Currently, mass culture is becoming a significant tool for influencing the consciousness and behavior of the masses, especially young people. The commercialization of mass culture leads to a noticeable decrease in the quality of its content, as well as to the loss of the possibility of any regulatory control in this area, which requires a serious study of exactly which images and meanings of mass culture dominate in the consciousness of Russian young people, how the mechanism of formation of a worldview, the formation of a picture of the world and the formation of their own social identity works. Within the framework of this article, the main approaches to determining the role of mass culture in the process of political socialization of youth in Russia are highlighted: from studies emphasizing the purely targeted nature of the impact of cultural references on youth, to works declaring the comprehensive nature of mass culture. It is concluded that modern approaches to the study of mass culture are largely focused on conceptualization and the search for universal explanations of the principles of its functioning (commercialization, contextuality, general accessibility, the formation of conventions within the framework of communication, etc.). At the same time, the work documents the main intergenerational differences in leisure time and the choice of its specific forms, different for the generation of “fathers” and the generation of “children,” which also significantly affects the information and cultural consumption of representatives of different - new generations. At the same time, for young people, the consumption of certain cultural samples is determined primarily by the availability of relevant artifacts and social influence (fashion, environment, social contacts, etc.).
mass culture; youth; socialization of youth; cultural artifacts.