Alatortseva Irina S.

The article studies the children's protest activity in the urban environment, explores its formation mechanisms and socio-psychological nature of the process, identifies factors contributing to and preventing the development of children's protests in comparison with the rest of the youth. The authors consider the urgent problem of children's urban protests through the prism of the theory of generations, researching various age groups born in a certain historical period of time, with their characteristic beliefs, values and behavior.
The article is based on the results of a sociological questionnaire survey of the youth of the Russian Federation in 2021. Through the questionnaire method 2,531 respondents aged 14 to 35 from all the federal districts of the Russian Federation were interviewed.
As a result of the research, factors and conditions for the growth of the children protest activity in the urban environment were identified. It is stated that young people under the age of 21 have the greatest mobilization potential for the protest activity, while other age groups share protest beliefs, and their participation largely depends on the formulation of the protest reason, as well as on the organizers of actions. The main driver of the protest mood growth is the destabilized socio-economic and political situation, the presence of systemic problems (corruption, reducing living standards, social inequality).
In conclusion, the authors formulate main recommendations aimed at harmonizing children's protest activity, switching it onto a “peaceful track” through establishing civil-normative, socio-cultural conditions, taking into consideration social, age, educational and everyday needs of today's youth. The social moods of today's youth should be diagnosed in a prompt manner, regarding its age and educational status.