Saralieva Z.Kh., Shirokalova G.S., Shkurin D.V. Historical memory of student youth: regional specifics. PNRPU Sociology and Economics Bulletin. 2026. No. 2. Pp. 35-50. (In Russ.)

Abstract

The historical memory of nations is one of the most important factors in their self-identification, ensuring the unity of society. The study of its significance for new generations is especially relevant in times of transition, when the elements of a nation's cultural code are changing. In modern Russia, the memory of the Great Patriotic War is one of the central pillars of intergenerational connection. Communicative memory is the most conservative, lasting for two to three generations, but even during this period, it is gradually replaced or modified by information from school textbooks, films, the media, and the social environment.The paper shares the results of the study conducted online in 2025 by sociologists from N.I. Lobachevsky National Research State University of Nizhny Novgorod, the Federal Research Center for the Humanities of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Ural Federal University named after the First President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin,engaging 16 universities across 8 federal districts, including the Volga Federal District, Central Federal District, and Southern Federal District, where military operations were taking place.The student survey toolkit is based on research conducted in 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020, which included additional questions based on the realities of recent years. This allows us to identify a number of patterns and ideological characteristics of young people in the dynamics, but also to fix the attitude to current events. 62.2 % of the surveyed are girls, the majority (84,5%) of respondents being students of the social and humanitarian profile of the 1—3 years, studying a number of historical disciplines and “Fundamentals of Russian statehood”. The results of the study allowed the authors to conclude that it is necessary to update the memory of new generations about the events of the Great Patriotic War. One of the goals ofthe extended study is to adjust the plans for patriotic education of students and to involve them in independent scientific work.