Patriotic Education of Youth in Contemporary Conditions

The main purpose of the research was to identify how the policy of patriotic education should be formed in the conditions of a transforming society. The authors consider patriotism in the context of realities of Soviet and modern Russian society, what allows them to demonstrate the possibilities and limitations of using the Soviet experience in the current conditions. Particular attention is paid to a comparative analysis of the two models of patriotism: as devotion to the state and as a love for one's country and nation. One of the main provisions of the article is the idea of the need not only to renew state efforts in the sphere of patriotic education of youth, but also to transform its goals, the basic values, the channels of translation and principles of heroization of patriotic behavior patterns. A secondary analysis of the results of sociological research has made it possible to indicate a stable and stereotyped dominance of the elements of the "state patriotism" model and the absence of everyday practices of patriotic behavior. The author's research was conducted by the method of focus-group discussion among specialists in youth policy in 2017. The results of the expert survey conducted by the authors noted the fuzziness of the content of the category "patriotism", which does not allow it to become an effective instrument of the social policy of the Russian state. At the same time, it is revealed that the formation of patriotism in the second sense is actualized as the feeling of love for the Motherland. This feeling is based on personal responsibility and critical perception of the history and culture of your own country. The perspective of this approach should be the formation of a harmonious personality of a citizen capable of embodying patriotism at the level of a microsociety, macro environment and intercultural interaction.