Cultural Capital of Young Russian Intellectuals

The research of young intellectuals takes on special significance in the conditions of Russia’s transition to the information-oriented society. Attention concentrates on the cultural characteristics of the observable social group because of the “cultural lag” which takes place in the most part of Russian province cities. The main role in cultural reproduction and translation plays the young university tutors as the most active and mobile group. They were considering as either main subjects of the cultural work in the social space of region. It is necessary to find out their cultural needs and general condition of incorporated cultural capital because of their influence on young people’s values and aims.

The empiric base of research is presented by the mass poll and the focus group interviews with the young tutors of the institutes of higher education located in the Ural federal district. The investigations were conducting within the bounds of grant project “Professional potential of young tutors in Russian province”. The analysis contains information about basic components of young academics incorporated capital: leisure structure and the place of cultural practices within, the art forms and styles which prefers the researched group, the perception of province cities’ cultural infrastructure, opinions about necessity of higher art education preservation.

The results of research let us tell about hyperrationality in the behavior of young academics, which concentrates on their professional responsibilities and forget about cultural self-development. They constrict their functions to the information translation and don’t feel themselves as the active subjects of social changes. The main part of respondents doesn’t think of themselves as a “cultural class” and don’t regard their lifestyle as different from life of the majority. Unstable identity of young scientists and tutors, consumer attitude to the cultural space, passivity and lack of self-organization reduce their creative potential.