Agency and deviance of youth

Agency and deviance of youth


Smirnova A.N.

Cand. Sci. (Sociol.), Senior Lecturer, Department of Social Work, Saint-Petersburg State University, Saint-Petersburg, Russia a.smirnova@spbu.ru

ID of the Article:


For citation:

Smirnova A.N. Agency and deviance of youth. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2017. No 6. P. 117-122




Abstract

Nowadays the issue of agency is an important challenge, which focuses on the development of an active, integrated personality that is capable of managing life situations, and is also adaptive to the changing conditions of social life, yet resistant to manipulative outside influences. For young people, the formation of agency is a crucial process, which mediates the socialization of the younger generation- its socio-economic, political, and legal status; awareness; education; culture; interests; needs; and lifestyles. This paper analyses the process of agency forming and its characteristics, with an emphasis on the risk of deviant youth behaviour. It discusses how problems in the formation of young people’s agency can lead to increasingly “risky” practices in their lives, as well as how involvement in deviant behaviour can make agency difficult to develop. The characteristics of young people’s agency were investigated in empirical research with mix-methodology. The data shows statistically significant distinctions in the agency characteristics of adolescents, who are involved in deviant practices and those who are not. It demonstrates an insufficient formation of agency in deviant adolescents.


Keywords
agency; adolescents and young people; deviant behaviour

References

Belov A. A. (2009) Sub’ektnost’ starsheklassnika kak osnova dlya posleduyushchego samorazvitiya i professional’nogo samoopredeleniya [Agency of senior students as basis for future self-development and professional self-determination] Uchenye zapiski: elektronnyy nauchnyy zhurnal Kurskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta [Scientific Notes of Kursk State University]. No. 4: 127–129. URL: http://www.scientific-notes.ru/pdf/012–21.pdf (accessed 15.09.2015). (In Russ.)

Giddens A. (2004) Transformatsiya intimnosti. Seksual’nost’, lyubov i erotizm v sovremennykh obshchestvakh [The Transformation of Intimacy. Sexuality, Love, and Eroticism in Modern Societies]. Saint-Petersburg: Piter. (In Russ.)

Il’in V.I. (2007) Byt i bytie molodezhi rossiyskogo megapolisa: sotsial’naya strukturatsiya povsednevnosti obshchestva potrebleniya [Everyday Life and Existence of Youth in Russian Megapolis: Social Strukturalization of Consumer Society’s Reality]. Saint-Petersburg: Intersotsis. (In Russ.)

Il’inskiy I.M. (2001) Molodezh’ i molodezhnaya politika. Filosofiya. Istoriya. Teoriya [Youth and youth policy. Philosophy. History. Theory]. Moscow: Golos. (In Russ.)

Klimov I. A. (2006) V poiskakh sub”ekta deystviya [In search of the agent] Zhurnal sotsiologicheskikh nablyudeniy i soobshcheniy “Sotsial’naya real’nost’” [Journal of Sociological Observations and Reports “Social reality”]. No. 12: 92–97. (In Russ.)

Lukov Val. A. (2012) Teorii molodezhi: mezhdistsiplinarnyy analiz [Theory of Youth: cross-disciplinary analysis]. Moscow: “Kanon+”. (In Russ.)

Podshivalkina V. I., Biryukova M. V. (2014) Polisub’ektnost’ kak sotsial’nyy fenomen. Praksiologicheskiy diskurs [Polysubjectivity as social phenomenon. Praxeological discourse]. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. No. 4: 13–19. (In Russ.)

Zalunin V. I., Frolova M. I. (2005) Fenomen sub’ektnosti molodezhi v usloviyakh rossiyskoy transformatsii (opyt kontseptualizatsii) [Fenomen of youth subjectivity in the conditions of Russian transformation (experience of conceptualization)]. Trudy Dal’nevostochnogo Gosudarstvennogo Tekhnicheskogo Universiteta [Works of Far Eastern State Technical University]. No. 139: 221–233. (In Russ.)

Content No 6, 2017