ON THE STUDY OF THE WORLDVIEW INTERESTS OF YOUTH

A. V. KUZIN

The formation of a worldview is a problem for science, interest in which has been evident at various times. But it is especially great today. As ever greater numbers of people are drawn into active public life, the role of the subjective factor in the socio-historical process increases. A worldview, in turn, transforms this factor either into a catalyst of progress or into something that slows it down. Thus, the successful formation of a Marxist-Leninist worldview among working people in general, and among youth, as the largest social community of our country, in particular, is an important element in carrying out the program of major socioeconomic transformations outlined by the Twenty-Fourth Congress of the CPSU.

Every epoch contributes something of its own, something specifically characteristic of it, to the formation of the consciousness of individuals, social groups, socio-demographic strata, and social consciousness as a whole. This particular feature, while being immanent in the character of social being generated by particular productive forces and the production relations corresponding to them, is at the same time connected with the means by which it is worked out.

In studying what is new that has been introduced into our life, into the formation of the consciousness of individuals, social groups, and strata of society as its concrete bearers by the epoch of the modern scientific and technological revolution, we must turn our attention to the mass media and propaganda (SMIP). The point is that analysis of the formation of social consciousness and of its determining principle—the worldview of individuals today—is unthinkable without investigating the influence exerted by SMIP on the personality in general, and on the personality in the process of formation in particular.

Thus, the subject of research that, from our point of view, is of special interest lies at the intersection of three directions of sociological thought. The first of these is research on SMIP. The second is the study of youth. The third is the study of personality. If the emergence of the direction connected with the study of problems of SMIP is the result of their rapid development under the conditions of the modern scientific and technological revolution, and the emergence of youth problems as a definite direction of concrete social research is the result of the growing role of education in the life of society¹, then the development of research on the problems

of the personality, as was already mentioned above, is the result of the growth of the subjective factor under the conditions of a developed socialist society and of the significance of forming a communist type of personality in the light of solving the triune task of building communism in our country.

Each of these directions represents a totality of many problems that must be solved by the collective thought of researchers. However, it is possible, with more modest means, to establish and explain certain facts that may help reveal some processes in social consciousness, as well as presumptive tendencies connected with the formation of a communist worldview under conditions of the intensive development, in our country and abroad, of the mass media and propaganda. Such a study, evidently, should record, first, the character of the formation among young people of the consciousness of a developed socialist society and, second, the preliminary result of the influence on an audience of young respondents of the mass media and propaganda—in particular, the press—for the purpose of forming in it a Marxist-Leninist worldview. It presents itself to us as a social problem of young people’s perception of mass information in the press.

We focus our attention on the perception of mass information in the press because

the press, as was noted by the classics of Marxism, acting as a mediated means of reflecting the spiritual sphere of society’s life, is a sensitive barometer of social processes, of processes in the consciousness of social groups and classes. By making use of it, one can reliably record phenomena hidden from direct observation, including those in the socio-demographic group of youth;

the press, as has been revealed by studies in our country and abroad, despite the rapid development of the newer mass media and propaganda—radio and television—continues to exert the strongest influence on the personality²). And therefore the success of forming a communist worldview among young people with the help of the mass media and propaganda depends to a considerable degree on its effectiveness.

Evidently it would be better, at least in the interests of practice, if it were possible to record not the perception of mass information—which, with respect to influence, is the initial moment, at best a preliminary result of influence—but the influence itself. Such studies are being conducted both in our country and abroad³). However, from our point of view, there still do not exist reliable and precise methods by means of which it would be possible not only to ascertain the existence of this phenomenon, but also to record it representatively.

The influence of the mass media and propaganda is conditioned by a multitude of factors, beginning with the specificity of the communicator and ending with the structure of the personality of the respondent who is in the process of communication. This multiplicity does not make it possible to correlate the influence unambiguously with one or another factor.

This happens because the majority of researchers, when studying the influence of the mass media and propaganda, use the quantitative method of analyzing social phenomena. Scientific practice has shown that the study of the effectiveness of the mass media and propaganda by means of this method alone

²) G. I. Khmara. The Press in the System of Mass Communications. Problems of the Sociology of the Press. Issue 1. Izd. “Nauka,” Siberian Branch, Novosibirsk.

³) A. K. Filipskikh. The Influence of Mass Information on Youth in the Process of Communist Education. Author’s abstract of dissertation. Kiev University. Kiev, 1969; A. Sukhanov. Problems of the Effectiveness of Mass Information and Propaganda. Author’s abstract of dissertation. Tomsk University, Tomsk, 1971, and others.

it is impossible to conduct, which requires a method of its own, one that does not yet exist.

Finally, to this day there is still no scientific theory of communication. Scientific, that is, and not unified, as some researchers believe (S. Brečka) ^4). For, under conditions in which social consciousness has a class character, there is not and cannot be unity of views on the role of the mass media in the life of society, just as there cannot be such unity on a number of other problems of social life. True, a number of Western scholars are trying to create such a theory. Thus, the West German scholar Gerhard Maletzke created a “scale of influences” and developed certain aspects of the study of the effectiveness of the functioning of the means of mass communication ^5).

A group of American researchers headed by K. Sereno and D. Mortensen undertook an effort to create a foundation for a theory of communication ^6). In a recently published collection of articles on communication theory, articles published in periodicals from the late forties to the late sixties are gathered, and the problem of effectiveness is also reflected. Discussing various aspects of the interaction of senders and recipients of information in the process of communication, the authors set forth a variational model of behavior, explaining it on the basis of the assumption that various types of imbalance arising in the process of communication are minimized; they examine the personal aspects of communicative behavior and the problem of the dependence of the effects of communication on the inclusion of its participants in particular social communities. They also attempt to explain certain forms of social influence based on the concepts of receptivity, identification, and internalization. Here, too, a diffusion model of communicative interaction is investigated, one that makes it possible to construct a theoretical basis for studying the basic mechanisms of social changes that are the consequence of communicative processes.

And yet, as René König asserts, “the doctrine of mass communications and their influence is still very far from being an actual theory of mass communications” ^7).

Therefore, for the time being it is more correct to record not the impact of the mass media on youth, but only the perception of mass information by youth.

Perception is an act of sensory consciousness that lies at the foundation of cognition of objective reality. The problem of perception is developed most fruitfully in psychology. Psychology, as is known, regards the human being as a consciously acting, thinking, feeling creature, analyzing his interests, abilities, and temperament. At the same time, in the sociological approach to personality, certain methods of psychological analysis are also used. But philosophers study the human being as a natural phenomenon and, at the same time, as a special phenomenon among other natural and social phenomena. And therefore, although sociological methods of analysis are close to psychological ones, they do not coincide. Indeed, the tasks of social research are to see in the human being that which enables him to play a definite role in the social system, that which constitutes his social nature and enables him to be an active, self-acting center of social activity. Therefore, in research of this kind the researcher should be interested not in the sensory side of the phenomenon being studied, but in the social side.

^4) Democratic Journalist, 1972, No. 6.
^5) G. Maletzke. Psichologie der Massenkommunikation. Hamburg, 1963, S. 192.
^6) Kenneth K. Sereno, David C. Mortensen. Foundations of communication theory. Horner, Row, N. Y. 1970. XI—371 pp.
^7) Democratic Journalist, 1972, No. 6.

Thus, by the perception of mass information we in this case understand the character of the reaction of an individual or of an entire socio-demographic stratum to various kinds of press communications—the selection of these communications, the degree of their assimilation, and the attitude toward the communications.

At the same time, it is important not to confine oneself to recording young people’s perception of mass information, but to clarify its specificity and reveal the problems that exist here.

By a problem, as is known, is meant a definite contradiction of contemporary existence. When we speak of the social problems of young people’s perception of information, we assume that among young people this perception has a specific character. It is specific in the same way as the depth of awareness of the phenomena of social life by a “socializing human being” is specific.⁸

The consciousness of individuals, social groups, and socio-demographic strata, connected with the system of values of the personality, is, on the one hand, determined by objective reality, and on the other—by need, the character of experience, the degree of scientific character of the worldview, etc.

Under the influence of these factors, consciousness, although in the final analysis it is determined by social being, is capable of lagging behind it or, conversely, of getting ahead of it, thereby creating the possibility for the appearance of certain contradictions in the awareness of phenomena; this finds its expression in the specificity of the perception of the objective world, of which mass information is also a subjective image.

We suppose that the character of young people’s perception of mass information in the press cannot but be affected by the particular feature of the contemporary position of youth, which is connected, on the one hand, with the growth of their social activity in the process of communist construction as a result of the increased role of education under the conditions of the scientific and technological revolution, and, on the other—with the fact that the formation of a Marxist-Leninist worldview among young people takes place under conditions of a massive impact by the means of bourgeois propaganda and in the absence among them of their own experience of class struggle.

At present, the problems of youth are being developed very intensively. Suffice it to say that in our country there are several scientific centers which, within the framework of their own profile, study various aspects of this range of problems. Unfortunately, in the study of youth there are many unresolved problems. The three most important of them are:

to this day, the lag in the development of the theoretical, sociological, and also socio-psychological foundations of youth research has not yet been completely overcome;

the majority of studies are regional in character, and their conclusions cannot be extrapolated to the general population on the scale of the country;

a number of important themes, in particular those that lie at the junction of youth problems and traditional problems, fall outside the field of vision of researchers.⁹

Among these latter belong also the social problems of young people’s perception of mass information. It is no accident that, despite the significant number of studies both on the problems of youth and on the problems of the mass media of information and propaganda, the theoretical aspect of the theme we have formulated remains still insufficiently developed. This is convincingly indicated by data from the Leningrad Department of Philosophy of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (resear-

⁸ Term of K. Marx — A. K.

⁹ On improving the organization of scientific research on youth problems. Resolution of the Presidium of the SSA. 1968. Current archive of the SSA.

...studies by V. N. Boryaz^10). Even on a 10-point scale for publications in the main directions and topics of research on sociological problems of youth—where this topic is included in the very broad section “The spiritual profile, life plans, and ideals of youth”—it occupies sixth place on the measurement scale, with a share of 7.8 percent of the total number of studies.

The need to develop this problem exists not only because theoretical research in this area of science lags behind, but also because of the growing demands of practice. Thus, newspaper editorial offices are showing increased interest in determining the degree of effectiveness of their work with a youth audience.

The editorial board of Pravda spoke directly in favor of giving special attention, in research on the newspaper’s readership, to clarifying the nature of the interests and evaluations of the young reader^11). This is understandable: the study of such material as the youth audience of newspaper readers is important in that, by refining our knowledge of it, we can improve the “instrument” itself—the mass media and propaganda system, in particular the press. “The character of an instrument,” wrote N. K. Krupskaya, “is determined by the properties of the material which it is meant to change”^12). The study of this material (the specific features of the perception of mass information) can also give us an answer to the question of what problems must be solved first of all in order to increase the effectiveness of the formation of a communist worldview among youth, and also what the most effective means of solving them should be.

The need to develop this topic, as already noted above, follows directly from the requirements of the Twenty-Third and Twenty-Fourth Congresses of the CPSU, which defined as one of the important tasks of our movement forward the further raising of the scientific level of leadership of social development.

The great and complex tasks facing the Party, it is noted in the Resolution of the Twenty-Fourth Congress, urgently require that leading cadres master modern methods of administration to perfection, possess a sense of the new, see the prospect of development, and know how to find the most effective ways of solving emerging problems and to use the experience and knowledge of others^13).

Under these conditions, the scientific mastery of reality for the purpose of clarifying the essence, as well as foreseeing social processes—formerly one of the urgent tasks of Marxist-Leninist philosophy—has become an immediate social necessity. For knowledge of the matter, competence, as V. I. Lenin pointed out, is a necessary condition for effective administration. Komsomol bodies and agencies engaged in the upbringing of youth now require scientifically grounded characteristics of the socio-demographic groups of the younger generation of Soviet society. Thus, at the conference of the Central Committee of the Komsomol and the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education of the USSR, “Socialism and Youth,” the task was set “to clarify the social portrait of the contemporary young person (by social groups—

^10) V. N. Boryaz, Youth. Methodological Problems of Research. “Nauka,” Leningrad Branch, L., 1973.

^11) V. V. Maevsky, member of the editorial board, political commentator of Pravda: “I think it would be necessary to conduct a more detailed survey concerning the youth theme and, in general, to trace the attitude and position of youth.” (Transcript of the meeting of the editorial board of January 11, 1968. Current archive of Pravda.)

^12) N. K. Krupskaya, Selected Works. Moscow, 1957, pp. 518–519.

^13) Resolution of the Twenty-Fourth Congress of the CPSU on the Report of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Publishing House of Political Literature, Moscow, 1971, p. 27.

plans”)^14). And the Fourteenth Congress of the Komsomol recorded in its resolution that it is “necessary to study, take into account, and shape the interests of young readers, listeners, and viewers”^15).

The urgent need to develop the present problem is also dictated by the nature of the ideological struggle. The easing of international tension that has been achieved as a result of implementing the decisions of the Twenty-Fourth Congress of the CPSU in the sphere of foreign policy does not eliminate the ideological contradictions of two opposing systems. Peaceful coexistence in the sphere of ideology is impossible. There still exists a concept by means of which bourgeois ideologists, using the mass media, hope to bring about changes in the consciousness of Soviet people. To a considerable degree, the emphasis is placed on youth.

It should be noted that at present reactionary imperialist propaganda constitutes, as Soviet specialists state, a highly elaborated, modernized system, more or less meeting the requirements set before it by the political leaders of imperialism in their plans for “peaceful penetration into socialist countries” and the erosion of socialist consciousness^16).

Under these conditions, the problem of educating youth in a communist worldview becomes a task of paramount importance. And since an important place in solving it belongs to the mass media—in particular, the press—then in order to increase its effectiveness it is necessary to know how youth today perceive mass information, including ideological information, and what the pluses and minuses of this process are.

It has already been said above that, in order to clarify the role of the mass media in forming the communist worldview of youth, it would be most desirable to record not the perception of mass information, but the effectiveness of the latter’s influence on the individual. However, the perception of information can also tell us a great deal.

By revealing the system of interests of young readers in newspapers, the completeness with which they read the published reports, and the nature of their evaluation of them, we thereby obtain very substantial touches to the sociological portrait of the youth audience of our press. And by comparing the data obtained with analogous indicators for the older generation, we shall determine the specific character of youth’s perception of mass information, certain results of youth’s inheritance of socialist culture and of the development of the ideals of the working class within it.

We believe that the characteristics obtained would make it possible to understand more deeply those processes connected with the formation of the communist worldview of youth and would help to strengthen the effectiveness of the press in its ideological influence on the young part of the reading audience.

Summarizing what has been set forth, it is evidently possible to say that the development of the topic “Social Problems of the Perception of Mass Information by Youth” follows from the decisions of the Twenty-Fourth Congress of the CPSU. It is prompted by the growing role of the mass media in the life of society, by the tasks of ideological struggle, by the need for the further development of theory, and above all by the needs of practice. It is precisely practice—in this case, the practice of communist construction—that, being the basis of cognition, dictates to us the necessity of knowing and forecasting the character of many

^14) All-Union Conference of the Central Committee of the Komsomol and the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education of the USSR, “Socialism and Youth,” 1967. Stenographic record. Current Archive of the Central Committee of the Komsomol.

^15) Resolution of the Sixteenth Congress of the Komsomol. Publishing House “Molodaya Gvardiya,” Moscow, 1971.

^16) Strategy of Lies. Edited by V. S. Zorin. Moscow: “Mysl,” 1967, p. 206.

social phenomena connected with the fact that, in 10–15 years, those whose social values are only now being formed, having become the most active part of our country’s able-bodied population, will determine its development.

“The decisions of the Twenty-Fourth Congress of the CPSU,” said L. I. Brezhnev in his speech at the All-Union Student Rally, “are, as it were, handing over to Soviet youth the baton of scientific-technical and social progress”^17). It is precisely youth that “will have to continue the work begun by the generation of October, the work continued by the generation of the first five-year plans, the fruits of which were heroically defended from the enemy by the soldiers of the Great Patriotic War”^18).

^17) L. I. Brezhnev. Speech at the All-Union Student Rally on October 19, 1971. Molodaya gvardiya, Moscow, 1971, p. 4.
^18) Ibid.

1. Yu. V. Torsuev. Social Management and Youth. Publishing House of the Social Science Information Center and the Institute for Concrete Social Research, USSR Academy of Sciences. Information Bulletin, 1969, No. 19, p. 1. ↩