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The multifaceted digital citizenship of Russian youth

Gabdrakhmanova G.F.,

Sh. Mardzhani Institute of History, Tatarstan Academy of Sciences; Kazan Federal University, Kazan, Russia, medi54375@mail.ru

elibrary_id: 292391 | ORCID: 0000-0002-1796-5234 | RESEARCHER_ID: N-1811-2017

Article received: 2024.09.25 16:46. Accepted: 2025.12.17 16:47


DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2026.02.03
EDN: MAATXN

Rubric: Theme of the issue: The Russian Metaverse: aspects of identity, civic consciousness, and patriotism

For citation:

Gabdrakhmanova G.F. The multifaceted digital citizenship of Russian youth. – Polis. Political Studies. 2026. No. 2. https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2026.02.03. EDN: MAATXN (In Russ.)

The study was funded by a subsidy allocated to Kazan Federal University for the implementation of Project No. FZSM-2023-0022, “Digital Socialization and Digital Competence of Youth in the Context of Global Systemic Transformations: Regulatory Technologies, Risks, and Scenarios,” within the framework of the state assignment.

Abstract

The article examines manifestations of civic engagement among Russian youth in the online environment. To address the research objective – identifying the prevalence of different types of digital citizenship among young people in Russia and their relationship to subjective assessments and objective characteristics – the study draws on the approaches of S. Hoffmann, G. Almond, and S. Verba, which broaden the understanding of citizenship and its links to state traditions. Citizenship is conceptualized not only as “political publicity” (following J. Habermas), but also as a combination of civic duties, a sense of belonging, goal orientation, and actual participation in social transformation. Based on the conceptual framework developed by G. Almond and S. Verba, the author proposes a typology of digital citizenship. Institutional and subject forms are interpreted as political, while slacktivist and parochial forms are treated as non-political. It is emphasized that participation in addressing non-political yet socially significant issues also expresses the agency of civic action. The proposed model is empirically verified using data from a sociological survey of youth across eight federal districts of Russia. The results of the statistical analysis demonstrate the presence of diverse forms of digital citizenship among Russian youth, as well as a higher level of interest in the political online sphere compared to national average indicators. Particular attention is drawn to the significance of parochial digital citizenship for the development of civil society, as youth involvement in solving local problems contributes to the formation of political orientations and civic competence. Key factors shaping digital citizenship include education level, material well-being, and settlement characteristics, with the federal district of residence playing a particularly notable role.

Keywords

citizenship, types of citizenship, Internet, youth, Russia, regions, digitalization.

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