Religious xenophobia in the everyday consciousness of Russian progressive youth: risk assessment

Abstract

This article is devoted to the sociological analysis of the attitudes of religious xenophobia among the most socially and culturally developed part of modern Russian youth, represented by students. The research discourse is formed at the intersection of the problems of “risk society”, revitalisation of religion, and xenophobia. The main purpose of the study is to obtain a reflexive assessment of the religious characteristics of Russian students in terms of xenophobic reactions, discrimination, and violations of citizens’ rights on religious grounds. The method of data collection was a mass survey of Russian students from one of the regions of the Russian Federation. It was revealed that at least 20% of students find some extremist practices around them. The internet is the leading platform for xenophobic and extremist antisocial practices. In the environment that young people observe, religious xenophobia has a much larger scope than it would seem, and the “isthmus” that brings it into a position of extremism is much narrower than it appears at first glance. The lack of understanding of the continuity between the phenomena of xenophobia and extremism constricts the area of management of the situation and creates the possibility of critical risks of conflicts with destructive consequences.