Life goals of Russian and American students in global perspective: results of sociological monitoring

In modern society the impact of globalization is manifested not only in economy modernization, but also in the formation of new consciousness and mentality, based on the principles and ideals of a global world. The process of destroying the structure of the old world, elements of which were presented by closed social systems, includes gradual surrender of people's closed minds, which define life goals in transitional societies. In order to prove this hypothesis, the authors found it useful to conduct the comparative sociological studies, presented in the article. Registration and comparison of life goals and values of today's college students from the USA and Russia makes it possible to predict the interaction of professionals from different countries in global perspective. For the purpose of the stated objective a study was undertaken in 2012 at two big universities in Russia and the USA - the Ural Federal University named after the first Russian President B. Yeltsin, Yekaterinburg, Russia, and the University of Denver, Denver, USA. The answers analysis of the respondents-students revealed the differences and similarities in life goals and values of young people in Russia and the United States. The identified tendencies are as following: - Russian students are more focused on achievement than self-realization in their life goals, whereas the analysis of US responses indicates the dominance of desire for self-realization and self-management: young Americans achieve their social success focusing on their own individuality; - Russian respondents were consistent in their desire to increase personal adaptive resource that can help in achieving success in the "open society"; - the responses of US students reveal their desire for public recognition and service; - the answers of the respondents found the difference in their understanding of happiness value as sense of life and work: in Russia young people do not consider the goal of happiness to be rational and pragmatic, the pursuit of happiness is supplanted by the pursuit of success; - the leading position among students' values in both countries is taken by the value of private life: for Russian youth it is health, family, children, love, and for US young people it is health, independence, freedom and love. The results of this study make it possible to establish fruitful collaboration of American and Russian professionals in the near future. Participation of US partners will be motivated by a desire of social and professional fulfillment; and their Russian partners will be motivated by a desire to enrich adaptive resource and enhance personal prestige. Thus, we can predict the interaction of professionals in the global arena through penetration and complementarity of their life goals and values.

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