenarios in youth consciousness. Emotional and psychological factors that are situational in nature and influence the instability and fragmentation of mass representations during periods of socio-political turbulence are analyzed.