Abstract
<p>The article addresses an urgent problem in the study and organization of youth policy: the assessment and formation of the value of patriotism. Current political rhetoric often speaks of a record-high level of patriotism in Russian society, including among students, but a closer study of the social environment shows that such statements are somewhat declarative. Accordingly, the aim of this article is to determine the content of the concept of patriotism as a value, which formed the basis of the methodology of the author's sociological research on the formation of social values among students. The survey was conducted from 17 May to 1 June 2023 through the personal accounts of full-time RANEPA students (N=4338). Based on factor and cluster analysis of the data, a factor of the value of patriotism was formed, and typological groups of respondents were described according to the distribution of cluster-center coordinates and the analysis of the judgments constituting the patriotism factor. The group in the zone of positive factor values is called "social humanists": they highly value patriotism, are ready to support and develop their country, and believe that each person's well-being is inextricably linked to that of society. The group in the zone of negative factor values (three clusters) is called "social individualists": they hold a negative attitude to patriotism as a social value and are not ready to share the fruits of their labour with their country. The third, intermediate group is called "socially undecided": its members lie in the zone of neutral factor values and show no pronounced positive or negative attitude. Using correlation analysis, a list of values related to patriotism was formed, half of which are assessed sharply negatively and half positively by "social individualists". It is assumed that youth-policy mechanisms aimed at raising patriotism and built on positively assessed values will be more effective in forming patriotism among students who currently reject it — the author's next research task.Author's English translation of the article published in Russian: Sociological Science and Social Practice (Sotsiologicheskaya nauka i sotsial'naya praktika), 2025, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 142–169. DOI: 10.19181/snsp.2025.13.1.7. The Russian original is the version of record. Archived translation: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21610446</p>