Dynamics Of Life Values Of Female Students: Sociocultural Approach

Abstract

Today a trend of transformation of values among young people caused by both the external factors (globalization of the educational environment, the increasing extent of influence on youth of information resources, the growing number of youth subcultures with nonconventional values) and the internal ones (susceptibility to psychological pressure from the outside, a decrease in value of the institution of the family, prevalence of material incentives, etc.) is getting more obvious. The article is devoted to a research of life values of the girls- students studying in higher educational institutions and covers a problem of formation, transmitting, continuity of socio-cultural values relevant for today. It is noted that formation of primary valuable representations is carried out within the institution of the family where there is a foundation of the valuable base designing intra personal space of future youth. Processes of transmitting, fixing, assimilation, accommodation of values are accumulated at student's age within the socio-cultural environment of a higher educational institution. On the basis of results of a sociological research, conclusions about conditionality of life values of girls- students are drawn by such factors as: age, course, direction of specialty, social status of parents, homogeneity/heterogeneity of family; the expediency in the course of the research of socio-cultural values and their continuity to consider dynamism of human nature with her born mechanisms of perception, a feeling, thinking and action; about a role of the external and internal factors influencing formation of valuable orientations; about the pre-figurative nature of cultural basis of girls- students.

Keywords: Life valuesvaluable orientationsculturegirls-studentsuniversity environmentsocio-cultural space

Introduction

The question of studying the values specific for the representatives of modern youth has been topical for several decades. The main institutes which fundamental task is formation, transmitting, reproduction of values are the institute of the family and the institute of education.

The education of an individual inside the institution of the family is carried out at two levels: a primary level is characterized by formation of cultural requirements and formation of primary valuable ideas of the good and evil, about due, about primary and minor, etc.; a secondary level comes into force only when the process of assimilation by the individual of the characteristic values of a primary level, in the bosom of the family, is transformed to wider range of communication, at this stage the passive nature of assimilation of values is replaced with an active, inner psychological space of the personality (Rybin, 2012).

The institute of education presented by educational institutions which have different legal and economic statuses, possesses a special role in formation and transmission of socio- cultural values since the student's youth is within an age interval of 17-24, in which the special susceptibility is inherent.

Problem Statement

Defining the considered category, it is possible to give the following treatments in a socio-cultural context. In Larmin's works "the student's youth is a specific, social and professional group of people of the younger generation united by performance of the special educational and social prepared functions which are characterized by community of life, valuable orientations and a way of life" (Makanov, 2010).

Sharapov (2011) defines student's youth as the social group which is characterized by the following cultural lines: a wide range of spiritual needs; need for development of aesthetic preparation; the aspiration of using the given cultural opportunities; the demand of an identification of personal values with cultural historical values.

Student's youth as a transitive part of society is quicker to perception, than other groups of youth and is characterized by Lisovsky (1978), who noted their ability to accurately react on and catch new trends in culture.

In the socio-cultural environment of a higher educational institution there is a designing of new life values of youth and leveling, devaluation of former, personal, professional qualities, social and psychological characteristics are formed. Student's youth, being in space of the university, adjoins to its corporate culture, to its separate components: traditions, rituals, behavior ethics, corporate communications, norms, external and internal image of the university and, the most important, with its base as which the axiological kernel – the valuable bases of the educational environment acts (Legostaeva, 2015).

The research of the values of student's youth without a clear understanding of intrinsic maintenance of a definition "value" which was created historically for special type of designation of the relation of the person to questions of the universe, expression of his attitude towards the objective world seems impossible. Values are created by a certain social and economic formation, socio-historical practice, used for development of the personality and achievement of social progress, and they have paramount significance for the course of integration of sociocultural system and the personality. Life of an individual demands the valuable standards acting as reference points of personal development, public life and, in its turn, needs valuable orientation because the lack of values will not allow realizing group interests and the purposes (Legostaeva, 2015).

Tugarinov (1968) and Drobnitsky's concepts reveal the dual nature of the values: as the importance, and as the ideal. The importance of this or that value is determined by orientation of an individual to the other individuals, to the society and the ideals dominating in it, traditions, foundations and norms. Therefore, every individual unconsciously forms the valuable system of those values which exist and are approved in the society.

Thomas and Znanetsky declare a "situational" character of values and introduce the concept of a "social situation" into the thesaurus, and this concept is considered in two aspects: the values which exist objectively in a social formation, the values which are formed as subjective attitudes (Hekhauzen, 1986).

T. Parsons in a question of determination of values bears in mind the concepts of a "social action" and "social system", including two subsystems: needs of the "figure" and direct values of the socio-cultural environment. The inclusion of "figure" values in "a social situation" leads to an interchange of valuable maintenance of one subsystem with the other through an institutionalization (The American sociology, 1972).

Serzhantov (1990) notes that any value is defined by the property of the meaning, representing degree of socially significant properties, functions of a subject, defining their value in the society and the personal sense determined by an individual.

Bratus (1988) operates with the concept of "personal values", which is considered as the difficult hierarchical system carrying out regulatory function in the course of vital activity of the personality.

Research Questions

It should be noted that within this article the concepts of «values" and "valuable orientations" will be considered identical ,since the orientation of the personality to an exact value and recognition of it as a world outlook reference point on the basis of which the behavioral model will be under construction is ,in fact, a valuable orientation (Parks-Leduс, Feldman, & Bardi, 2015).

Purpose of the Study

The research objective is the determination of structure and dynamics of life values of female students on condition of differentiation of their social and psychological features. The object of the research: life values of female students in their structural and dynamic section.

Research Methods

The female students of three universities of Tyumen participated in this research (IUT, TSU, and TyumSMU).

The total number of the selection was 171 girls at the age from 17 to 24 studying at the 1^st and the 4^th courses at different specialties.

The social characteristics of the selection are submitted by two parameters: the social origin and the family composition. The social component of the origin of the female students allows to draw a conclusion about the prevalence of such groups as: the representatives of the sphere of trade (46 people), the representatives of education (32 persons), the workers (28 people), the representatives of the administrative sphere (28 people), the representatives of the technical sphere (18 people).The pensioners (10 people) and businessmen (9 people) have appeared to be the least numerous groups.

The family composition of the respondents is presented by full (there are both parents) families of female students (N = 114) and single (there is only mother) (N =57), homogeneous (full families, parents have the identical social status) (N = 42) and not homogeneous (parents have various social status) (N = 129).

The psychological characteristics reflecting the valuable sphere of the personality have been investigated with the application of the Morphological Test of Vital Values (MTVV) created by Sopov and Karpushina (2002). The purpose of this technique is the research of an individual system of values, the bases of the technique are made by the questionnaire of terminal values of Senin, Syyuner's test, Nevil "Scale of values", Rokich's technique "Studying of values of the person", the questionnaire of Olporta-Verona-Lindseya; the Life sense Orientations (SZO) test created by Leontyev (2000) , the adapted version of the Purpose in Life test (Purpose-in-Life Test, PIL) by Krambo and Makholik.

Findings

The results of this research have allowed to reveal the structure and dynamics of the values of female students depending on their age and the course, for this purpose selection has included such respondents as: the girls who are the first-year students and also the girls who are undergraduates , those who have already gone through main stages of valuable formation: the acquaintance to the culture of the university and its main values, the identification of their valuable system with the university one, a possible assimilation of new valuable reference points.

Having generalized the received results, it is possible to note that 17-year-old female students are characterized by egoistical and prestigious orientation of the personality. The pragmatical nature of valuable orientations is revealed at the group of female students of 18-20, the egoistical personal orientation is caused by the process of "the search of", self-identification among young people (Table 1 ).

For 18-year-old female students there were the least valuable spheres of a profession, education and hobbies and also values of spiritual satisfaction, creativity, relationship and achievements. Between students of 18 and 19 years old, the following distinctions were designated: 19-year-old girls estimated the sphere of a profession, education, public life and hobbies higher. Between students of 19 and 20 years the essential difference in the assessment of the vital spheres was not revealed, it is possible to note an interest foreshortening shift towards physical activity for the female students at the age of 20.

The trend of decreasing indicators on all vital spheres and values among female students at the age of 21 appears obvious. It is possible to explain this trend by assuming that at this age most of female students go to a new stage of their personal development: their training at the university comes to an end, their priorities change. There is a need to make the choice for this or that place of application of social, professional efforts. The processes of their self-identification amplify.

Female students at the age of 21-22 estimate the sphere of public life much lower than that of female students at the age of 17-20. It is probably connected with a certain crisis of group socialization, when students face realities of social life, with their overcoming and assessment of as the public activists.

The sphere of a profession is considered as the most significant one by female students at the age of 17-18. It is connected with the previous process of the "correct" choice of the profession and the opinion on that which is not created at this stage, whether this choice is actually true. The sharp decrease in significance of this value is possible to notice in age category of 21 year-old female students, as it was noted, that this period is characterized by valuable reorientation, including the value of the family, which importance decreases. However, girls at the age of 17-19 are more interested in the sphere of family. It is connected with the general interest in the value of relationship.

The research proves a hypothesis of differentiation of values at girls, studying at specialties of different orientation and at different universities. Certainly, the type of corporate culture is characteristic of each university determining processes of transmitting of values from the teachers to the students. At the university, youth subcultures bear their values in masses; they are formed and develop actively. The female students show the tendency to the self-presentation and the introduction in sub cultural associations at the age of 17-19. At the age of 20-21, the tendency to self-determination is noted. Self-identification and individualization are more important for female students of advanced age (22-24) as students have more accurate valuable orientations. The influence of the university culture on their valuable sphere is minimum.

For the purpose of identification of the structure of life values of female students depending on the direction of their specialties have been chosen the following ones: public municipal administration, linguistics, pediatrics, advertizing and public relations, psychology and economy. The highest rates of the importance of education and professional life are shown by the female students whose major is "The public municipal administration". It can be explained by orientation of their future profession. Girls- students giving preference to this specialty are focused on career development and achievement of high professional results. Therefore, education for them is the platform to future success. The sphere of family is most significant for students of specialty "Psychology": girls are characterized by aiming at realization of women's functions in society, the high importance of the institution of the family and orientation on psychologically comfortable relationship (Table 2 ).

The sphere of hobbies is of greater interest in comparison with other specialties for the students in "Linguistics" and the students in "Psychology". The sphere of physical activity has a high average value for the students of specialty "Pediatrics".

The analysis of the importance of life spheres of the students of the specialty "Public Municipal Administration" has revealed the high importance of the sphere of a profession in comparison with the female students of other specialties. However, the highest priority is given to the sphere of public life, which testifies the need of the girls in realizing the potential in socio-political activity and the high level of the involvement into public life. On the second place of the importance there was a sphere of physical activity. For the female students of the considered specialty a condition for successful self-realization is the attractive appearance and the maintenance of a healthy lifestyle. The spheres of family and hobbies are on the last places. It can be explained by the desire of the girls to build a career layer, which in the future will allow to realize themselves in the family and to allocate time for a hobby.

The female students of specialty "Advertising and Public Relations" see the sphere of public life as the priority sphere for themselves. That can be explained by the chosen profession and an active living position, the manifestation of aspiration to the increase in their qualification level and the further education. Humanistic values have a great importance for them: the spiritual and moral development, the level of social contacts, their self-development, and the great attention is paid to the creation and maintaining of identity.

The family influence on the formation of the valuable system of female students. Parents and relatives act as the translators of the valuable reference points. The behavior models prevailing in the family, psychological atmosphere, family values, traditions, the character of the relations with the senior relatives determine the culture level, the basic behavioral models, a social orientation of the identity of a girl and her moral portrait. As a rule, a girl "copies" those values which were declared by her mother or father as the socially approved ones. She realizes the life plans, being guided by the model of achievement of the goal transmitted by her mother or father.

The analysis of the structure of the life values of female students depending on the parameter of a «full/single parent» family has shown the following results: the female students from single parent families estimate the sphere of a profession and education higher than the female students from full families. That is caused by bigger financial loading (payment for training) which in single parent families lies down on one parent. The girls from single parent families (35%) do not demonstrate the preferred goal-setting with that degree of expressiveness as the girls from full families (67%). The female students from full families show smaller interest to the spheres of family, public life, giving preference to spheres of hobbies and physical activity which give more opportunities for the manifestation of their identity and for maintaining a good physical shape (Table 3 ).

The female students from full families in which both parents have the social status of the top managers estimated all life spheres except for the sphere of family higher than that of female students from other families; their priority values are achievements. They seek for the statement of the perspective purposes, have claims on the status of the leader, and are open to new social contacts, seek for maintaining their own prestige.

Conclusion

The conducted research has allowed revealing the structure and dynamics of the life values of the female students of the higher educational institutions, within which there is a transmitting of socio-cultural values.

The obvious tendency of hedonistic bias of 31% of the female students (aged 17-19 ) that is the aspiration to live deriving pleasure leads to a gradual devaluation of high valuable priorities towards the sphere of entertainments and the emergence in the long term of the feelings of senselessness of their life. The dissatisfaction with the real life was noted by 20% of the female students. As a rule, these girls in the valuable sphere tend to prefer retro-values – memories of the past which are projected on the future; 49% - showed emotionally rich feelings and perceptions of their own lives. The valuable reference points of the female students from this group could be settled, not undergoing considerable transformations owing to the identity with the valuable orientations of the most part of the youth.

39% of the female students showed the low level of control in relation to their own life and its intrinsic filling; 61% presented themselves as the strong personality, capable to build the life in compliance with their own valuable reference points, one of which is the freedom of choice.

The results of testing have revealed a tendency to fatalism among the female students at the age of 17-20. The valuable reference points of this category are formed under the influence of the ideology of reference groups or the youth subcultures. The processes of the valuable assimilation are possible. The girls at the age of 21-24 in the majority are convinced of their own ability to control life processes, in an opportunity to realize the aspirations and to realize their potential. The valuable reference points often are the reflection of life plans and aspirations and are designed on the basis of the value judgment of the surrounding reality.

Summarizing the revealed regularities, it should be noted that permanently carried out innovations in university technologies, forms and processes inevitably lead to changes in the nature of culture: there are new mechanisms of the transfer and the transmission of the values which differ very much from post-figurative, which allowed the youth to adopt the experience at the senior generation (for example, daughter- mother, granddaughter- grandmother) and configurative when the youth adopts valuable models of the contemporaries. Today it is possible to speak about prefigurative culture. The spiritual potential of modern youth acts as the basis of this culture, including modern girls whose social role as future mothers and translators of socio-cultural values to the children certainly remains significant.

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