State Image as a Factor of Civic Identity

Problem of person's national identification is one of the most complex and urgent problems at the moment in Russia, a lot of attention is drawn to researches that aim to point out political values and views of citizens and to find out the structure of state's image that they have. This may help to create a universal notion of national identity that is now blurred and unclear. It is understandable because Russia has undergone a lot of crucial changes practically in every area since the Soviet Union fell. It is clear that every citizen has been influenced by these shifts somehow, but we can assume that the level of impact varied for people of different ages and generations. As a result, the normal gap between people of different generations - so-called problem of fathers and sons - turned into a major misunderstanding that affects every area of life including politics. Citizens of different generations have opposite political values and goals due to the fact that their political socialization happened not only in different times, but also in different countries. Therefore, the purpose of our study is to understand similarities and distinctions between the generations and how they affect their political identities. We particularly study concept of state symbols in representatives of different generations, as it is a very important part of person's state image. In our study we use the following methods: author's associative method, Purpose-In-Life test, test of national character. Author's associative method is complex and consists of 4 different parts where respondents have to give their associations to various notions and quotations that are typically Russian. In our study we have found that younger generation has a very strong connection with their roots and considers the concept of Motherland highly important. We are currently working on finding differences with other generations who were born and raised in different times and may have other notions in their minds that influence their political identities. We think that researching this topic is really important in order to understand tendencies of influence of various political events on person's identity.