Impact of Musical Preferences on Social Identity of Russian Youth

Abstract

The former close cooperation between Russia and the Global West yielded many social stereotypes, which started to crumble in the aftermath of the recent geopolitical shift. Globalization processes were responsible for cross-cultural exchange in information, personnel, and cultural patterns. As a result, the national values started to give way to those shaped abroad, weakening the significance of samples of national culture and traditions. These processes could not but affected the social identity of the young generation. Social identity is one’s own national values, traditions, and cultural patterns, considered from the perspective of external influences. Music is an important factor of social identity as it affects socialization and personality development. This research featured mechanisms of music perception as a three-level model, which provided a deeper understanding of social identity formation on the vital, stylistic, and cognitive levels of personal musical culture. An online survey (n = 217; November-December 2024) revealed the effect of various factors on musical preferences of young Russians, including the leaders and outsiders among music influencers. The musical preferences and the social identity demonstrated an unreliable dependence: those participants who gave low score to Russian music samples tended to demonstrate a rather strong national identity and adherence to Russian traditions. However, some musical preference patterns correlated with poor knowledge of Russian musical culture. Official mass media do not attempt to introduce the highest standards of Russian music to young audience. The poor state policy in the sphere of musical culture contributes to the spread of foreign music patterns.

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