Ponowoczesny wymiar subkultur młodzieżowych w Rosji

Abstract

A postmodern dimension of youth subcultures in Russia

This paper aims to present contemporary characteristics of youth subcultures which result from the concept of postmodern era. With this end in view, in the introduction some selected research positions have been analysed for which the reference point is the theory of postmodernism and contemporary changes within the culture. In the first place, the characteristics of postmodern period have been put forward which help to describe macrosocial and microsocial structures such as fragmentation, a loss in continuity in terms of time and space, a negation of tradition and authority, the information chaos, a multitude of behaviour patterns as well as moral systems. The systematization of selective distinctive features of postmodernity made it possible to analyse changes within the contemporary cultural movements of the youth in the further part of this paper. To some very crucial characteristics of postsubculture belong: the precedence of personal identity of man over the collective one, political indifference, the heterogeneity of style, and the lack of being authentic and original. The essential part of this study is to depict the Russian cultural specificity in relation to contemporary movements of the young having a cultural nature. The main presupposition is to treat the Russian subcultures as borrowed patterns the West through the process of “culture staging”, for which the influence of the media and globalization is of great importance. On the other hand, changes in the contemporary environment of the young in Russia have been shown in such a way as to take into consideration the fact of dissimilarity arising from the eastern cultural impact and the domination of a monolithic culture in the period of the Soviet Union. Furthermore, the fact of the existence of the Russian “crisis awareness” in relation to social and political changes in the period of political system transformation has great weight.