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INVESTIGATION OF THE DEGREE OF PERSONAL CIVIL IDENTITY STATUSES FORMATION
Abstract
These days the development of civilizational social relations makes the problem of modern civil society formation ever more acute. Civil society nowadays should be perceived as an area of personal development and self-expression of free citizens, including self-realization of young people. Civil identity, being part of the value-based motivational component of a personality, is responsible for successful self-realization of young people – future specialists of various specializations. Students preparing to become professionals in their field of study, can achieve more, if they have formed their civil identity. To become mentally mature, a person needs to feel that he or she is useful for the society he/she lives in and that his or her profession is in demand. The latter is achieved through conscious choice of one’s position in the system of social and professional relations, careful identification and assertion of one’s opinion in problematic situations and balanced development of one’s capabilities, including adoption of responsible behaviour (Bespalova, 2012, 125). Modern society is oriented towards creating perfect conditions for young people to socialize successfully, use their potentials in the most effective way, and find their place in their sociocultural surrounding. Personality development in younger people should be regulated by society. It should be understood as a process of socio-psychological development of a young person during his/her integration into public life. This process should reflect the main goals of the society and follow it in its progress. The degree of personality formation in a modern student is determined by his/her ability to internalise the existing structure of public relations. In other words, s/he should take an active part in the transformation of this structure, which is not possible without formed civil engagement and moral qualities. Whereas the formation of civil identity as a system of thought, ideas and feelings, ensures engagement with various social problems, a sense of civic duty, trust, civil dignity and confidence in one’s civil position. The research conducted according to an original methodology revealed the degree of manifestation of civil identity statuses of a personality in the form of a general index and identity components – civil self-identity, moral mindset, social distance and agency, as well as relations between variables investigated. The achieved results allow us to conclude that in youth civil identity, being central to the self-concept, plays the role of social glue that holds together the social mechanism components and ensures the identity contextual structure. The civil identity crisis experienced during one’s college years is predetermined by lack of rigid and defined roles, role multi-positioning, and a reflective plan of one’s future. Superficial and rigid mentality ensure symbolic adaptation to changes, hindering the development of a young person. Reciprocal formation of civil identity statuses is largely due to self-assertion by contradiction, which is expressed as negation of qualities and values opposed to common ones. This kind of “negative identification” can be the basis of civil identity destruction, which leads to passiveness, alienation from social life, absence of long-term prospects. Devaluation of personal resources and of the system of values and goals based on them leads to inflation of consciousness, when a maturing and self-assertive personality emerges into a state of confusion and anxiety. Generation of new ideas and goals can create an individual’s contouring that emphasizes advantages and conceals disadvantages. The total of all the factors of personality development, peculiarities of its harmonious or disharmonious development in youth is the basis of civil identity resulting from active individual choice of one’s own position.
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References8
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