THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO STUDYING PROFESSIONAL
IDENTITY OF YOUTH

Shinyaeva Olga Viktorovna, Doctor of sociological sciences, professor, head of sub-department of political sciences, sociology and public relations, Ulyanovsk State Technical University (32 Severny Venets street, Ulyanovsk, Russia), olses@rambler.ru
Tchape Kakleu Anastasie, Postgraduate student, Ulyanovsk State Technical University (32 Severny Venets street, Ulyanovsk, Russia), tchapeanastasie@yahoo.fr

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Background. The relevance of the topic lies in the necessity of consideration of the sociological features of professional identity of young people in the unstable labour market and emergence of new professions, to identify and implement their subjective I in the context of personality development. The article aims at reviewing the methodological approaches to the study of professional identity, developing a structural model of professional identity of youth and adapting it in a survey of students of Russian universities.
Materials and methods. The research was based on the analysis of the concepts of professional identity by foreign and Russian sociologists; identification of approaches to sociological research identification of young people with their profession; analysis of survey results of students enrolled at higher education institutions. The methods, used in the article, include as follows: historical and sociological discourses, theoretical interpretation and operationalization of the main concepts, the analysis of the sociological research results.
Results. Among the most important reference groups in the minds of students, professional communities do not occupy the leading place. The principle of “reflected identity” doen’t work in relation to professional formation of students of higher education institutions: they don’t get an independent assessment of the results of their career development. Professional education in perceptions of University students is not a terminal and instrumental value; this is especially true for students from other countries.
Conclusions. The methodological basis of the research of professional identity of youth is the idea by R. Merton on the search of values in the reference groups; the concept of “reflected identity” bu J. Mead and C. Cooley. Institutional and communicative approaches enable to analyze identification at the level of large communities, and to determine the mechanism of self-identification in small groups through solidarity with the values and norms of behavior.

professional identity, professional identity of youth, career development of University students.

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