Youth in Social Reproduction

• Published in: Sociological research 1999-01, Vol.38 (1), p.49-69
• Main Author: Chuprov, Vladimir I.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1061-0154; 2328-5184
• DOI: 10.2753/SOR1061-0154380149

The systemic crisis that has hit Russian society necessarily also has an impact on the fundamental mechanisms of its functioning and development, including social reproduction. As a natural historical process of development of any social system, social reproduction must under conditions of change ensure the continued stability and integrity of society. Any attempt to disregard the laws of this process leads to social disintegration and an escalation of tension. Social reproduction, a governable process, is itself subject to changes that may conflict with the natural historical needs of development of various structures, and this in turn is manifested in a distortion of the social structure as a whole and of the social behavior of individual actors. That is, a change in the reproductive mechanism and a deepening of the systemic crisis of Russian society are mutually dependent. On the one hand, the change is a direct consequence of the crisis, and on the other, it is a cause of the worsening of the crisis. Hence the country cannot emerge from its crisis if the channels of its reproduction are not blocked and new sources of social revival uncovered.