Modern Russian Working Youth: Models of Professional Development

The contradictory nature of the labor development of youth requires a review of theoretical and empirical approaches to the study of professional development paths for this group. The purpose of this work is to identify models of professional development of modern Russian working youth, as well as the main factors contributing to and limiting the professional development of modern Russian working youth. In this work, the models of professional development of modern Russian working youth were studied through the frame of three theoretical concepts: the theory of social changes P. Shtompki, the theory of social mobility P.A. Sorokin and the theory of capital P. Bourdieu. Professional development is understood as one of the types of directed processes of changes that has a positive character and which entails changes in the professional and labor knowledge, skills and competencies of young people. In the course of an empirical analysis of the research results, three models of professional development of modern Russian working youth were identified: “successful-professionals”, “middle peasants”, “stagnant”. “Successful professionals” are more likely to have qualification development within one organization, “middle peasants” in their development are more focused on interorganizational mobility, and “stagnating”, in turn, have a pronounced mercantilist attitude. The main factors influencing these models were the level of education, organizational conditions, as well as parental attitudes and labor practices. Despite the existence of network traditions of professional development both among the older generation and among young people, our study showed that young people adhere to the achievement principle more in their development and strive for independent professional development without the use of family, friendships or other informal ties. The analysis showed that young people in their labor development, today, are differentiated not by the presence or absence of one or another economic, status or qualification characteristic of development, but by the level of development of these characteristics.