DOI: 10.25136/2409-7144.2022.7.38201

Abstract: The subject of the study is the urban environment. The urban environment in which a teenager grows up influences his socialization through the spatial, architectural, and functional characteristics of the city. The specificity of these characteristics may provide opportunities for the inclusion of a teenager in urban life and his active participation in it, or to act with the opposite effect. In the article, the authors note a number of contradictions characterizing the implementation of the participation of a teenager in the life of the city. The main contradictions are connected with the willingness of a teenager to express his opinion, the willingness of adults to take this opinion seriously and the normative elaboration of the issue of children's participation in the life of the city. Expert interviews were used as the main method of data collection. A total of 27 experts were interviewed. They asked questions about the possibilities and limitations of including teenagers in the co-participating design of the urban environment. Experts note that children do not have their own spaces in the city, which complicates the process of personalization of urban space, its active development and, subsequently, transformation. Also in expert interviews, the problem is fixed, on the one hand, ignoring the child's opinion, on the other — expanding the practices of involving children in expressing their opinions. The authors identify the practices of including children in the life of the city, characterizing the gradual nature of this process, which begins with the expression of an opinion with the transition to its accounting and then - the active participation of adolescents in the transformation of the urban environment. Based on the analysis of expert interviews and scientific publications, the resources of participation of teenagers in the life of the city are described. These include: foreign experience, the activities of enthusiasts for the involvement of children and methodological developments.

DOI: 10.25136/2409-7144.2020.12.34664

Abstract: This article reviews volunteering as one of the forms of participation of youth in making socially important decisions. Volunteering forms the culture of engagement in social life that contributes to consolidation of civil initiatives and democratic values. Teenagers and youth can also participate in improvement of their living conditions and defend their interests via volunteer activity. The key research question is associated with seeking the ways by teenagers and youth to express their opinion through volunteering, and consideration of that opinion by the leaders of volunteer organizations. Group discussion served as the main method for obtaining empirical data; total of 5 group discussions with young people aged 16-18 were held. Roger Hart's Ladder of Children's Participation was applied in the course of this research. Alongside determination of the “level” of engagement of young volunteers as a ratio of personal initiatives and decisions of the adults organizers, the author determines the two lines of analysis – transformation of volunteering during the COVID-19 pandemic and trends of volunteer activity in ten years from now. Group discussions with young people allowed concluding that volunteering, as any other activity organized by adults, indicates the lack of freedom for young people to show their initiatives and participate in making socially important decisions. Pseudo-participation is especially evident in school volunteering.

DOI: 10.25136/2409-7144.2019.12.31520

Abstract:   The right of children to freely express their opinion and participate in decision-making that affect their interests became mainstream after Russia’s ratification of the United Nations Convection “On the Rights of the Child”. There is an ongoing discussion between the Russian and foreign experts on the possibilities and barriers of children’s participation in decision-making. The subject of this article is the concepts and practices of participation of children in decision-making pertinent to their livelihood. Three levels of analysis are determined – family, school, and place of residence. The materials were collected in the eight cities of Primorsky Krai during sociological expeditions via focus group research method. The author also examines the materials of federal and regional statistics. The scientific novelty consists in reference to the regional experience of participation of teenagers in decision-making pertinent to their livelihood. The results demonstrate a low level of children’s engagement into decision-making of municipal level, including through the activity social organizations for children and youth; the lower level of youth initiatives is observed in rural areas due to underdevelopment of social organizations and lack of financial resources. Social activity of teenagers reduces as they get older; the involvement into socially important activity is replaced by preparation for state exams, professional self-determination, etc. The respondents demonstrated their content with participation in family decision-making processes, and partial content in addressing the school issues. For the school level relevant remains the problem of expressing own opinion by a teenager, as well as teacher’s respect of it.  

DOI: 10.25136/2409-7144.2019.12.31558

Abstract: An important national document that attracted attention towards the topic of participation of children in decision-making affecting their interests became the National Children's Interests Action Strategy. During the period of its implementation (2012-2017) the concept of participation undergone changes and distortions in some instances. Mass media played a significant role in interpretation of participation. The authors attempt to answer the following questions: how active are mass media in referring to the topic of children’s participation; what concepts of participation are brought into focus; does the mass media discourse aligns with the nationwide political legal discourse. Mass media publications for the period 2009-2019 selected by the information-analytical system “Integrum” became the materials for this research. Software program MAXQDA was used for processing and analysis. The scientific novelty consists in consideration of the insufficiently studied within Russian science topic of children’s participation, as well as in analysis of discourse on the matter created by mass media. The research demonstrated that participation is interpreted as a practical, initiative, socially important activity, as civic participation and unachievable ideal of social development associated with implementation of the basic principle of Convention on the Rights of the Child.