The problem of extremism among young people. National Center for Information Combating Terrorism and Extremism in the Educational Environment and the Internet Youth extremism origin and forms of manifestation

FEDERAL AGENCY FOR EDUCATION

State educational institution of higher education vocational education

"Nizhny Novgorod State University them. N.I. Lobachevsky"

Faculty of Social Sciences

Department of Applied Sociology

COURSE WORK

Topic: "Causes and prevention of youth extremism in Russia"

Scientific adviser:

Lukonina Elena Sergeevna

senior lecturer of the department

applied sociology FSN UNN

Candidate of Sociological Sciences

NIZHNY NOVGOROD

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1. DISCLOSURE OF THE CONCEPT AND CONSIDERATION OF THE CAUSES OF THE PHENOMENON

1.1 The concept of "extremism"

1.2 Reasons for the emergence and spread of extremism in Russia

CHAPTER 2. PREVENTION OF EXTREMISM AMONG YOUTH

2.1 Prevention in the pedagogical process

2.2 Social portrait of extremists as a social group

2.3 Basic approaches to prevention

2.4 Study of adolescents

CONCLUSION

We live in a complex and constantly changing world, in which the problem of national, ethnic, social and political extremism is particularly acute. Every day we hear about more and more new cases of xenophobia and nationalism, the main participants of which are young people, as the layer that reacts most acutely and sensitively to all changes in society.

As part of the modern Russian Federation more than a hundred ethnic groups, including about thirty nations. Relations between various nations, ethnic and religious groups have always been distinguished by their contradictory nature - a tendency towards cooperation and periodic outbursts of conflict. Currently, one of the pressing problems in Russia is extremism among teenagers and young people. More and more youth rallies are taking place, for example on Manezhnaya Square on December 11, 2010. Nowadays, people live in fear of terrorist attacks, especially after the terrible tests of September 1, 2004 in Beslan, the terrorist attacks in the metro, on Dubrovka and many others around the world. Carrying out terrorist activities is just one form of extremism. Hatred and hostility towards representatives of another nationality, race, religion is not only a psychological problem of a certain, and very wide, layer of people. This is also a motive for committing crimes, both violent and non-violent.

Goal: to identify the main causes of extremism and study the main ways of its prevention.

Object of study: youth extremism as a social phenomenon.

Subject: prevention of youth extremism.

Objectives: Identify the main problems of extremism. Study preventive activities against extremism. Consider the main directions of preventive activities to prevent extremist sentiments among adolescents and young people.

The bulk of Russia's population is young people, and the future of our great country lies with them. The connection between extremism and youth movements is accurately reflected in age structure extremist groups, where young people absolutely predominate. The bulk of terrorists and extremists are people between 20 and 30 years old

Currently, there is enough scientific literature on this topic, however, not many authors have dealt with extremism among young people, mainly such authors as Antonyan Yu.M., Pavlinov A.V., Abdullin R., but more and more articles are appearing in various legal and sociological journals, such as Social and Humanitarian Knowledge, World and Politics, National Journal of Social Work.

Basic programs for the prevention of the phenomenon in question may appear in social work with such a risk group as extremists. Social work is a system of knowledge that, being multidisciplinary, is capable of developing prevention, correction, and rehabilitation programs for all groups of society, in particular youth, that are adequate to the current situation. For social work, it is important to develop youth programs and improve the forms of work with the younger generation, who will make up the future of our country.

IN different countries and at different times many different legal and scientific definitions the concept of "extremism". There is no single definition today. A large explanatory dictionary gives the following definition of extremism: extremism is adherence to extreme views and measures. However, it does not reflect the essence of this phenomenon. Scientists insist that when defining extremism, the emphasis should be on actions, not on people, because naming people and groups extremists is quite ambiguous, since it depends on the position and group affiliation of the person using this term: the same group is the same may be called extremists, while others may call them freedom fighters.

Dr. Peter T. Coleman and Dr. Andrea Bartoli in their work "Addressing Extremism" gave short review proposed definitions of this concept:

Extremism is indeed a complex phenomenon, although its complexity is often difficult to see and understand. The easiest way to define it is as the activities (as well as beliefs, attitudes towards something or someone, feelings, actions, strategies) of an individual that are far from the usual generally accepted ones. In a situation of conflict - demonstration of a tough form of conflict resolution. However, labeling activities, people and groups as “extremist”, as well as determining what should be considered “ordinary” or “generally accepted” is always a subjective and political matter. Thus, we assume that any discussion on the topic of extremism addresses the following:

· Typically, some extremist actions are viewed by some people as just and virtuous (for example, pro-social “freedom fighting”), while other extremist actions are viewed as unjust and immoral (anti-social “terrorism”). This depends on the values, political beliefs, moral restrictions of the evaluator, as well as on his relationship with the actor.

· Power differences also matter in defining extremism. During conflict, the actions of members of a weaker group often appear more extreme than those of members of a stronger group defending its status quo. In addition, marginalized people and groups who view more normative forms of conflict resolution as inaccessible to them or are prejudiced against them are more likely to take extreme measures. However, dominant groups also often resort to extreme actions (for example, government-sanctioned violent paramilitary actions or the Waco attack carried out by the FBI in the USA).

· Extremist actions often involve violence, although groups of extremists may differ in their preference for violent or nonviolent tactics, the level of violence tolerated, and the preferred targets for their violent actions (from infrastructure and military personnel to civilians and even children). Again, weaker groups are more likely to use and undertake direct and episodic forms of violence (such as suicide bombings), while dominant groups are prone to more structured or institutionalized forms of violence (such as the covert use of torture or the informal authorization of police atrocities).

Finally, the main problem is that the extremism present in situations of protracted conflict is not the most brutal, but the most visible of the actions of the parties. The rigid and intolerant position of extremists is extremely difficult to change.

In Russian legislation, and specifically in the Federal Law of July 25, 2002 N 114-FZ “On Combating Extremist Activities,” the concept of “extremist activity (extremism)” is revealed as:

Violent change in the foundations of the constitutional system and violation of the integrity of the Russian Federation;

Public justification of terrorism and other terrorist activities;

Inciting social, racial, national or religious hatred;

Propaganda of exclusivity, superiority or inferiority of a person on the basis of his social, racial, national, religious or linguistic affiliation or attitude to religion;

Violation of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of a person and citizen, depending on his social, racial, national, religious or linguistic affiliation or attitude to religion;

Obstructing citizens from exercising their voting rights and the right to participate in a referendum or violating the secrecy of voting, coupled with violence or the threat of its use;

Obstruction of lawful activities government agencies, local government bodies, election commissions, public and religious associations or other organizations, associated with violence or the threat of its use;

Propaganda and public display of Nazi paraphernalia or symbols or paraphernalia or symbols that are confusingly similar to Nazi paraphernalia or symbols;

Public calls for the implementation of these acts or mass distribution of obviously extremist materials, as well as their production or storage for the purpose of mass distribution;

Public knowingly false accusation of a person holding a public office of the Russian Federation or a public office of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation of committing, during the performance of his official duties, the acts specified in this article and constituting a crime;

Under the influence of social, political, economic and other factors that are most susceptible to destructive influence, radical views and beliefs are more easily formed among young people. Thus, young citizens join the ranks of extremist and terrorist organizations that actively use Russian youth in their political interests.

The youth environment, due to its social characteristics and acute perception of the environment, is the part of society in which the accumulation and implementation of negative protest potential occurs most quickly.

IN last years There has been an intensification of a number of extremist movements that involve young people in their activities. An analysis of data over the past five years shows that four out of five people whose criminal activities were stopped are no more than 30 years old.

Currently, members of informal youth organizations (groups) of an extremist-nationalist orientation are mainly young people under the age of 30, and often including minors 14-18 years old.

The subjects of crimes are mainly males, however, sometimes girls are also members of informal youth extremist groups, along with young people. It is noted that the basis of the rank and file of gangs for carrying out terrorist acts and its replenishment are precisely young people who, due to a number of socio-psychological, physiological and demographic characteristics, are most susceptible to ideological influence, subject to maximalism and radical sentiments.

Unlike ordinary groups of teenagers who commit hooliganism or acts of vandalism, usually for the purpose of “having fun,” informal extremist groups carry out their illegal actions based on a certain ideology, the main thesis of which can be, for example, this: to overcome all political and economic problems it is necessary to create a “national” state in the country, since this, in their opinion, will serve as a guarantee against any threats.

Moreover, the idea of the so-called “pure state” is inherent not only to “skinheads”, but also to religious extremists, who, in turn, call for the creation of such a “pure state” on a religious basis. It is absolutely clear that behavior motivated by such ideas has a strict orientation, aimed in this case against persons of a different nationality or religion. Mixed in here is hatred of the existing government, which, according to extremists, condones the activities of the “culprits” of all Russian troubles, which leads to an even wider spread of extremist ideas. It is these ideas that become the foundation for the formation of informal extremist youth groups.

The system of views imposed by extremists is attractive to young people due to the simplicity and unambiguity of its postulates, the promise of the opportunity to immediately, right away, see the result of their albeit aggressive actions. The need for personal participation in a complex and painstaking process of economic, political and social development is being replaced by primitive calls for the complete destruction of existing foundations and replacing them with utopian projects.

Quite a lot of extremist crimes are committed by minors. Therefore, in order to suppress extremist crime and curb the criminal situation in this area, it seems advisable to strengthen preventive work among young people, including minors, by carrying out educational and preventive measures. Adolescents should be taught the principles of tolerance through, for example, tolerance classes, educational programs and workshops on tolerance.

Every year on November 16, the Russian Federation has recently celebrated the International Day of Tolerance. According to Art. 13 of the Federal Law “On Combating Extremist Activities” on the territory of the Russian Federation prohibits the distribution of extremist materials, as well as their production or storage for the purpose of distribution.

Particularly noteworthy is the need for preventive work to monitor and take measures to eliminate extremist-nationalist and extremist-terrorist sites on the Internet that actively promote the ideology of extremism, nationalism and terrorism, containing calls to commit extremist and terrorist crimes against people of another nationality or religion, foreign citizens, as well as detailed instructions on making explosive devices, committing terrorist acts, “nationalist” murders, etc.

Such work to counter extremist and terrorist activities should be carried out, first of all, by federal government bodies, government bodies of the constituent entities of the Federation, local governments, which, within their competence, should, as a matter of priority, carry out preventive, including educational, propaganda measures aimed at preventing the threat of extremism and terrorism. Early identification and adoption of the necessary preventive measures will significantly prevent adolescents from developing a persistent tendency to commit illegal actions.

The main features of extremism among youth should be highlighted:

firstly, extremism is formed mainly in marginal environments. It is constantly fueled by the uncertainty of the situation young man and his unsettled views on what is happening.

Secondly, extremism most often manifests itself in systems and situations characterized by the absence of existing standards and attitudes oriented towards law-abidingness and consensus with state institutions.

Thirdly, extremism manifests itself more often in those societies and groups where there is a low level of self-esteem or where conditions contribute to ignoring individual rights.

Fourthly, this phenomenon is characteristic of communities not so much with a so-called “low level of culture”, but with a culture that is torn, deformed, and does not represent integrity.

Fifthly, extremism corresponds to societies and groups that have adopted an ideology of violence and preach moral promiscuity, especially in the means of achieving goals.

The following particularly significant factors can be identified as the reason for the emergence of extremist manifestations among young people:

this is an aggravation of social tension among young people (characterized by a complex of social problems, including problems of the level and quality of education, “survival” in the labor market, social inequality, decline in authority law enforcement etc.);

this is the criminalization of a number of areas of public life (among young people this is expressed in the widespread involvement of young people in criminal areas of business, etc.);

this is a change in value orientations (a significant danger is posed by foreign and religious organizations and sects that instill religious fanaticism and extremism, denial of norms and constitutional obligations, as well as values alien to Russian society);

this is a manifestation of the so-called “Islamic factor” (propaganda of ideas of religious extremism among young Muslims in Russia, organization of travel for young Muslims to study in countries of the Islamic world, where recruitment work is carried out by representatives of international extremist and terrorist organizations). This is the growth of nationalism and separatism (active activities of youth nationalist groups and movements that are used by individual socio-political forces to achieve their goals);

this is the presence of illegal circulation of means of committing extremist actions (some youth extremist organizations, for illegal purposes, are engaged in the manufacture and storage of explosive devices, teach the use of firearms and knives, etc.).

this is the use of a psychological factor for destructive purposes (aggression, characteristic of youth psychology, is actively used by experienced leaders of extremist organizations to carry out extremist actions);

this is the use of the Internet for illegal purposes (provides radical public organizations with access to a wide audience and propaganda of their activities, the ability to post detailed information about your goals and objectives, time and place of meetings, planned events).

The existing system of Russian legislation, reflecting the legal strategy for countering terrorism and extremism, generally has a fairly complete set of legal norms that make it possible to effectively combat terrorism and extremism.

Against the backdrop of maintaining and strengthening the power component of the fight against specific terrorist manifestations, it is important to radically increase the effectiveness of countering the ideology of terrorism and to put up reliable barriers to its penetration into the public consciousness.

The ultimate goal of this work is to change the legal psychology of people, to ensure that the absolute majority of the population rejects the very idea of the possibility of using terrorist methods to resolve territorial, social, religious, cultural and any other problems and contradictions.

To solve this problem, including among young people, it is necessary to create a self-reproducing system of ideas, carrier subjects and channels of their dissemination, which can, autonomously from the state, contribute to the formation of a positive public consciousness, excluding the very possibility of using violence to achieve any goals. Such a system can and should become institutions of civil society, scientific and business communities, educational structures and means mass media.

Along with the current awareness-raising work with young people, efforts should be intensified to eliminate the very prerequisites for the formation of consciousness focused on violence as a means of resolving contradictions.

On the prevention of manifestations of extremism among public associations, including youth

A person’s life safety largely depends on his worldview, on who he sees as like-minded people. It is very dangerous not to understand that opposing yourself and your views to the world around you can provoke unfavorable and even dangerous life situations. This position often leads a person to protest movements, groups and formations that are hostile to society and use asocial methods to achieve their goals. These protest organizations are almost always extremist. There are different types of extremism, and therefore different extremist organizations can be formed. All movements, organizations and associations that promote hatred and xenophobia are today considered extremist in Russia. Working with public associations, including youth, is one of the important areas of activity to counter extremism. The danger of extremism lies not only in the involvement of people in criminal extremist activities, but also in negative impact on their personality, the formation of a morally and ideologically disoriented personality.

One of the main and most important areas of countering extremism in the Russian Federation today is its prevention - explanatory and preventive work to counter extremist manifestations. This is especially relevant and important among the younger generation and among public associations of various natures and persuasions. Effective fight with extremist manifestations is impossible without carrying out targeted work to eradicate the causes that give rise to them and contribute to the implementation of extremist activities.
The state’s responsibilities include not only creating conditions for the normal functioning of public organizations, including youth organizations, and cooperation with them. His responsibility is to exercise supervision and control over the activities of public associations and organizations, in order to avoid the development among them of anti-state, anti-social, and extremist movements. This requires timely identification, prevention and suppression of extremist activities of public and religious associations, other organizations, and individuals.
Countering extremist activities is based on the following principles:
. recognition, observance and protection of human and civil rights and freedoms, as well as the legitimate interests of organizations;
legality;
publicity;
priority of ensuring the security of the Russian Federation;
priority of measures aimed at preventing extremist activity;
cooperation of the state with public and religious associations, other organizations, citizens in countering extremist activities;
the inevitability of punishment for carrying out extremist activities.
The legislation notes that counteraction to extremist activities (including the activities of informal youth organizations (groups) of an extremist-nationalist orientation and extremist communities), crimes of an extremist nature should be comprehensive, focused on their suppression not only by criminal law, but also by preventive measures . Extremism cannot be eradicated by criminal law prohibitions and punitive measures alone. Therefore, preventing extremism by using the capabilities of all government agencies and public associations should become the most important area of work in this area.

Currently, members of informal youth organizations (groups) of an extremist-nationalist orientation are usually young people aged 14 to 30 years, and often minors aged 14 to 18 years. According to statistics, the majority of extremist crimes are committed by minors. In order to suppress the growth of extremist crime in the Russian Federation and curb the criminal situation in this area, it seems advisable to strengthen preventive work among minors by carrying out educational and preventive measures already from school.

Such work, according to Article 5 of the Law “On Combating Extremist Activities,” should be carried out primarily by federal government bodies, government bodies of the constituent entities of the Federation, and local government bodies, which, within their competence, should, as a matter of priority, carry out preventive, including educational and propaganda measures aimed at preventing the threat of extremism, with an important role assigned to public associations, especially those where young people and teenagers participate.

Early identification and adoption of the necessary preventive measures will significantly prevent young people and adolescents from developing a persistent tendency to commit illegal extremist actions. In this regard, public associations should conduct regular preventive conversations among participants (members) of associations explaining the consequences of manifestations of extremism.

It is precisely such events, as well as the inevitability of punishment for carrying out extremist activities, that should lay a solid foundation for the tolerant education of future generations, in the future, to form a sustainable negative attitude to extremist acts, the persons who committed them, and will effective way preventing the influence of extremist-nationalist ideas on society.

Anti-extremist preventive measures are divided into two types:
Primary prevention is work to prevent the influx (recruitment) of new members into extremist formations. Immunization of adolescents against extremism. Instilling anti-fascist views. Secondary prevention is preventive work with members of extremist groups. The most significant is primary prevention, with the help of which various obstacles are created for teenagers to join extremist formations.

Tolerance lessons - introducing students to the diversity of different cultures - are effective in preventing extremism. But it is worth considering that such lessons can only be effective if the general culture of the teenager is sufficiently high. Teenagers do not always immediately find themselves in an extremist formation. Most often, they get there from another informal movement, which turns out to be an intermediate link for such a transition. In addition, a fairly significant proportion of young people - potential extremists - are involved in their activities by the criminal sector.

The main directions of preventing youth extremism can be divided into:
preliminary immunization of a teenager to extremist ideology;
the formation of rejection of violence as such;
formation of a negative image of extremist groups and their leaders.

Criteria for identifying extremism: 1) Actions are associated with rejection of the existing state or social order and are carried out in illegal forms. Extremist actions will be those that are associated with the desire to destroy and discredit currently existing public and state institutions, rights, traditions, and values. Moreover, such actions can be violent in nature and contain direct or indirect calls for violence. Activity that is extremist in content is always criminal in form and manifests itself in the form of socially dangerous acts committed, prohibited by the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. 2) Actions are of a public nature, affect socially significant issues and are addressed to a wide range of people.
Extremism can be carried out by people who have very different social or property status, national and religious affiliation, professional and educational level, age and gender groups, and so on. It should be remembered that the forms of extremist activity are precisely defined in the legislation; their list is exhaustive and is not subject to broad interpretation. A person’s beliefs cannot contain signs of extremist activity as long as they are part of his intellectual life and do not find their expression in the form of one or another social activity. It is necessary to distinguish and differentiate extremism in the activities of public organizations from the activities of opposition political parties, representatives of religions and confessions, national and ethnic communities as such. Their non-extremist activities are carried out in any forms provided for and not provided for by law.
In the Russian Federation, the creation and activities of public and religious associations and other organizations whose goals or actions are aimed at carrying out extremist activities are prohibited (Article 9 of the Federal Law of July 25, 2002 N 114-FZ

The activities of public and religious associations and other non-profit organizations are prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation foreign countries and their structural units, whose activities are recognized as extremist in accordance with international legal acts and federal legislation (Article 17 of the Federal Law of July 25, 2002 N 114-FZ
“On countering extremist activities” with amendments and additions dated July 27, 2006, May 10, July 24, 2007, April 29, 2008, December 25, 2012, July 2, 2013).

In the event that a public or religious association, or other organization, or their regional or other structural unit carries out extremist activities, resulting in a violation of human and civil rights and freedoms, causing harm to the individual, the health of citizens, the environment, public order, public safety, property , legitimate economic interests of individuals and (or) legal entities, society and the state, or creating a real threat of causing such harm, the corresponding public or religious association or other organization may be liquidated, and the activities of the corresponding public or religious association that is not legal entity, may be prohibited by court decision.

The state can also suspend the activities of a public association from the moment it goes to court. In case of suspension of the activities of a public or religious association, the rights of the public or religious association, its regional and other structural divisions as founders of mass media are suspended, they are prohibited from using state and municipal mass media, organizing and holding meetings, rallies, demonstrations, processions, picketing and other mass actions or public events, take part in elections and referendums.

Non-profit and public organizations (including youth and children's and youth organizations) can be created to achieve social, charitable, cultural, educational, scientific and management goals, in order to protect the health of citizens, development physical culture and sports, satisfying the spiritual and other non-material needs of citizens, protecting the rights and legitimate interests of citizens and organizations, resolving disputes and conflicts, providing legal assistance, as well as for other purposes aimed at achieving public benefits.

We appeal to the leaders of public and religious associations - the prevention of extremism among public associations should become one of the areas of activity to counter extremism. It is necessary to actively engage in the fight against extremism among young people. We recommend that members (participants) of associations carry out constant preventive work to prevent manifestations of extremism, because only the common efforts of the state and society aimed at forestalling and preventing manifestations of extremism will yield positive results. In contrast to extremist organizations, today it is necessary to create children's, youth, sports non-profit organizations whose goals and objectives should be aimed at reviving the culture of peoples, military-patriotic education of youth, charitable activities, development various types sports Considering that young people are a category of the population that not only needs help, but is also capable of providing it, it is necessary to develop volunteer movements, promoting intellectual, cultural and physical development youth.

The participation of youth organizations themselves in the fight against manifestations of extremism is important indicator intolerance of this phenomenon in society. And an important place in the general system of preventing youth extremism is given to the activities of children's youth and sports public associations, whose task is to organize positive developmental leisure for adolescents and young people.

The main thing that should become the main thing in the prevention of extremism, by educating the population, especially young people and schoolchildren, is to instill in them knowledge about the traditions and culture of other nationalities, conducting appropriate lessons on tolerance in educational institutions. Only common efforts, creating an atmosphere of national harmony, tolerance and mutual understanding, will become a powerful barrier to the development of extremism in society, including among young people.

Xenophobia and youth extremism. Prevention of the problem

The problem of xenophobia has been one of the most difficult problems in Russian society for many years. Hate crimes are the most striking manifestations of xenophobia. With the advent of Federal Law No. 114 “On Combating Extremist Activities” and especially after amendments were made to it, such crimes increasingly began to be called “extremist”, and activities to prevent hate crimes - “prevention of extremism”.
Young people often choose violence to influence what they perceive to be an unfair world. Today in Russia, youth groups commit the majority of hate crimes. It is with young people that intensive work should be carried out to prevent extremism.

Youth extremism how adherence to extreme views and actions determines deviant behavior (behavior that deviates from generally accepted, most widespread and established norms in certain communities at a certain period of their development), expressed in disdain for the rules and norms of behavior existing in society or in their denial. One of the forms of such behavior among young people is hostile actions towards so-called “strangers”. The content of the concept of “xenophobia” is “fear of strangers” (“xenos” - “stranger”, “unusual”; “phobos” - “fear”).

Xenophobia is a negative, emotionally charged, irrational in nature attitude of a subject towards certain human communities and their individual representatives - “strangers”, “others”, “not ours”. It manifests itself in the subject’s corresponding social attitudes, prejudices, prejudices, social stereotypes, as well as in his worldview. This is the aggressive behavior of young people towards “strangers”, justified by hostile attitudes.

Xenophobia is often identified with nationalism, but there is a significant difference between these concepts: adherents of nationalist views do not necessarily have negative feelings towards other nations, ethnic groups or religions. On the other hand, xenophobic people may call their views “nationalism” in order to make them more attractive. Also, xenophobia in its specific manifestations borders and intersects with chauvinism.

Extremism and xenophobia are interconnected, but they also have significant differences. Xenophobia usually refers to various manifestations of intolerance (intolerance) towards groups that are perceived by the mass consciousness as “strangers”. The term xenophobia itself precisely means fears, wariness and hostility (i.e., phobias) towards strangers. A special case of xenophobia is ethnophobia (or ethnophobia) - fears directed both against specific ethnic communities and against some weakly differentiated conglomerate of “alien” peoples in the mass consciousness (for example, “Caucasians”, “southerners”, “foreigners”).

Xenophobia is one of the features of mass consciousness, which is predominantly spontaneous in nature, even in those cases when it develops under the influence of targeted information and propaganda efforts, while extremism is a more or less formalized ideology and purposeful activity of organized groups, less often of individuals .

Xenophobia is the most important source of extremism in several respects: firstly, extremist organizations are formed from the carriers of xenophobia; secondly, xenophobic stereotypes most often serve as “raw material” for extremist ideas. It is xenophobia that most of all limits the possibilities of all forms of countering extremism, since mass stereotypes of xenophobia have internal inertia and can exist for some time even without the propaganda influence of extremist forces.

Manifestations of xenophobia, including ethnophobia, have varying intensity, since both wariness and hostility can vary from suspicion to fear and from hostility to hatred. On the one hand, ethnophobia and xenophobia, like all phobias, are derived from the fear of losing “resources”; on the other hand, they are a consequence of the fear of “loss of one’s own identity.”

The resurgence of social, ethnic and religious intolerance that underlies extremism almost always accompanies historical change. At the personal level, the preconditions for ethnic and religious extremism can be caused by almost any change in social status. Many sociological studies have recorded an increase in xenophobia and aggressiveness in the minds of people who have lowered their social status. But even “prosperous” people are not free from the dangers of xenophobia and aggression. As the gap between the aspirations of the individual and the possibilities for their satisfaction increases, aggressive attitudes increase; dissatisfaction usually leads to a search for the culprit - it becomes someone else - power, competitive groups, representatives of other nations and religions, and the like.

At the level of society, ethnic and religious communities, manifestations of extremism increase during periods of historical changes that have begun but are not completed. In such conditions, the so-called “identity crisis” associated with the difficulties of social and cultural self-determination of the individual. The desire to overcome this crisis gives rise to a number of consequences that can act as prerequisites for political extremism, namely: people’s interest in consolidating in primary, natural communities (ethnic and religious) is being revived; Traditionalism is intensifying, manifestations of xenophobia are growing.

Xenophobia, as a precursor of ethnic and religious extremism, also arises as a result of the self-affirmation of ethnic and religious communities based on negativism. At the same time, sociologists have recorded two opposite forms of such self-affirmation - on the one hand, negativity towards groups assessed as being lower than “us” on the civilizational ladder; on the other hand, negativism towards groups towards which “we” feel rivalry, disadvantage or resentment.

The “identity crisis” gives rise to negative ethnic consolidation (unifications of ethnic and religious groups based on the “against” principle). Sociological research indicate the growth of ethnic self-awareness of almost all ethnic communities in Russia.
Among the factors in the emergence of xenophobia and extremism among young people, several categories can be divided into several categories: socio-economic, group and personal. These factors can interact and influence each other.

The group of socio-economic factors may include, for example:
features of economic development of society;
unemployment;
stress as a result of social modernization and processes of integration/disintegration;
At the socio-economic level, the growth of extremist manifestations among young people is explained as a consequence of the transformation processes taking place in modern society, as well as with the phenomena of the economic crisis. Such processes can cause a decrease in educational and cultural potential, a break in the continuity of value and moral attitudes of different generations, a decrease in indicators of citizenship and patriotism, and the criminalization of consciousness in conditions of socio-economic crisis and uncertainty.
Among the group factors the following can be distinguished:
attitudes, prejudices of parents;
views, beliefs of the reference group (including the peer group) (this is a social group that serves as a kind of standard for the individual, a frame of reference for himself and others, as well as a source of formation of social norms and value orientations);
influence of authority figures in a reference group, etc.

The above reasons operate along with personal factors, including:
perceptions, attitudes of adolescents;
individual psychological characteristics (increased suggestibility, aggressiveness, low sensitivity and sense of empathy, individual characteristics of reactivity and the course of mental processes);
emotional characteristics (state of mental stress, experience of loss, grief, etc.).

The socio-economic approach explaining xenophobia and youth extremism is still quite narrow and does not reveal the true reasons for such behavior. The tendency to violence among young people arises under the influence not only of external factors, such as lack of a place of work or home, but also internal characteristics– moral principles and typical characteristics of the individual.
If you only emphasize social reasons xenophobia, then key information is provided by a detailed analysis of the biography of young people who commit xenophobic and violent acts. Particular attention should be paid to the emotional development of such adolescents.
Xenophobia and feelings of hostility towards foreigners manifest themselves not only in relation to “foreign” ethnic groups. Some teenagers experience similar feelings towards unfamiliar peers.
Four different ways of development of such phenomena as aggression towards “strangers”, xenophobia, deviant behavior, as well as adherence to far-right extremist ideology are noted.
Aggression.
Various types Aggression can be traced back to the early stages of a person’s life. One group consists of self-confident, dominant children who later in adolescence use aggression in violent acts.

The second group includes hyperactive children prone to violent attacks. Their behavior was largely determined by the biochemical characteristics of nervous processes, determined by the level of hormones and neurotransmitters. However, many parents and teachers cannot cope with such children and react to their behavior quite harshly, which subsequently increases the children’s aggressiveness. Thus, genetic and environmental influences interact to enhance children’s negative reactions.

The third group includes children who showed predominantly anxiety, shyness and suspicion towards strangers. Later in life they exhibit impulsive-reactive and defensive aggression. Sometimes this group includes children who have experienced grief (for example, the loss of their mother), and if others did not take this into account, children express their grief as a cry for help in aggressive actions.

Xenophobia.
Xenophobia, hostility or violence towards “strangers” arises on the basis of emotional factors, which are mainly directed not at “strangers”, but rather against strangers in general. Children with high levels of xenophobia show something similar to misanthropy or lack of social competence.

Deviant behavior.
The third developmental path is demonstrated by individuals who have committed hate crimes and who have exhibited provocative, antisocial and deviant behavior in adolescence. The emergence of this path is usually associated with the fact that young people skip school, walk around idle, drink alcoholic drinks. In order to express themselves, they often tease adults - for example, they shout Nazi slogans, which they often do not understand. Later, such teenagers may commit crimes ranging from theft to physical harm against persons of a different nationality, race or religion.

Right-wing extremist ideology.
Many criminals who have committed hate crimes are characterized by a fourth development path associated with the emergence of right-wing extremist ideology. Sometimes children are attracted to stories about war, tinged with sympathy for Nazi ideology. As a rule, at first Nazi slogans are repeated by children without understanding their content. Teens may support the ideas of some adults who share racist and extreme extremist views. Later in their lives, such half-formed opinions may become associated with neo-Nazi ideology mainly through peer groups. These attitudes, however, rationalize general aggressive tendencies, personal problems, anxiety, or self-esteem problems. Such criminals are usually unable to argue their political views coherently.
Research confirms that most criminals have a long history of xenophobic attitudes and behavior dating back to childhood. Many offenders were expelled from schools, even sometimes from kindergartens, for their aggressive behavior, indicating a long-term development of aggressive tendencies. Often these general aggressive tendencies find expression in xenophobic manifestations already in adolescence. In addition, the perpetrators often had a delinquent history (shoplifting, robbery, driving without a license, blackmailing other teenagers, assault causing injury, etc.) and committed hate crimes (attacking refugees, beating up punks, engaging in propaganda fascism, etc.).

The complex relationships between aggression, deviant behavior, xenophobia and right-wing extremist ideology, on the one hand, make it difficult to understand the occurrence of these phenomena, but on the other hand, they allow us to take a broader look at the reasons for their occurrence and their interrelations.
Research on xenophobia and youth extremism is necessary to develop effective measures to prevent deviant behavior among young people. Prevention should be focused on the system of causes and factors that cause such phenomena and act at various levels: socio-economic, group, personal.
The socio-economic level of preventing problems of this kind is very important; its significance is great for the formation of social attitudes and legal consciousness of young people, their life plans, a sense of perspective and security, or for protest moods. Solving problems at this level lies in the sphere of social and economic policy of the state.
At the level of practical psychology, one of the steps in the formation of such a system could be the study and diagnosis at the early stages of those individual emotional and behavioral characteristics of young people that can serve as predictors of problems of social interaction in the future. Psychological assistance in creating a social situation for the child’s development that would minimize possible risks in the family, kindergarten, school, could become another stage in the formation of a preventive system. In the future, at the stage of schooling, it is necessary to develop psychological criteria for assessing risk in relation to the development of xenophobic attitudes and their behavioral manifestations in children and adolescents, as well as programs aimed at their prevention and correction. These tasks need to be solved by the psychological services of educational institutions in collaboration with social workers and social teachers who build the social activities of children and adolescents and carry out preventive work at the level of group interaction.
The effectiveness of the prevention system will depend on consistency and coordination of actions at all levels.
An approximate list of basic preventive measures aimed at eliminating the causes of extremist crime:

Social sphere:
reducing social tension in the region, improving the psychological microclimate;
support for vulnerable and low-income groups of the population;
implementation of measures to increase the role of the family in educating the younger generation of patriotic feelings and norms of tolerance;
carrying out measures for the justified and rational distribution of quotas for the use of migrant labor.

Economic sphere:
increasing the investment attractiveness of the region;
improving the standard of living of the population.

Political sphere:
pursuing a consistent political course to improve relations between representatives of different nationalities and religions;
consistent policy to improve the socio-economic situation;
carrying out constant monitoring by authorities of the situation in the field of interethnic relations, openness of this information to the population, inadmissibility of hushing up certain conflicts.
Educational field:
development and implementation of educational programs to develop citizens’ standards of behavior characteristic of civil society;
introduction of courses in pedagogical educational institutions of higher and secondary vocational education to prepare future teaching specialists for educating the younger generation in the spirit of peace, religious tolerance, patriotism and tolerance;
introduction into the methodological programs of educational institutions of preschool education and upbringing of a larger volume of activities to form among the younger generation respect for representatives of other nationalities and religious views;
introduction in educational institutions of secondary general education of courses that educate the younger generation to understand that multiculturalism with tolerance is a factor in the stable development of society.
Sphere of culture:
regular holding of round tables, conferences, competitions and olympiads that promote tolerance and respect for representatives of other nationalities and religions;
regular holding of exhibitions demonstrating the achievements of joint work and creative activity of representatives of different nationalities;
regular holding of cultural days of various peoples, contributing to the destruction of certain negative stereotypes;
holding national holidays.

Information sphere:
active promotion in the media of the values of civil society, the ideals of humanism, goodness and justice;
active information activities to destroy negative stereotypes about a particular nationality;
countering the distribution of extremist publications, leaflets, blocking websites that promote national, racial, religious or social hatred;
constant media coverage of positive experiences of interethnic friendship.

The introduction of extremism into the youth environment has now acquired a very large scale and has dangerous consequences for the future of our country, since the younger generation is a resource for national security, a guarantor of the progressive development of society and social innovation. Due to the natural and social characteristics of youth, young people are able not only to adapt, but also to actively influence its positive change.
An analysis of the manifestations of extremism among young people shows that this is extremely dangerous phenomenon in the life of society creates a threat to public safety. Illegal acts committed in Lately representatives of informal youth associations (football fans, skinheads, nationalists, left- and right-wing radical elements), cause a wide public outcry and can provoke a complication of the situation in the country.
“Xenophobia” and “extremism” are concepts that denote different phenomena, which in their extreme expression can have similar forms. The social aspect of the relevance of the problem lies in the special status of extremism in the hierarchy of social problems. Extremism, especially extremist behavior among young people, is an extraordinary phenomenon, often entailing serious consequences for the state, society and the individual. Manifestations of extremism among young people have now become more dangerous for society than in all previous periods of the existence of the state. Extremism among young people has become not uncommon in our country and, unfortunately, is already quite a widespread phenomenon.
The most well-known manifestations of xenophobia and extremism are cases of violence and aggression directed against people of a different ethnicity. The peculiarity of such actions is that most often young people are involved in their commission and this causes concern.
Characteristic modern youth extremism - growing in scale, cruelty, imposing its principles on opponents, striving for public resonance by intimidating the population.
Work on the prevention of xenophobia and hate crimes should be carried out and considered as part of the prevention of extremism, as one of the elements of activities for the patriotic education of youth - one of the key methods of preventing xenophobia.

General recommendations for prevention may be the following:
prevention of xenophobia and intolerance among young people should be considered among the priorities of youth policy and youth work at all levels, having allocated appropriate resource, methodological, information and expert support for this area of activity;
it is necessary to stimulate the search and development of innovative methods and social technologies in the field of countering xenophobia and intolerance among young people, including adaptation to Russian conditions of the best international experience in this domain;
It is recommended to carry out constant monitoring of the situation with xenophobia and intolerance among young people, the activity of radical nationalist groups and take into account the data obtained during this process when planning current activities, developing programs and a set of activities in this area;
it is necessary to provide measures for resource, methodological, information and expert support for initiatives and projects of public organizations involved in countering xenophobia and intolerance among young people;
try to promote dialogue and joint actions of various ethnic, religious and cultural communities in the fight against intolerance, including using the potential of non-aggressive youth subcultures.

Issues of preventing radicalism among youth

Due to a number of factors, young people are the social group that is most susceptible to radical nationalist and xenophobic ideas and sentiments. Young people's uncritical perception of messages from certain media and other sources, the lack of a constructive civic position and the ability to quite openly express nationalist views through subcultural channels can contribute to the development of everyday xenophobia into a source of aggression and open racist violence. Therefore, it is relevant and important to know the prerequisites that can lead to such sentiments among young people and to promptly prevent their development and possible development into offenses and crimes of an extremist nature.

Radicalism is an extreme, uncompromising commitment to any views or concepts. Most often used in relation to ideas and actions in the socio-political sphere, especially those aimed at decisive, radical changes in existing social institutions. We can distinguish such types of radicalism as political and religious.

In a broad sense, the concept of political radicalism is interpreted as a special socio-cultural phenomenon, determined by the peculiarities of the historical, social, economic and religious development of the country, manifested in value orientations, stable forms of political behavior of subjects aimed at opposition, change, total, rapid pace of change, primacy of power methods in realizing political goals.

Radicalism often spreads in crisis, transitional historical periods, when there is a threat to the existence, traditions and habitual way of society or certain of its layers and groups. This term denotes the desire to bring a political or other opinion to its final logical and practical conclusions, without making any compromises.

There are also psychological interpretations radicalism. Sometimes it is directly interpreted as a psychological mechanism for the qualitative transformation of political processes, involving decisive and uncompromising actions to achieve the goal, adhering to extreme means of achieving the goal; sociocultural tradition, conditioned by the corresponding type of personality and national-civilizational characteristics of society and the state. In modern usage, radicalism means, first of all, an expressed desire for decisive, “root” ideas, and then for methods of achieving them, and for the corresponding actions associated with these ideas.

Sometimes the term “radicalism” is used almost as a synonym for the concept of “extremism”. But there is a certain difference between these concepts. Unlike extremism, radicalism is fixed, first of all, on the content side of certain (“root”, extreme, although not necessarily “extreme”) ideas and, secondly, on the methods of their implementation. Radicalism can be exclusively “ideological” and not effective, in contrast to extremism, which is always effective, but not always ideological. Extremism, first of all, fixes attention on the methods and means of struggle, relegating meaningful ideas to the background. Radicalism is usually spoken of in relation to ideologically, politically and socially extremely oriented organizations, parties or party factions, political movements, groups and groupings, individual leaders, etc., assessing the ideological orientation and degree of expression of such aspiration. They talk about extremism by assessing the degree of extremeness of the methods for realizing such aspirations.

The basis of radicalism is, firstly, a negative attitude towards the current socio-political reality, and secondly, the recognition of one of possible ways way out of the real situation as the only possible way. At the same time, radicalism is difficult to associate with any specific political position. Radicalism can manifest itself in various forms extremism and terrorism.

Radicalism is always an oppositional direction. Moreover, this is the support of the toughest, radical opposition, in contrast to the moderate opposition - “systemic”, loyal, “constructive”. As a rule, it plays a destabilizing role in society. A state of general uncertainty and instability is considered a favorable socio-psychological soil for radicalism. It is on this basis that far-left and far-right ideas flourish, accompanied by corresponding actions.

The subjectivity of young people under unfavorable socio-economic and political conditions can be realized in the form of youth radicalism. Youth radical trends act as a non-systemic opposition, focused on the implementation of alternative projects to existing models of social and political order. Radicalist thinking and behavior are characterized by maximalism, nihilism, a wide range of fluctuations in moods and actions between extremes, and an orientation towards the primacy of forceful methods to achieve social and political goals. The radical type of consciousness and behavior is determined and provoked by the specifics of society itself and the ongoing socio-political processes.

Youth radicalism in Russian society formed in the context of the social transformation of Russian society, which led to social disproportions that narrowed the socially mobile potential of young people. The variety of market socio-professional niches and the growing limitation of the labor market, territorial divisions determine the social positioning of youth as a group with narrowed social reproduction and with increasing tendencies of social alienation and isolationism, a decrease in interest in intergenerational dialogue, which stimulates the radicalization of the youth environment in relation to public interests and dialogue with other socio-age and social groups of Russian society. Today, the radicalism of Russian youth is due to the disruption and deformation of the process of social integration of youth.

Structural transformations in Russian society have led to social polarization, sharp social, property and sociocultural stratification, led to the fact that young people are a social risk group, teetering on the brink of social exclusion, self-determination of young people is difficult, the likelihood of the collapse of vital interests increases, which leads to an increase in illegal ways to realize life goals (deviant career). Social (sociostructural) imbalances in Russian society, as well as the lack of institutional (legal) forms of self-realization for young people, are a system-wide circumstance for stimulating youth radicalism.

Russian youth are characterized by a contradictory attitude towards radicalism. On the one hand, there is no willingness to take part in radical actions at the personal or group levels, that is, a collective subject of radicalism has not developed. On the other hand, there is indifference or a positive attitude towards the manifestation of youth radicalism as a fair and justified reaction of young people to dissatisfaction with their situation not only in the sphere of material production, but also in socio-political life.

The peculiarity of youth radicalism is distrust or anger towards the state (low authority of state institutions) and spontaneity or conflict in relationships at the level of interpersonal interaction. Radical ideas are, in a way, a form of replacement integration, since the mechanisms and conditions for socio-professional integration, social inclusion of young people (education, profession, territorial mobility) in Russian society are reduced. And in this sense, it is necessary to distinguish between demonstrative radicalism as a way of emphasizing the independence of young people and active radicalism associated with attempts not to alienate the existing system public relations and values, but their radical destruction or reconstruction.

Youth radicalism acts as a cumulative effect of sociostructural changes in Russian society. The sociostructural determinants of youth radicalism are expressed in social gaps, to the extent of social inequalities that are perceived by youth as unfair, as alien, as barriers to the social and political activity of youth. Sociostructural changes have influenced the growth of young people’s distrust of state and public institutions, as a result of which the degree of acceptability of antisocial radical actions and phenomena is increasing.
Not only poor, disadvantaged youth are capable of radicalism, but also young people with an average level of income, with social and political ambitions that do not correspond to the corridor of institutional and structural opportunities.
The radicalization of the views of the younger generation is manifested in a negative assessment of the present period: social injustice, ethnic conflicts, bureaucracy, corruption. In the historical consciousness of young Russians, firstly, barriers to youth radicalism have been removed, the idea of radicalism as a dead-end path to achieving social goals and requiring human sacrifice has not been updated; secondly, understanding history does not lead to an awareness of continuity with the previous stages of the country’s development, or a desire to find a synthesis of tradition and modernity, that is, youth radicalism is fixed at the level of historical negativism, growing out of a feeling of historical fragmentation.
The attitude of young people towards law as a form of coercive influence, external control, expands the boundaries of the perception of radicalism, since with an instrumental attitude towards law or legal nihilism, a violation of legal norms is perceived as possible if there is no inevitability of punishment or the law is perceived exclusively as unfair. And since the definition of social justice among young people is associated to a large extent with a negative assessment of the state, there is a risk of merging the concepts of justice and radicalism. Actions against the state and its individual representatives can be considered fair. This does not mean that Russian youth are fundamentally ready to become an ally of radicalism. Another thing is that the attitude towards the Russian state as not entirely legal, expressed by almost half of the youth, leaves room for the legitimation of radicalism and the attitude towards radical sentiments as completely justified by the injustice of the laws.

Not many young people believe that resisting the police, which is a characteristic benchmark of radicalism, cannot be justified in any way and is a crime. For some young people, radicalism is thought of “in action style” as a way out of the gray everyday life, as an extreme form of self-expression, as the attraction of vivid life experiences, which creates an additional resource for mobilization into radical networks of young people.

Russian youth are quite practical, and their value orientations indicate individualism, but this carries the risk of expanding radicalism, since dominant value orientations can be replaced by the radicalization of social activity if young people feel unable to act in legitimate ways.

Some young people are members of marginal radical youth organizations, but most radical groups are not registered, are mobile, organized on a network basis, which can reduce the level of real assessment of radicalism. On the other hand, radical sentiments and actions can be carried out in a self-organized or socially spontaneous form. Most young people are unreflectively unconscious radicals, ready to recognize, approve or even participate in radical actions according to the logic of the situation.

On value and activity grounds, radicalism is reflected in four interdependent points. Firstly, radicalism, having not formed into an independent ideological movement and representing a multi-layered and contradictory syndrome of social life, is characterized by sufficient integrity, unity of views in relation to the democratic and market values affirmed in society as negative. Secondly, the tradition of individualistic anarchism, the desire to be one’s own master, and the absolutization of the independence of youth is associated with radicalism. Thirdly, radicalism is focused on the value of risk, on the formula “result for the sake of action”, on the logic of action, on the desire to be recognized and to evoke respect among young people. Fourthly, radicalism is associated with the disbelief or indifference of young people in relation to the norms of social and legal self-regulation, the value of law and social solidarity.

Among a certain part of radically minded modern youth (“conscious radicals”), the ideological traditions of Russian radicalism and anarchism appear, intertwined with emotional irrational attitudes and modern themes. The conscious part of young radicals, who share radical ideological ideas, is cut off from the majority of young Russians and is confined within a narrow (sectarian) framework, which does not mean the existence of an impenetrable boundary between radical movements and the mood of the majority of young people.

The main reason for the high potential of radicalism is the presence of energetic young people, but with absolutely no place in life, no career prospects, no way out. It is this that young people can carry an irreconcilable hatred of society. In everyday life, youth radicalism exists mainly in the form of sentiments, representing a system of views and emotional states of an extremist orientation. Dissatisfaction with life among some young people is expressed in the form of hostility towards immigrants, ethnic hostility, and right-wing radicalism.

Youth radicalism acts as a form of social self-determination and youth activity, as an alternative to everyday life and as a way to achieve social justice in opposition to the state and specific power structures, but it should be taken into account that radicalism acts as the destructive social energy of youth, as a reaction to the growth of social contradictions. It is not uncommon for youth radicalism to manifest itself through youth organizations.

Youth radicalism in Russian society is a state of the youth environment associated with political pseudo-subjectivity, as a consequence of political indifference and distrust of state and political institutions. Some young people believe that the internal policy of the state does not coincide with the interests of young people and if young people are not able to have channels of legal (legal) influence, then young people should either become an independent subject political activity, which can only be qualified as radicalism in relation to adult systemic parties and movements, or to distance themselves from politics, going into a private, non-politicized space.

Radicalism is becoming a substitute option for youth civic and political activity, a method of political presentation that is as ineffective as social passivity, but can introduce serious elements of political destabilization. For young people, radical ideas seem attractive as an ideal of more or less pure politics.

Current opposition youth organizations and movements, acting as a street protest force, try to imagine themselves as either leaders of future changes, which, despite the extreme populism and “dedication” of its participants, does not lead to the mobilization of the broad masses of youth, but can be qualified as extra-systemic organizational radicalism.

Youth radicalism is a generator of political instability, political destructiveness, and the transition to non-systemic forms of political activity of young people. Radicalism is a peripheral, non-systemic phenomenon of political life, which stands in opposition to all political system and traditional political subjects (including the systemic opposition). Youth radicalism in the political life of Russian society is characterized by political pseudo-subjectivity, expressed in the peripherality of political participation, determined by organizational and cognitive immaturity, and claims to leadership positions in the non-systemic opposition, which creates a vicious circle of political destructivism.

Ignoring youth radicalism or applying punitive measures does not have a positive effect; a systematic approach is needed aimed at minimizing all economic, political, sociostructural and ideological factors that determine the radicalization of youth; dialogue with mass participants youth radicalism, neutralization of “ideologists and leaders”, promoting the growth of activity and influence of youth civil and political associations expressing the interests of youth as an independent socio-age and socio-cultural group.

Prevention of extremism among youth

The concept of "extremism"

In different countries and at different times, many different legal and scientific definitions of the concept of “extremism” have been given. There is no single definition today. A large explanatory dictionary gives the following definition of extremism: extremism is adherence to extreme views and measures. However, it does not reflect the essence of this phenomenon. Scientists insist that when defining extremism, the emphasis should be on actions, not on people, because naming people and groups extremists is quite ambiguous, since it depends on the position and group affiliation of the person using this term: the same group is the same may be called extremists, while others may call them freedom fighters.

Dr. Peter T. Coleman and Dr. Andrea Bartoli, in their work "Addressing Extremism", gave a brief overview of the proposed definitions of this concept:

Typically, some extremist actions are viewed by some people as just and virtuous (for example, prosocial “freedom fighting”), while other extremist actions are viewed as unjust and immoral (antisocial “terrorism”). This depends on the values, political beliefs, moral restrictions of the evaluator, as well as on his relationship with the actor.

Power differences also matter in defining extremism. During conflict, the actions of members of a weaker group often appear more extreme than those of members of a stronger group defending its status quo. In addition, marginalized people and groups who view more normative forms of conflict resolution as inaccessible to them or are prejudiced against them are more likely to take extreme measures. However, dominant groups also often resort to extreme actions (for example, government-sanctioned violent paramilitary actions or the Waco attack carried out by the FBI in the USA).

Extremist actions often involve violence, although groups of extremists may differ in their preference for violent or nonviolent tactics, the level of violence tolerated, and the preferred targets for their violent actions (from infrastructure and military personnel to civilians and even children). Again, weaker groups are more likely to use and undertake direct and episodic forms of violence (such as suicide bombings), while dominant groups are prone to more structured or institutionalized forms of violence (such as the covert use of torture or the informal authorization of police atrocities).

In Russian legislation, and specifically in the Federal Law of July 25, 2002 N 114-FZ “On Combating Extremist Activities,” the concept of “extremist activity (extremism)” is revealed as:

violent change in the foundations of the constitutional system and violation of the integrity of the Russian Federation;
public justification of terrorism and other terrorist activities;
inciting social, racial, national or religious hatred;
propaganda of exclusivity, superiority or inferiority of a person on the basis of his social, racial, national, religious or linguistic affiliation or attitude to religion;
violation of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of a person and citizen, depending on his social, racial, national, religious or linguistic affiliation or attitude to religion;
obstruction of citizens' exercise of their voting rights and the right to participate in a referendum or violation of the secrecy of voting, coupled with violence or the threat of its use;
obstruction of the legitimate activities of state bodies, local governments, election commissions, public and religious associations or other organizations, coupled with violence or the threat of its use;
propaganda and public display of Nazi paraphernalia or symbols or paraphernalia or symbols that are confusingly similar to Nazi paraphernalia or symbols;
public calls for the implementation of these acts or mass distribution of obviously extremist materials, as well as their production or storage for the purpose of mass distribution;
publicly knowingly falsely accusing a person holding a public office of the Russian Federation or a public office of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation of committing, during the performance of his official duties, the acts specified in this article and constituting a crime;
organization and preparation of these acts, as well as incitement to their implementation;
financing of these acts or other assistance in their organization, preparation and implementation, including through the provision of educational, printing and material and technical base, telephone and other types of communications or the provision of information services;

It is interesting to note that, as such, Nazi paraphernalia does not exist. The most common sign, the swastika, was widespread before Hitler's Germany. It was used almost everywhere, even the clothes of Orthodox clergy were decorated with swastika patterns. This is a worldwide sign, the origin of which is not known for certain. His image is still used in many countries with a rich ancient culture, for example India, China. After Nazi Germany, it became a banned symbol in many countries and became associated with extremism and other negative concepts. Although many consider it a neo-pagan symbol at the moment, this is not entirely true, since this sign rather did not represent an idolatrous meaning, but was obviously a banner of kindness and kindness.

The swastika as a symbol has many meanings, and for most peoples they were positive. Thus, among most ancient peoples it was a symbol of the movement of life, the Sun, light, and prosperity.

Of particular interest is the paragraph that talks about the public knowingly false accusation of a person holding a public office. And it is interesting because this is not said about ordinary people, but only about civil servants.

The task of social work is to prevent the spread of extremist sentiments among adolescents and young people, as well as to channel the strength and energy of young people who hold extremist views into a peaceful channel that is legal and does not contradict the norms of society.

Prevention of extremism in the pedagogical process

Today, youth extremism is expressed in disdain for the rules of behavior in force in society, for the law in general, and the emergence of informal youth associations of an illegal nature. Extremists are intolerant of those Russian citizens who belong to other social groups, ethnic groups and adhere to other political, legal, economic, moral, aesthetic and religious ideas. The development of youth extremism is evidence of insufficient social adaptation youth, the development of asocial attitudes in their consciousness, causing illegal patterns of their behavior. Based on this, the following directions in work to prevent extremism and terrorism in the educational process follow:

analysis of the philosophical, historical, sociocultural side of the processes that occur in the field of youth culture;
science-based practical recommendations necessary for the state and society on the prevention of extremism and terrorism;
preventive work to counter manifestations of extremism among young people;
development of a system of preventive measures that will include socio-cultural conditions for the formation of tolerance in the educational process;
improving the system of cultural and leisure activities for the younger generation;
an increase in cultural benefits available to a significant portion of young people;
the creation of authoritative mass public youth organizations that unite and educate younger generations using positive examples;
consolidation and creative realization of personality among peers;
strengthening the professional training of young people capable of realizing life prospects;
taking into account the professional training of young people in the system of preventive measures to counter extremism among young people;
realization of the individual’s need for self-determination, culture of interethnic communication;

Prevention of terrorism and extremism is carried out in the educational system. This work on prevention first of all begins with the formation of skills among educational workers in cultivating a tolerant consciousness among students, ideas about a tolerant urban environment, ideology and culture of tolerance. It is also necessary to develop and introduce into the educational process complexes of educational programs that will be aimed at preventing terrorism and extremism, strengthening attitudes of tolerant consciousness and behavior among young people.

A person becomes an individual through the process of socialization. He receives the initial stages of education in the family. So the main foundation of thinking occurs precisely in the main unit of society. However, the school also takes on an educational function. In schools, social educators must take responsibility for the moral education of their students.

Social portrait of extremists as a social group

Preventive activities to prevent the emergence of extremist sentiments can be classified into two types:

working with teenagers and young people who have not yet developed extremist tendencies;
working with teenagers and young people who have already formed an extremist worldview.

In the first case, such teenagers, who do not have an illegal mood, will be voluntary clients of social work. The task of social work with them will be to create a tolerant worldview in which there will be no extremist ideas.

Let's consider teenagers who have already formed extremist views as clients of social work.

Extremists as clients of social work have their own portrait. Since these clients are not voluntarily referred to a social worker, they can be aggressive and it is difficult to establish interaction with such clients. Such clients are also called “difficult”. They are not trusting and may show resistance. In this case, you need to act outside the box and demonstrate your usefulness to the client. Thus, the goal of social work with such aggressive clients is to organize the work in such a way as to reduce the danger from unpredictable behavior.

Basic approaches to prevention

Bodies of state power and local self-government that counter extremist activities act as a counter-subject reacting to extremist actions. The objective logic of the formation of a counter-subject is such that in its primary form, due to its lack of specialization, it lags behind the leading subject (in this case, the subject of extremism) in terms of development. The adopted federal law, both by the fact of its adoption and its content, implicitly stated the danger of extremism and oriented the state and society to combat it. But the task of organizing all the forces of society and the state to counter extremist activities precisely requires the formation of a subject specializing in this counteraction.

Effective counteraction to extremism should be based on knowledge of the patterns of formation and development of the subject of extremist activity, forecasting the intensity and prospects of extremist actions.

The federal law presents the image of a subject of extremist activity. In Art. 1 refers to public and religious associations, or other organizations, or the media, or individuals carrying out extremist activities. The law in Articles 14 and 15 provides for liability officials, state and municipal employees, in general, citizens of the Russian Federation, foreign citizens and stateless persons for carrying out extremist activities.

Prevention of extremist activity among youth is an area of science and practice of social work, which is intensively connected with the prevention of mental health, with issues of effective adaptation to life and the environment, with problems of pedagogy, education, communication and, in general, people’s understanding of each other and themselves. .

In recent years, various areas of extremism prevention have been developed and tested in Western European countries, the USA and the CIS. However, work on many preventive programs does not give positive results. This is due to several reasons: the lack of theoretically based models, the lack of a sufficient number of proven technologies, and the lack of an accurate definition of the subject of influence. In many countries, including Russia, the prevention of extremist activity is carried out mainly by legal and forceful methods, the need for which is obvious, but they cannot replace psychoprophylactic ones. In Russia, social work itself is also poorly developed, which is extremely necessary in this country, not to mention such an area as the prevention of extremism.

Currently, there are five main psychoprophylactic approaches to preventing manifestations of extremism:

An approach based on disseminating information about extremism and extremist organizations.

This approach is the most common type of preventive strategy. It is based on providing information about extremist organizations and the danger of their religious, nationalist, political ideas, providing facts about the life difficulties, situations and motives of members of these organizations. Social workers organize events and create projects to inform young people about extremism.

Currently, this method is partially combined with other types of interventions, since it is not effective on its own. Despite the fact that information programs contribute to increasing the level of knowledge, they can only give impetus to disgust and all kinds of intolerance. Most of these programs do not include tasks aimed at changing the behavior of young people, developing their tolerance, national and religious tolerance, and do not answer the question of how a young person can self-realize at the present time.

Most often, these programs are not intensive enough and do not last long. However, it is premature to abandon them completely. Information about the dangers of extremist organizations should be given in as much detail as possible and woven into the structure of other programs that have broader goals.

An affective learning approach.

This approach is based on the theoretical proposition that people with an underdeveloped emotional sphere, brought up in families where there was a ban on expressing emotions, begin to show intolerance towards “others”. Affective (intense emotional) learning is based on the understanding that intolerance often develops in individuals with difficulties in identifying and expressing emotions, who have so-called interpersonal risk factors - low self-esteem, an undeveloped ability to empathize (empathy). In this regard, they do not develop the ability to accumulate their own and others’ experiences, and do not develop decision-making skills in complex stressful situations. In addition, people with an undeveloped ability to openly express their emotions are usually not sociable enough, are constrained in expressing feelings, are poorly rated by their peers and are therefore ready at any cost, even through crime, to join the peer group and be accepted there. Social workers in this approach must teach clients to manage their emotions rationally

Although this model is effective, in modern conditions it cannot be used in isolation from others, since the ideas of extremism have now spread not only to adolescents with problematic emotional spheres, but also to many other layers of this age group. In addition, the domestic culture of raising a child presupposes certain emotional prohibitions on excessive empathic empathy, which undoubtedly has a detrimental effect on the formation of personality as a whole. In other words, parental “don’t cry, don’t scream, calm down, be a man,” etc., in addition to certain benefits, also bring certain harm.

An approach based on the influence of social factors.

This approach is based on the understanding that peer and family influence play an important role in facilitating or hindering the emergence of extremist ideas. From the point of view of this approach, the most important factor in human development is the social environment as a source of feedback, rewards and punishments. In this regard, the importance of socially oriented intervention is emphasized, which is special programs for parents, or programs aimed at preventing possible social pressure from an extremist environment.

The most popular among such programs are social pressure resistance training. One of the important approaches in this kind of programs is to work with youth leaders - teenagers who want to undergo certain training in order to subsequently carry out preventive anti-extremist activities in their school, in their area.

Life Skills Approach

This approach is central to the concept of behavior change and therefore predominantly uses behavioral modification techniques. The basis of this direction is Bandura’s theory of social learning (Bandura A., 1969). In this context, problematic behavior of a teenager is considered from the point of view of functional problems and implies assistance in achieving age-related and personal goals. From this point of view, the initial phase of extremist activity may be an attempt to demonstrate adult behavior, i.e. a form of alienation from parental discipline, an expression of social protest and a challenge to environmental values, it makes it possible to become a participant in a subcultural lifestyle.

Researchers on this issue describe many such subjective motives and clearly establish one fact: aggression is becoming a major factor in the behavior of young people. Based on this position, life skills programs are being developed, which consist of increasing adolescents’ resistance to various negative social influences. In the USA and Western Europe develops a large number of such programs. An assessment of their effectiveness showed that this model has a chance of being successful, but it cannot be completely copied in Russia due to fundamental differences in youth behavioral styles. The desire of young compatriots to adopt the Western behavioral image is an inevitable thing, but an indispensable component of this process should be cognitive development - the basis for the meaningful formation of their own behavioral style.

An approach based on the development of activities alternative to extremist

This approach suggests the need to develop alternative social programs for young people, in which the desire for risk, the search for thrills, and increased behavioral activity, so characteristic of young people, could be realized within a socially normative framework. This direction is an attempt to develop specific activity in order to reduce the risk of extremist aggression.

For example, nowadays more and more football fans are becoming extremists. However, loving your team is not a reason to hate others. Some social workers proposed creating more and more open areas for playing football, so that fans would not go out to fight opponents, but would play football among themselves or with fans of other football teams

A. Kromin identifies four options for programs based on activities alternative to extremist ones:

Offering a specific activity (such as adventure travel) that creates excitement and involves overcoming various obstacles.
A combination of the opportunity to satisfy needs specific to adolescents (for example, the need for self-realization) with specific activity (for example, creative activities or sports).
Encouraging the participation of adolescents in all types of specific activities (various hobbies, clubs, etc.).
Creating groups of young people who care about actively choosing their life position. The results of these programs do not show clear success or failure, but they are particularly effective in groups at high risk of deviant behavior.

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IF YOU'RE HOME ALONE

Ask your friends and acquaintances to warn you about their visit by phone.

If they call at your apartment, do not rush to open the door, first look through the peephole and ask who it is (regardless of whether you are alone at home or with loved ones).

When answering “I”, do not open the door; ask the person to identify himself.

If he introduces himself as a friend of your relatives who are not at home at the moment, without opening the door, ask him to come another time and call your parents.

If a person calls a surname that is unfamiliar to you, saying that he was given this address, without opening the door, explain to him that he wrote down the address he needed incorrectly and call his parents.

If the stranger introduces himself as an employee of the emergency department, post office or other public service institution, ask him to give his last name and reason for coming, then call your parents and follow their instructions.

If the person who came introduced himself as an employee of the department of internal affairs (police), without opening the door, ask him to come at another time, when his parents will be at home, and inform them.

If a stranger asks you to use the phone to call the police or an ambulance, do not rush to open the door; Having specified what needs to be done, call the necessary service yourself.

If a group of people has gathered on the landing, drinking alcohol and interfering with your rest, do not enter into conflict with them, but call the police.

When taking out the trash can or going to buy a newspaper, first look through the peephole to see if there are strangers near your apartment; When you go out, lock the door.

Don’t leave a note at the door of your apartment about where you went and for how long.

Your home will be your fortress if you take care of your own safety.

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IF YOU ARE OUTSIDE:

If you want to go somewhere, be sure to tell your parents where, with whom you are going and when you will return, and also tell your route. During games, do not climb into parked abandoned cars, basements and other similar places.

Try to ensure that your route does not go through a forest, park, deserted or unlit places.

If you feel like someone is following you, go to the other side of the road, go to a store, to a bus stop, or talk to any adult.

If you are delayed somewhere, ask your parents to meet you at the bus stop.

If your route is on a motorway, walk towards the traffic.

If a car slows down near you, move away from it.

If you are stopped and asked for directions, try to explain everything in words without getting into the car.

If stranger introduced himself as a friend of your relatives or parents, do not rush to invite him home, ask him to wait for the adults to arrive outside.

If a noisy company comes towards you, cross to the other side of the road and do not enter into conflict with anyone.

If you are accosted by strangers or threatened with violence, shout loudly, attract the attention of passers-by, resist. Your scream is your form of defense! Your safety on the street largely depends on you!

If you notice strangers when entering the entrance, wait until one of your friends enters the entrance with you.

Don't get into an elevator with a stranger.

If you find that the door to your apartment is open, do not rush to enter, go to your neighbors and call home

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REMINDER

for parents on the prevention of extremism

The main “risk group” for extremist propaganda is young people as the most sensitive social stratum. Moreover, the youth adolescence, starting from about 14 years old - at this time the formation of a person as an independent personality begins.

The motives for joining an extremist group are a focus on activism, a desire for individual self-expression and communication with people who share their beliefs, an orientation towards aggressive behavior, as well as a desire to express protest and feel independent.

It is important to remember that it is easier to prevent a teenager from falling under the influence of an extremist group than to subsequently deal with this problem. A few simple rules will help significantly reduce the risk of your child falling under the influence of extremist propaganda:

Talk to your child. You need to know who he communicates with, how he spends his time and what worries him. Discuss the political, social and economic situation in the world, interethnic relations. It is difficult for a teenager to understand the intricacies of global society, and extremist groups often take advantage of this, interpreting certain events in favor of their ideology.

Provide leisure time for your child. Sports sections, hobby groups, public organizations, military-patriotic clubs will provide an opportunity for self-realization and self-expression of a teenager and will significantly expand his social circle.

Control the information your child receives. Pay attention to what programs he watches, what books he reads, what websites he visits. The media is a powerful tool in extremist propaganda.

The main signs that a young man or girl is beginning to fall under the influence of extremist ideology can be summarized as follows:

a) his demeanor becomes much sharper and rude, profanity or slang language progresses;

The style of clothing changes dramatically and appearance, corresponding to the rules of a certain subculture;

There are many saved links or files on the computer with texts, videos or images of extremist-political or socially extreme content;

Incomprehensible and atypical symbols or paraphernalia (as an option - Nazi symbols), objects that can be used as weapons appear in the house;

The teenager spends a lot of time on the computer or self-education on issues not related to school education, fiction, films, computer games;

Increased passion for bad habits;

A sharp increase in the number of conversations on political and social topics, during which extreme opinions with signs of intolerance are expressed;

Internet nicknames, passwords, etc. are of an extreme political nature.

If you suspect that your child has fallen under the influence of an extremist organization, do not panic, but act quickly and decisively:

1. Do not categorically condemn the teenager’s hobby or the ideology of the group - such a manner will definitely encounter a protest. Try to find out the reason for the extremist mood, carefully discuss why he needs it.

2. Start “counter-propaganda.” The basis of “counter-propaganda” should be the thesis that a person can do much more to restructure the world if he studies further and as best as possible, thus becoming a professional and authority in society, whom people will follow and listen to. Give more examples from history and personal life about events when people of different nationalities and races worked together to achieve certain goals. A prerequisite for such communication should be gentleness and unobtrusiveness.

3. Limit the teenager’s communication with acquaintances who have a negative influence on him, try to isolate him from the group leader.

Be more attentive to your children!

FEDERAL AGENCY FOR EDUCATION

FEDERAL STATE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

HIGHER PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

"SOUTH FEDERAL UNIVERSITY"

TEST

in the discipline "DEVIANTOLOGY"

on the topic "EXTREMISM IN YOUTH ENVIRONMENT"

PERFORMED

Student gr 3.4 OZO

Zubkova M. N.

CHECKED

Shapinsky V. A.

ROSTOV-ON-DON

INTRODUCTION

I reasons for the growth of extremist behavior among young people

II Youth extremist organizations in post-Soviet Russia

III Countering youth extremism

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION

The transition period of Russian reforms is characterized by instability of general social conditions, which is also projected onto the criminal situation, in particular on youth crime. The state and dynamics of crime indicate an increase in negative processes in the teenage environment. The crime rate of teenagers, if we keep in mind its real scale, on average, according to experts, is 4–8 times higher than the registered crime rates, and for some types of attacks the “scissors” are even more significant. Consequently, the social significance, the measure of the public danger of teenage crime, is much higher than can be judged by statistical figures 1 .

This gives grounds to state the fact that in Russia at the moment there is a fairly strong concentration of criminogenic factors, which opens the way to sliding towards the highest possible degree of criminalization of society. Extremism in the behavior of humans and social groups is a phenomenon characteristic of each historical era, which is probably not amenable to complete eradication. But the degree and severity of the manifestation of extremist sentiments are determined by social and environmental transformations, the weakening of the level of integrity of society.

The spread of political extremism in Russia has become one of the most pressing problems. The number of crimes is increasing, the level of violence is rising, its manifestations are becoming more cruel and professional. Special place Among this group is the extremist behavior of young people associated with the commission of violent actions for political reasons.

2 .

Ireasons for the growth of extremist behavior among young people

Extremist behavior of young people is one of the most pressing socio-political problems. The state, level, and dynamics of political extremism among young people in Russia are widely discussed in the media and in specialized literature, and analytical collections are published 2 .

Youth is considered as a large social group that has specific social and psychological traits, the presence of which is determined by the age characteristics of young people and the fact that their socio-economic and socio-political status, their spiritual world is in a state of development. In modern scientific literature, this group usually includes (in statistics and sociology) people aged 15 to 30 years. Youth defining their life path, resolves conflict situations based on a comparison of possible options, if we take into account that youth is characterized by: emotional excitability, inability to restrain, lack of skills in resolving even simple conflict situations, then all of the above can lead to the commission of deviation.

The problem of aggressive and extremist behavior of young people is becoming increasingly relevant in the conditions of Russian reality. Elements of extremist behavior of young people are formed against the background of deformation of social and cultural life society. In the list of the main reasons for the growth of extremist behavior among young people, researchers tend to include the following: social inequality, the desire to assert oneself in the adult world, insufficient social maturity, as well as insufficient professional and life experience, and therefore a relatively low (undefined, marginal) social status.

Youth extremism as a phenomenon of recent decades, expressed in disdain for the norms of behavior existing in society or in their denial, can be viewed from different positions. Young people have always been susceptible to radical sentiments. Due to its age-related properties, even in politically and economically calm times, the number of radically minded people among young people is always higher than among the rest of the population.

Young people are characterized by a psychology of maximalism and imitation, which in conditions of an acute social crisis is the basis for aggressiveness and youth extremism. The development of political extremism among young people poses a particular danger not even because child and youth crime has increased markedly, but because it is associated with the development of “abormative” attitudes in the group consciousness of the younger generation, which affects values, preferred patterns of behavior, and assessments of social interaction , i.e. in a broad sense, connected with the social and political culture of Russian society in its projective state. Unfortunately, the formation of the first generation of new Russia took place mainly in the conditions of the negative socio-economic situation of the 90s of the twentieth century, which created the preconditions for the marginalization of a significant part of young people, the deviation of their behavior, including political extremism.

A special analysis of the problem shows that extremism in Russia is “getting younger,” with young people aged 15–25 most often committing crimes. Young people are also more likely to commit crimes of an aggressive nature. According to statistics, the bulk of such serious politically motivated crimes as murder, grievous bodily harm, robbery, terrorism are committed by persons under 25 years of age. It is important to consider that youth extremism is currently growing at a faster rate than adult crime 3 .

These processes are of particular importance in the context of problems of social security of Russian society caused by the actions of extremists and leading to physical and spiritual degradation, destruction of the individual, ethnic group, society, and state. Since the intensification of political extremism among young people currently poses a serious danger to Russian society, it should be deeply and comprehensively studied, including by means of political science, as a phenomenon that requires social: political, legal, administrative, managerial and sociocultural counteraction.

IIYouth extremist organizations in post-Soviet Russia

The concept of “youth subculture” remains relevant from the point of view of studying trends in the development of modern youth extremism. The modern and post-Soviet world has become a field of activity for a new type of anti-system and extra-parliamentary political opposition - the youth subculture or counterculture. Certain youth subcultures are defined as extremist if their agents use any forms and means of political violence in order to realize their own political subjectivity in relation to state institutions or any subjects of political power. An important channel for recruiting youth extremism can be considered the formation of a “countercultural opposition” of the left and right spectrum among informal youth movements. Counterculture is associated with youth protest movements and extremist youth movements.

The rapid transformation of Russia and the beginning of its democratization in the 1990s not only intensified the dismantling of the Soviet administrative system, but also, unfortunately, brought chaos and anarchy to many areas of society, including the political life of the country. The state, guided by pseudo-liberal slogans, weakened ideological control over society and partially refused to form vital priorities and goals together with the main social and political groups of society. This contributed to the increased alienation of society and the state, the development of illegitimate forms and methods of solving group problems and the realization of the needs and interests of socio-demographic, ethnic, professional, socio-cultural communities in post-Soviet Russia. The country is still insufficiently implementing important and necessary areas of social policy in the field of social security and healthcare, education, implementation of infrastructure projects, maintaining public peace and the safety of citizens, and overcoming ethno-national conflicts.

This situation turned out to be fraught with increased tension in Russian society, aggravation of social conflicts, and outbursts of spontaneous protests and political extremism. As a result, the prospect of growing opposition sentiments among certain segments of the population and their choice of complex and very dangerous for society methods for resolving problems through the expansion of political extremism and terrorism cannot be ruled out. No less dangerous are attempts to purposefully and consciously form structures aimed at unconstitutional, illegal suppression of unwanted opposition forces.

These movements were composed of representatives of the younger generation who were unable or unwilling to integrate into the unstable society of the country, which was experiencing crises of innovative social transformations. The increase in political protest activity of young people was also facilitated by the fact that a certain part of them were accustomed to the extreme circumstances of everyday, everyday life and showed a propensity for political activity of an extremist nature, being drawn into ethnonational, religious, sociocultural and other socio-political conflicts in the regions of their residence. It is no coincidence that a number of Russian and foreign extremist organizations in the 1990s tried to rely on youth as their new social and political resource.

Most right- and left-wing extremist organizations, parties and groups attempt to politically recruit young people. As a result of the negative social consequences of the liberal reforms of the 1990s, some young people found themselves in a state of maladaptation in the new system of life, which caused pessimism, apathy, disorientation, antisocial behavior, and increased social protest. It is known that the protest energy of the younger generation is an unstable quantity. The strength and direction of the protest energy of young people are undoubtedly determined by the state of crisis, general instability, and the split of society. The determining social factor is the social, economic, and spiritual crisis of modern society, which is in a state of unstable equilibrium. This is a system-wide quality and gives rise to many social contradictions and conflicts. The growth of wealth stratification, social differentiation and marginalization of society, the lack of conditions for the socialization of young people, and the gap in intergenerational continuity have a serious impact. The results of a number of studies indicate that the paradoxical nature of consciousness has become an integral part of modern life in Russia, manifested in the spread of diverse forms of protest behavior among young people. Thus, the paradoxical nature of social existence and consciousness of modern Russian society, objectively determined by the aggravation of social contradictions, is most clearly manifested in the youth environment. Numerous studies of youth society, in particular VTsIOM, note a combination in the social portrait of the generation of aggressiveness (50%) and cynicism (40%) with initiative (38%) and education (30%). Long-term research by sociologists under the leadership of V.T. Lisovsky revealed differences in assessments of the typical traits of the modern generation: “indifferent” (34%), “pragmatic” (20%), “cynical” (19%), “lost hopes” (17%), “protesting” (12%) , “skeptical” (7%). In monitoring studies Yu.R. Vishnevsky and V.T. Shapko, the inconsistency of youth consciousness is analyzed on the basis of the dynamics of value orientations of young people, based on which, against the background of traditional values, individualistic attitudes, the desire for independence, autonomy and independence are strengthening. Accordingly, the role of informal, interpersonal relationships is increasing in the minds of young people, and the associated contradictory approach to the institutions of social control is being affirmed. Apoliticalism is noticeably increasing, combined with growing negativism and social protest. On this basis, the influence of the ideology and organization of right and left radicalism and extremism among young people is growing. Thus, all this contributed to the development of ideas of social protest among young people, as well as the creation of ideological, organizational and political structures, drawing part of the informal youth movement into the mainstream of political extremism.

Preventing extremism among youth is one of the top priorities educational sphere and society as a whole. This is a complex socio-psychological problem, which in modern conditions has become relevant for all countries of the world.

What is extremism

The concept of extremism has been given many definitions (both scientific and legal). Despite the fact that this problem is on everyone's lips, a single term has not been formulated. So, for example, big explanatory dictionary extremism is interpreted as a tendency to extreme measures and views. However, scientists agree that this definition is very vague. The emphasis should be on committing illegal actions.

When asked what extremism is, Dr. Coleman and Dr. Bartoli answer somewhat differently. They believe that this is human activity, far from generally accepted norms, commitment to harsh forms of conflict resolution. However, there are some snags here too. The main difficulty is to determine generally accepted norms, because for each state and society they can differ significantly.

What refers to extremist actions

Unfortunately, in international practice there is not only no uniform definition of the term “extremism” itself. There is also no unified description of the activities that fall under this description. But in order for the prevention of extremism among young people to be effective, it is necessary to clearly understand what needs to be fought. To define the concept and its manifestations, it is worth turning to regulatory documents. The Law “On” interprets this concept as follows:

violent change of provisions of the Constitution, as well as an attempt to violate the integrity of the state;
public justification;
propaganda of social, racial and religious intolerance;
dissemination of ideas of human superiority on racial, religious or any other basis;
violation of human rights and freedoms on racial, religious or national grounds;
obstruction of legal activities public services or religious organizations through threats or force;
preventing citizens from participating in the electoral process through threats or force;
propaganda of Nazi ideology, as well as public demonstration of its symbols and attributes;
mass production, storage and distribution of extremist materials; public calls for participation in extremist activities;
public false accusation of persons holding public office;
financing, organizing and preparing the actions mentioned above, incitement.

Factors of youth extremism

The fight against international extremism involves, first of all, working with young people as the most vulnerable category of citizens. In order for the activity to be effective, you need to understand where young people get such ideas. Thus, among the factors of youth extremism it is worth especially noting:

the influence of parents who have radical beliefs;
the influence of a peer group who are adherents of extremist views;
the influence of authority figures in the teenager’s social circle (teachers, heads of sports or creative sections, leaders of youth organizations, etc.);
stress leading to disintegration in society;
own ideas and moral attitudes;
personal psychological characteristics (aggressiveness, suggestibility);
mental stress.

Main areas of work

At the moment, there is a growing threat of recruitment of young men and women by terrorist organizations. In this regard, the prevention of extremism among youth should be carried out in the following areas:

close interaction between educational institutions and parents;
advanced training of teaching staff on this issue;
inclusion in the educational program of individual subjects or topics related to the prevention of extremism;
introduction of educational programs related to the moral education of children and youth (prevention of crime, violence and homelessness);
continuous monitoring of the level of tolerance in society, and especially among young people;
analysis of the processes occurring in the youth environment, as well as their philosophical and sociocultural aspects;
ensuring accessibility of cultural goods for young people;
fulfillment of the need for self-realization and self-expression;
organization of leisure activities for students (volunteer projects, social programs).

Activities with different groups of youth

Prevention of extremism among young people should be carried out taking into account its heterogeneity. There are two main areas of work:

With groups that have not yet developed extremist tendencies. Such young people usually voluntarily engage in social work, as they do not have any aggressive or illegal attitudes. The task of prevention is only to consolidate tolerant worldviews.
With groups that have already formed extremist worldviews and beliefs. In most cases, such work is carried out forcibly, and therefore young people can be aggressive. Here it is important to find an individual, non-standard approach that will help establish a trusting relationship. The result should be the teenager’s conversion, rejection of extremist views and active inclusion in public life.

Risk group

Despite the fact that preventive activities should be carried out among all young people, there are some categories that are most susceptible to such influences. Having studied the list of extremists, we can identify the following risk groups:

children from disadvantaged families with low income and social status, insufficient education, and a tendency to various kinds of deviations (alcoholism, violence, drug use);
the so-called golden youth, whose representatives, due to certain conditions, feel permissiveness and impunity, and also perceive extremism as entertainment or a normal pastime;
teenagers who are characterized by psychological problems, which determine a tendency to aggression and an inadequate reaction to certain events;
representatives of youth subcultures, informal groups and street companies characterized by aggressive behavior and deviant beliefs;
members of political movements and religious associations who, under the influence of certain ideas and beliefs, can carry out activities dangerous to society.

Key tasks

Preventing extremism should not be chaotic or spontaneous. It is important to carefully consider each stage and its details. The plan for the prevention of extremism should be aimed at solving the following essential tasks:

application to adolescents and young people of the need to respect and protect the rights of any citizen, as well as strict compliance with legislative norms;
formation in adolescents of ideas about the norms of behavior accepted in civil society;
conveying to parents the importance of creating tolerant attitudes in the family;
creation of self-government cells in educational institutions that will carry out educational activities;
formation in the minds of young people of confidence in extremist activity in all its manifestations;
development of safe behavior and self-defense skills among young people in the face of the threat of a terrorist attack.

Main events

Establishing relationships and coordinating work with the commission on juvenile affairs. Its employees should be involved in direct work with students, as well as participation in parent meetings.
Organizing courses for teaching staff on the prevention of extremism. For middle and high school students educational institutions round tables or discussions on this topic may be held. At the same time, the participation of representatives of law enforcement agencies is mandatory.
Conduct Classroom hour"Prevention of extremism and terrorism" at school. During these activities, legal norms and responsibility for their violation should be considered. Attention should also be paid to instilling in students a sense of respect and tolerance for other cultures, nationalities, religions, and beliefs.
Regular parent meetings, which will consider not only organizational issues, but also issues of educating law-abiding citizens.
Developing a system according to which students or their parents can apply to protect their legal rights and interests if they are infringed.

Working with parents

It is no secret that basic beliefs and personal qualities are formed under the influence of family. Therefore, work to prevent extremism in schools should involve close contact with parents. The following information should be conveyed to them:

the specifics of youth subcultures and informal organizations, as well as their potential danger;
degree of parental responsibility for children;
forms of aggression, as well as prevention of their manifestation in adolescents;
mechanisms for involving children in extremist activities;
determination of the age of criminal responsibility for offenses, as well as a description of possible penalties;
the essence of such concepts as “terrorism” and “extremism”;
the specifics of the formation of life position and beliefs in adolescents;
the need for teenagers to be employed (clubs, sections and other forms) outside of school hours.

Responsibility

A person who has reached a certain age established by law can be involved in both administrative and criminal activities for extremism. Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for liability for the following acts:

humiliation of human honor and dignity;
inciting hatred or hostile feelings towards individuals or groups;
organizing communities of an extremist nature;
organization, coordination and support of the activities of such communities.

The main problem of working with children and adolescents is that many feel impunity. Nevertheless, in cases specified by law, even minors are held accountable for extremism. Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation implies the conviction of persons under 18 years of age for posting videos on the global network, as well as any other propaganda documentation with scenes of violence or calls for it. imply the responsibility of minors for the destruction of historical and cultural monuments, as well as desecration of burial places and bodies of the dead. Punishment can be a large fine, correctional labor or imprisonment.

Counteraction and self-defense

Of course, the theoretical basis is important. Nevertheless, it is important to convey to young people how extremist activity manifests itself in practice in Russia. Examples of such situations, as well as actions for prevention and self-defense are given in the table:

Extremist activity	Actions
Bomb threat indoors	during telephone or other contact with the attacker, try to find out details about the location and expected time of the explosion; If possible, record the conversation on digital media or make notes on paper; do not touch any suspicious objects, but call law enforcement if they are found; leave the building without using the elevator and staying away from window openings; if the previous action is impossible, you need to find at least some shelter from the debris (for example, under a table).
Arson of a building	call the rescue service; go to the door and check its temperature - if it is hot, you cannot open it, and therefore you should look for other escape routes; protect the respiratory tract from carbon monoxide penetration (wet bandage or mask); if it is impossible to get out of the room, seal the cracks in the door with damp rags; Open the window a little and sound a distress signal.
Terrorist attack on an airplane	report to employees or intelligence agencies about persons who behave suspiciously; Don't try to fight an extremist alone.
Telephone threat	If your phone does not have a sound recording mechanism, try to record the conversation verbatim on paper; pay attention to the extremist’s voice and try to make an approximate portrait of him; pay close attention to the sound background, it may be useful in determining its location; report information to law enforcement agencies.
Written threat	have as little contact with the document as possible, trying to keep it in its original form; hand over the document, as well as the envelope and any other enclosures, to law enforcement agencies.

Such practical examples or even reconstructions of situations are simply necessary. Prevention of extremism in school should be aimed not only at preventing the formation of such sentiments among young people. It is also important to convey to young people information that will help them save their lives in extreme situations.

Approaches to preventive work

Extremism, as a threat to national security, forces preventive work not only with the adult population, but also with children and youth. This work can be carried out in accordance with the following approaches:

Dissemination of information about the dangers of extremism and organizations that profess it. This approach is the most commonly used. It involves programs to educate young people through civic actions or distribution of printed materials. Considering that this approach is not the most effective, it can only be considered as an additional one.
Affective learning aims to eliminate problems with expressing feelings and emotions. This is important both in terms of forming life experience and releasing negative and positive energy. By receiving emotional release, the teenager becomes less aggressive, which reduces the risk of developing radical tendencies.
The influence of social factors can not only prevent the emergence of extremist ideas in a teenager, but also contribute to this. In this regard, one of the approaches is based on conducting trainings, during which resistance to social pressure is taught.
Life skills development is an approach based on behavioral modification techniques. Basic teenage problem indicates a desire for self-affirmation and an adult lifestyle. Thus, there is a need to conduct courses and trainings for young people that will allow them to form the necessary life beliefs and skills that will protect themselves from the influence of negative trends developing in society.
Involving teenagers in activities alternative to extremist ones. This approach was developed by A. Kromin. He suggests organizing hikes with overcoming obstacles, directing the activity of teenagers into sports or creative activities, and creating groups to defend an active civic position.

Conclusion

The program for the prevention of extremism should primarily affect children, adolescents and young people. It is this layer of society that is most susceptible to the influence of such radical ideas, which is associated with a fragile psyche and lack of a firm position in life. Of course, work in schools and other educational institutions is important, but we should not forget about the role of the family in this process. In this regard, teachers and law enforcement officers should conduct regular preventive conversations with parents.