Geopolitical image of the future in representations of the youth from different regions of Ukraine in the context of psychological safety

Abstract

The article is devoted to the phenomenon of prognostic representations (images of the future) of the country and the world by the modern Ukrainian youth. Such representations (prognostic geopolitical macro images) are viewed as an inseparable component of mass political (and geopolitical) consciousness. The author presents the data of the empirical study conducted by him in 2018. 160 university students from three regions of Ukraine – Donbas (town of Starobilsk), the North East (town of Chernihiv) and the center (city of Kyiv) were surveyed with the help of questionnaires and tests. The data obtained proves that the geopolitical images of the future in the youth mass consciousness constitute a “mix” of optimistic and pessimistic expectations and ideas. There are both common and specific features of the geopolitical images of the future in the representations of the youth in the different regions. The most accentuated common feature is prevalence of the pessimistic views on the possibilities of combatting corruption in Ukraine. The regional differences in the images of the future mainly deal with forecasting of the prospects of Ukraine’s socio-economic and foreign policy development and regaining control over the Crimea. The common aspects of the respondents’ life experience in the country and the influence of media explain the fact of identifying the universal (transregional) views. The identified differences may be caused by the influence of the regional peculiarities of the political culture, and specific socio-political and socio-economic situation in the regions (local aspects of life experience). The author determines and describes tendencies in the correlation between the prognostic images and the indicators of the youth psychological safety investigated with the help of the fundamental assumptions scale developed by R. Janoff-Bulman. It has been proved that the indicators correlate with the rate of optimism/pessimism in the youth forecasting of the socio-political development of their country. The images of the country’s future mostly correlate with such indicators of psychological safety as benevolence of the world and justice.

Key words: image of the future, prognostic representations, student youth, optimism/pessimism, psychological safety.