Subject-Activity Determinants of Types of Social Activity of Students

• Main Author: Irina V. Arendachuk
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University) 2019-12-01
• Series: RUDN Journal of Psychology and Pedagogics
• Subjects: activity of personality; social activity of young people; orientation of social activity; subject-activity approach; subject and activity characteristics of social activity
• Online Access: http://journals.rudn.ru/psychology-pedagogics/article/viewFile/22809/17771
• ISSN: 2313-1683; 2313-1705

The relevance of the study of the social activity of young people presented in the article in the context of the subject-activity approach is determined by the need for psychological justification of programs meant to implement it in the significant areas of public life. The purpose of the study is to identify the subject and activity characteristics that determine the social activity of the students, depending on the type of its orientation. The study was conducted on a sample of young people aged 15-25 years ( n = 229). The two types of social activity were identified: the one aimed at the realization of personal aspirations and interests (“for own benefit”) and the one aimed at the achievement of socially significant goals (“for others’ benefit”). The subject characteristics of these types of activity were studied using the personality self-determination test by B. Sheldon as modified by E.N. Osin, the questionnaire for the study of the subjectivity structure by E.N. Volkova and I.A. Seregina, the methodology “The Level of Development of Personality Subjectivity” by M.A. Schukina. The activity self-organization questionnaire by E.Yu. Mandrikova and the author’s questionnaire, the reliability of which is confirmed by the results of positional analysis, were used to study the activity characteristics. It is shown that the social activity of young people is largely due to activity characteristics. The social activity aimed “for own benefit” is more highly determined by the subjective characteristics of the person, compared to the activity aimed “for others’ benefit”. The universal determinants of the social activity of students, which do not depend on the types of its orientation and have a common predictive potential, are revealed. These include the level characteristic of the personality’s subjectivity “creative - standard” and the characteristics of activity - “initia- tive in activity”, “solution of socially-oriented tasks” and “self-organization (through external means)”. In the structure of the activity the factors “activity content”, “social responsibility” and “satisfaction with the result of activity” were also attributed to the sustainably expressed determinants of the social activity aimed “for own benefit”. The activity characteristics “striving for success, self-affirmation”, “striving for confidence, self-improvement”, “satisfying own needs”, “complying with social requirements”, “insistence”, “focusing on the present”, as well as the characteristic of the non-situational subjectivity of the personality “freedom of choice and responsibility for it” became the determinants of activity aimed “for others’ benefit”.