Gender aspects of Conception of Success among St. Petersburg Youth

Contemporary society creates new ways of development, thus giving the opportunity for personal growth and self - fulfilment. In view of constant progress, individuals have so-called “new values”, in other words, significant life standards that are priority for the person. Currently, the concept of success is getting more and more essential among other values. There is no general concept of success, which is why it can be considered an attractive subject for sociological studies. In this paper, we are analyzing the representation of success by young men and women from 23 to 27 years old living in an urban environment of Saint Petersburg. So, using the semi-structured interview method, 12 interviews with 6 girls and 6 boys were collected. The main focus of the study is on the gender differences in the notion of success, but I also established another criterion for the selection of respondents - employment. This was done in order to consider the concept of success in relation to the professional environment. With the help of qualitative analysis techniques - open and axial coding - a common image of success was revealed in the representation of young townspeople and some differences in the perception of the concept of success by young men and women were found.