Edelweiss Applied Science and Technology ISSN: 2576-8484 Vol. 8, No. 6, 1837-1848 2024 Publisher: Learning Gate DOI: 10.55214/25768484.v8i6.2349 © 2024 by the authors; licensee Learning Gate © 2024 by the authors; licensee Learning Gate * Correspondence: medna59@mail.ru Value orientations of youth and the formation of cultural memory in the region (On the example of the Chechen republic) Kurbanova Lidiya Uvaisovna1*, Gunya Aleksey Nikolaevich2, Abdulaeva Elita Sultanovna3 1Chechen State University, Grozny, Russia; medna59@mail.ru (K.L.U.). 2Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia. 3Chechen State University, Grozny, Russia. Abstract: The article analyzes the characteristics of the Chechen youth, their value attitudes and roles in the formation of cultural memory. The methodological framework covers theoretical and methodological areas of research of two social phenomena that are important signs of the changing world at the beginning of this millennium: cultural memory and the attitude of the younger generation towards it. The analysis of these phenomena is studied on the example of a specific region as a social space at a certain stage of socio-public transformation, where the foundations of traditional society with the prevalence of vertical connections continue to play an important role. At the same time, young people have a special place in the perception and transformation of values, experiencing at the same time a great influence of globalization and information technologies. The empirical basis of the study was socio-demographic data on the Chechen Republic, quantitative and qualitative methods of surveying the youth of the republic: an online survey was conducted among students (N = 92) aged 19-24 years and in-depth interviews among young people (N = 21), whose average age was 30 years. Additional materials were data from the database of surveys and focus groups collected in recent years. The results of the study showed that the transformation of cultural memory in the region is influenced by both structural factors, primarily demographic, migration dynamics, socio-economic living conditions of the population, etc., and cultural and institutional factors that determine the value attitudes of various segments of the population, the discourses prevailing in the society, attitudes to history, politics, etc. The value landmarks of young people play an important role in the formation of the cultural memory of the Chechen society and act as means of stabilizing and renewing the society. A key feature of the Chechen society is a respect towards elders. The succession of values is under threat of breaking intergenerational ties and subject to an unprecedented information aggression. The issues of an objective attitude to history, developing a position on the modernization of the society are acute. Keywords: Cultural memory, Globalization, Intergenerational ties, Traditional culture, Tvalues, youth, 1. Introduction The world community is under the influence of complex social processes of various areas: national borders are blurring, cultural diffusion is expanding, familiar traditional concepts and principles are being lost. Society has entered the postmodern era, characterized by increased tolerance, pluralism, and uncertainty [1]. The result is a shift in value attitudes, a feeling of fragmentation of time wherein the current events are difficult to understand from the “value grids” of the past, new concept and narratives do not yet guarantee predictability about a more or less understandable future. The most vulnerable social group to the challenges of the global world is the young generation. In any society and in any historical periods, youth is the main engine of social development, acting as the bearer and continuer of existing socio-cultural foundations, being the generator of new concepts that determine its future and the appearance of a new culture. All trends, patterns and algorithms of social development, according to which the society of the future will exist, are laid down by the young 1838 Edelweiss Applied Science and Technology ISSN: 2576-8484 Vol. 8, No. 6: 1837-1848, 2024 DOI: 10.55214/25768484.v8i6.2349 © 2024 by the authors; licensee Learning Gate generation today. In this regard, the issues of forming the value hierarchy of the youth, their selectivity, the degree of stability of moral attitudes, are among the most relevant in modern humanitarian discourse. The reaction of the younger generation, forced to adapt to such a complex reality becomes the object of close attention of the humanities [2] due to the fact that the challenges of social processes are distinguished by the density of social transformations per unit of time. Consequently, the response of the younger generation is characterized by inconsistency, instability, and loss of clear guidelines. The construction of new narratives occurs under such circumstances when local societies, such as the Chechen one, being at the junction of two paradigms - traditional and post- industrial - exist in a state of imbalance. The ambiguity of the situation brings up the question of finding such social mechanisms, social frameworks that could ensure the stability of value-normative structures [3]. This mechanism is possible through the broadcasting of the socio-cultural experience of past generations, appeals to the traditional spiritual foundations of being, contributing to the formation of socio-cultural identity and stability in a situation of civilizational uncertainty. One of such mechanisms is cultural memory, which serves as a guide and link between the past and the future, acts as a form of objectification of human history in the present, and against the background of deep transformations of today acquires strategic significance [4]. Cultural memory is the basis on the archetypes of which a holistic system of values of the modern young generation can be built in accordance with the features of not only the traditional culture, but also the value foundations of the global world in which the current generation will have to live. 1.1. Youth Problematique Consideration of youth and their value systems is important, first of all, for understanding the integrity of society [5]. Young generations are assigned the leading role in maintaining the succession and interconnection of generations, passing on values and forming cultural memory. Current globalization processes and information erasure of borders instigates a conflict between generations. To a large extent, this is due to other circumstances for the formation of mental thinking in the younger generation immersed in virtual realms [6]. Despite numerous definitions of youth, it is difficult to give a clear definition to this stratum of society. This is also due to the fact that this stratum itself has undergone significant changes throughout the history. In many European universities you can see students over 30, the age of the younger generation is constantly increasing. Today's youth plays an important role as a "cushion" for the waves of modernization. Among the methodological problems, it is necessary to highlight the current definition of the younger generation, its stratification. Thus, attention should be paid to the identification of different cohorts of youth, in particular, the identification of the young digital generation (Z), born after 2000, and the relatively young, born in the 1980s-1990s (Y) [7]. The value potential of the individual is of great importance, representing the hierarchy of value orientations that determine the life prospects of a person [8]. The value resource of an individual is his "social glasses", those worldview grids through which his identity is formed and changed. Sign-symbolic parameters of cultural memory, filling it with new values and meaning create a feeling of "time rupture". Awareness of the loss of the connection of time is a source of colossal psychological discomfort experienced by the younger generation. Analysis of the value potential of Chechen youth through the prism of cultural memory will help to understand the possibilities and prospects for preserving national identity in the foreseeable future. 1.2. The Phenomenon of Cultural Memory Research interest in the phenomenon of cultural memory is due to the systemic problems of modern culture at large. The issues of value strategies of society are closely connected with the issues of identity; they arise as a reaction to complex socio-cultural and geopolitical processes in the world. And this, in turn, dictates new ways of communication in a society, increasing or decreasing the degree of social tension. J. Assman defines cultural memory as “…the collective, for each society and era, special stability of the repeated use of texts, images and customs, supporting which societies stabilize their own image and 1839 Edelweiss Applied Science and Technology ISSN: 2576-8484 Vol. 8, No. 6: 1837-1848, 2024 DOI: 10.55214/25768484.v8i6.2349 © 2024 by the authors; licensee Learning Gate transmit collectively shared knowledge about the past, which maintains the consciousness of the unity and peculiarity of the group” [8]. Modern discourse considers cultural memory as a social phenomenon that is a linking thread between the past, present and future, and acts as a mediator in the reproduction of the essential and significant characteristics of the entire socio-cultural space from generation to generation[9]. It is quite justified that cultural memory is considered at the level of a metacategory, outlining a wide range of aspects united by the field of cultural studies and sociology. The perception of cultural memory precisely in the status of a metaconcept is explained by its place in culture, as one of the components of collective memory aimed at storing, maintaining and implementing behavioral and communication skills, both of an individual and of any social communities. In other words, it is cultural memory that forms the matrix of social existence, creates the framework at which the cultural environment of society is formed [10]. Cultural memory, as a type of collective memory, is a tripartite structure consisting of a core, a symbol, and a function [11]. The commemorative core is a reason, which can be an individual, an event, a set of events, a place, etc. A commemorative symbol / narrative grows around it: for example, a symbol of a hero, a victim, trauma, victory, service, etc. It is this, and not the commemorative core, that models the value attitudes and behavior of the group, promoting its solidarity. The structural design is completed by the commemorative function. It is important to emphasize that commemoration is always purposeful, it always fulfills a certain social and / or government objective, it always carries a certain functional charge - integrative, differential, rehabilitative, etc. In domestic science, the consideration of cultural memory in relation to values is one of the characteristic trends. This context is of particular importance for the Chechen society and its political elite which views cultural and historical memory in close connection with national value "skrepy" in terms of the formation of the worldview attitudes of young people [12]. The trend towards the domestic metanarrative as a mobilization resource about the country's past has already received its real embodiment in the institutional field of scientific and educational space. The subject "Fundamentals of Russian Statehood" has been introduced in Russian universities, within the framework of which many facts and events in the history of the country are revised in the context of current geopolitical processes. Therefore, at each epochal period of time, the cultural memory of society can be understood as a form of transmission and actualization of cultural concepts [13]. An important component of this process is the element of the "temporal regime", the ability to connect and explain the present from the past and predict the necessary changes in our attitude to the future. A. Assman in his work “Has the Bond of Time Broken Up? The Rise and Fall of the Temporal Regime of Modernity” [14] suggests this through reformatting the connections between the past, present and future and the need to build a new relationship between them. New concepts of these connections, conditioned by the challenges of current processes, form a “customized” cultural memory in the younger generation. Thus, cultural memory is a mediator linking the past of society with its present and orienting it to the future, that is, through the cultural memory, a certain set of essential and significant features of the socio-cultural system is retained and continuously recreated. As S. N. Kroitor noted: “Cultural memory sets a certain system of coordinates that gives shape to human existence, allows one to navigate in the surrounding space and perceive time in one way or another” [15, p. 99]. Cultural memory is a component of cultural identity, which determines a person’s conscious acceptance of certain cultural norms and patterns, value orientations and language, understanding of one’s “ego” through the prism of those cultural characteristics accepted in a given society. 2. Methodology The study was based on several sources of information that correspond to the tactics of combined methods (both quantitative and qualitative) and are able to enhance the methodological capabilities of research [16, 17]. The combination of macro- and micro approaches in the analysis of social reality, where the study of reality is based on the principles of fact analysis with an emphasis on subjectivity in the feminological sociology of A. Schütz, P. Berger, T. Lukmann, P. Berger, G. Garfinkel [18], is able 1840 Edelweiss Applied Science and Technology ISSN: 2576-8484 Vol. 8, No. 6: 1837-1848, 2024 DOI: 10.55214/25768484.v8i6.2349 © 2024 by the authors; licensee Learning Gate to highlight a new algorithm for understanding social relations. The main methods and data were: 1) statistical and socio-demographic data on the population of the Chechen Republic, its dynamics, age composition, etc.; 2) a survey among the student youth; 3) a series of in-depth interviews, 4) data from a database of surveys and focus groups collected in recent years, partially published [19, 20]. A special place was occupied by an online survey among the student youth of Chechen State University, conducted in February 2024 in Grozny. The survey involved 92 respondents with an equal ratio of girls and boys, the average age was 21 years. The questionnaire asked questions about the hierarchical significance of certain values of the traditional culture of the Chechen society. The survey was accompanied by in-depth interviews among young people (N = 21), whose average age was 30 years. The interview covered a wide variety of social strata: a foreman at a construction site, a taxi driver, an artist, a musician, an English teacher, a department employee, etc. The questions for the in-depth interview included two thematic sections linked by the semantic context of one topic: cultural memory and national identity, as well as cultural memory and tolerance. The main questions of the first section included the following questions: "To what extent are you interested in cultural memory?", "What events from the history of the past of the people would you like to know more about?", "How do you evaluate these events?" etc. The main questions of the second section included: attitude to the past, problems of artificial selection of events in the history of the people, questions of repentance and oblivion, problems of memory and tolerance, reconciliation with historical trauma in the fate of the nation. 3. Theoretical Framework 3.1. Youth and the Transmission of Cultural Memory in the Chechen Republic: Socio-Demographic Prerequisites There are very few socio-demographic studies of the Chechen society, although they are needed to explain many modern processes. In our article, we use only some socio-demographic data to explain the mechanisms of information transmission in the system of cultural memory of the region. Chechen society is not closed and conservative as it is stereotyped sometimes. On the contrary, due to mass migrations, it bears some features of Russian and European societies. In particular, approaches to dividing generations Z and Y (Howe & Strauss, 2000) may be quite suitable for characterizing the youth. However, it should be added that the 1990s played an important role in the formation of the worldviews of these two distinguished generations of the Chechen population. For Generation Y, born in the 1980s and 1990s, the military actions left an unforgettable layer of memory about the events they experienced. Generation Z (born after 2000) knows about the war from conversations with their relatives and elders. Representatives of this generation largely combine the tragic past with hopes for a more peaceful future, easily adapt to the innovations of modernization, computerization, informatization, and form both horizontal and vertical connections in society. The characteristics of modern youth in the Chechen Republic as a social stratum can be explained within the framework of positions accepted in demography. However, for a more complete characterization, a number of additions are needed that take into account the specifics of the Chechen society itself, which is in the phase of radical transformation due to the events of the 1990s, primarily wars and mass migrations. The age range of young people is expanding both in the Chechen Republic and in Russia. The marital age range is expanding, the formal threshold for youth is raised to 35 years (in a scientific community - to 39 years). As it can be seen from Figure 1, the age structure of the Chechen Republic has changed significantly over the past third of the century. The proportion of the residents over 70 has increased, which is due to an increase in the standard and life expectancy, compared to the older generation of the 1980s, who survived the harsh trials of the Great Patriotic War and the deportation of Chechens. The life expectancy of the older generation, as a resource potential for cultural memory of the past, serves as a source of preserving the succession of historical value systems, on the one hand. But demographically, the increase in the life expectancy of generations does not look so linear. The consequences of the Great Patriotic War are still clearly visible in three "failures". In the 2023 graph, these effects are still visible (a decrease in the 50-60 age group), but the effects of the military actions of the 1990s stand out (a decrease in the population in the 20-30 and 0-4 age groups). The current age pyramid is less stable, since, despite the population 1841 Edelweiss Applied Science and Technology ISSN: 2576-8484 Vol. 8, No. 6: 1837-1848, 2024 DOI: 10.55214/25768484.v8i6.2349 © 2024 by the authors; licensee Learning Gate growth (and this stands out against the background of the whole country), the birth rate is slowing down, it does not lead to the equalization of disproportions. But the greatest risks are posed by gaps in the younger generations. The "bearers" of cultural memory at the top are at risk of being torn away from the younger ones. Figure 1. The age structure of the population of the Chechen Republic in 1989 and 2023. According to the website, the population of the Russian Federation/Chechen Republic: Retrieved from https://xn----8sbncanfseqabeh4b The graph (Figure 2) identifies two generations, which can be conditionally called "young" (ages 15-24), the most typical characteristics of generation Z, and "young" (25-34), more closely characterizing generation Y. Figure 2. The ratio of generations of "young" and "young" for 1991-2024. Source: Website data was used: https://95.rosstat.gov.ru/folder/38713, https://xn---- 8sbncanfseqabeh4bfdo0g7e4c.xn--p1ai /% (website: Population. Russian Federation / Chechen Republic). Retrieved from https://95.rosstat.gov.ru/folder/38713, https://xn- ---8sbncanfseqabeh4bfdo0g7e4c.xn--p1ai/% https://исленно-наелени/ https://95.rosstat.gov.ru/folder/38713 https://численность-населения.рф/%25 https://численность-населения.рф/%25 1842 Edelweiss Applied Science and Technology ISSN: 2576-8484 Vol. 8, No. 6: 1837-1848, 2024 DOI: 10.55214/25768484.v8i6.2349 © 2024 by the authors; licensee Learning Gate The graph shows that the "digital" generation (Z) has a significant gap from the others. It is the least studied one. According to some researchers, it is characterized by a critical attitude to politics, a desire for individualization and modernization [21]. The gap between generations is generally characteristic of all of Russia, with its demographic "hollows" due to the consequences of the World War II and subsequent modernization, a decrease in the birth rate, etc. But the Chechen Republic is characterized by a high birth rate in the context of still preserved traditions and the high status of a large family. In the context of cultural memory, it is necessary to emphasize the important role of multi- generational families, which are extremely few in Russia on average, but still there is a relatively large share in the Chechen Republic. This is also due to the persistent rural way of life. 60% of the population of the Chechen Republic is rural, living in households where representatives of different generations live in relative proximity. But even statistical urban residents prefer private households, where it is customary to live in large families. It is multi-generation families that create effective conditions for the transfer of information and the formation of cultural memory. In addition, it is common among Chechens to maintain close ties between relatives within large family associations; intensive communication is one of the factors in the exchange of information between different generations. However, significant shifts are also taking place here: young people increasingly prefer to separate and, often, leave the region. Nevertheless, the preservation of multi-generation families allows, to a certain extent, to compensate for the demographic "bottleneck" in the age structure of the region, which interferes with the vertical interaction of generations. The transition to horizontal interaction actively practiced by generation Z is a certain threat to the continuity of information flows that form cultural memory. This trend is also reinforced by a fundamental change in socio-economic conditions. Instead of large enterprises, where socialization occurs under the influence of the work staff small and medium-sized businesses are developing where individual activity prevails, social contacts are often limited within the family associations that form the basis for the organization of most small and medium-sized firms. Informal employment of young people is widely practiced. There is a clear trend away from the principles of collectivism towards individualism and self-realization. 3.2. Value Orientations of Young People: Results of the Survey and Interview To the question: "What values of the Chechen culture are relevant to you?" the majority of respondents attributed "respect for elders" to the main values - (92%). The belonging of this value to the Chechen culture is not disputed, despite the fact that many student discussion platforms come to the conclusion that respect for elders is a general cultural value. Table 1. Which values of the Chechen culture are topical for you? Values % Respect of elders 92% Chechen traditions 8% Adats (Customs) 8% honor 7% gillakh, ozdangal (Etiquette, decency) 7% hospitality 6% honesty 6% Family values 6% justice 5% marsho (Liberty) 5% Native language 5% bravery 5% modesty 4% Mutual aid, devotion, mutual respect 2% Respect to a person 2% 1843 Edelweiss Applied Science and Technology ISSN: 2576-8484 Vol. 8, No. 6: 1837-1848, 2024 DOI: 10.55214/25768484.v8i6.2349 © 2024 by the authors; licensee Learning Gate As it can be seen from the table, the values associated with sentimental aspects of life (love, compassion, etc.) are not mentioned, which is due to the character of the Chechens - it is not customary to demonstrate the sensual aspects of life. The attitude towards the state and authorities is also not popular (unlike, for example, Russians, for whom patriotic assessments are very important). The state of the axiosphere of student youth of the Chechen nationality reflects a unique, complex and multifaceted synthesis of traditional and modern values, where a mixture of general cultural values with ethnic ones is obvious. Among the priority values, mainly universal human ones are named. The use of such basic values as "freedom", "kindness", "courage", "bravery", "honesty", "modesty", "honor", "respect" to characterize national traits can be explained by several reasons: 1) young people have fragmentary knowledge of their culture, so there is a great temptation to throw everything into the "national basket", 2) recognition of the listed values as basic and significant, raises the level of self-identity of the individual in its moral and ethical part. Most of the answers to the phrase about how a Chechen should behave also put respect for elders and adherence to traditions in first place. Next in order are such qualities as: "behave with dignity"; "observe traditions"; "know the history and culture of your people"; "know the national language"; "know your customs and pass them on from generation to generation"; "be well-mannered"; "behave with dignity everywhere"; "respect your elders"; "be courageous and honest". However, only 1% of respondents noted “being a Muslim” as a value (Table 2). Table 2. Answers to the question of how a Chechen should behave. «Every Chechen must…..» Respect elders 97% practice traditions 95% Behave properly 35% know their customs and pass them on from generation to generation 31% Know their history and culture 15% Be well-bred 13% Resect of the heritage 2% patriotism 2% boldness 2% kindness 1% 1844 Edelweiss Applied Science and Technology ISSN: 2576-8484 Vol. 8, No. 6: 1837-1848, 2024 DOI: 10.55214/25768484.v8i6.2349 © 2024 by the authors; licensee Learning Gate Know their native language 10% Be brave and honest 4% Behave properly everywhere 2% Be a muslim 1% Young people see the necessity to preserve and consolidate the values of traditions in the culture of memory (95%). More than half of the respondents recognize the necessity to know the national culture (language 10%, history and culture 15%, the need to pass on traditions - 31%). The religious aspect took up secondary positions. But in the interviews, respondents emphasized that religious identity for them is the main moral and ethical imperative, it is an important part of everyday life. "... According to religion, we know how to behave with parents, relatives, people in society, although many do not profess religion .... For a Muslim, the main thing is patience and respect for others and to follow the rules, norms that the Almighty gave us and for me, religion is an encyclopedia (Khamzat, 29 years old, a foreman at construction works). "... I observe the Ramadan fast every month, I say namaz, on Thursdays I cook something, pies, or from national cuisine and give it to neighbors, children on the street. I want to develop even more in terms of religion (Iman, 21 years old, employee). “… For me, the most important thing in a person is his IMAN, Islam, good manners, doing namaz, observing a fast. I received knowledge about religion in my family. I trust only religion. …” (Satsita, 29 years old, seamstress). While answering the question What family means to you (Table 3), 62% of the respondents indicated that family is parents, children, grandparents, cousins. A quarter of respondents (26%) narrowed their understanding of family - these are parents, children, grandparents. And 15% of respondents perceive family only in its nuclear type: “family is parents and children”. Despite the fact that in the modern Chechen society the institution of family retains its value, the very understanding and idea of the structure of the family as an extended social unit, which would include relatives of the first, second and even third circle, is narrowing. This is also shown by the results of other studies [22]. Table 3. Answers to the question what a family means to you. A family is: % Parents, children, grandparents, cousins 62% Parents, children, grandparents 26% Parents, children 15% Consanguineous relations as a value imperative continue to form the main core of social communication of Chechens. The family, as an institution, has undergone a significant transformation due to the destruction of a large consanguineous family [23] and objective socio-economic processes in the state. The outflow of the mountain population to the plain in the 20th century, first to villages and then to cities, led to the weakening of close consanguineous ties due to the formation of new types of educational, industrial, and multicultural communications. The Soviet ideological system was aimed at forming a new identity of an person, the Soviet person in whose worldview traditional, ethnic, and consanguineous entities were given a secondary role. After the collapse of the Soviet state, the vector of family values in national regions again began to shift towards traditional ones, at different rates, with variations and with all the costs of the past period. One of the factors weakening intergenerational ties and with them the emotional experience of the past, its narration, we see in narrowing the multi- generational Chechen family to a nuclear one. The most recent memory that traumatizes the memory of people in the Chechen society is the war, officially called "two Chechen campaigns of the 90s." It is perceived by some of the respondents as an event that was a difficult page in the history of their family's life. Political assessments of the events, the trauma of the nation, etc. sounded weak in the interviews. The war was perceived as a disaster that is better and easier to forget. The overwhelming majority of the young people who were surveyed noted that their parents talk about the events of the 1990s reluctantly, fragmentarily, as events that served as a test for basic survival or in the context that today there is an opportunity to breathe a sigh of relief: we have built a house, 1845 Edelweiss Applied Science and Technology ISSN: 2576-8484 Vol. 8, No. 6: 1837-1848, 2024 DOI: 10.55214/25768484.v8i6.2349 © 2024 by the authors; licensee Learning Gate there is work, children are studying, the republic has erased the visible traces of the war: “… Parents rarely talk about the events of the war and then in the context of everyday problems during the war, for example, how they went to the market just to brew water, you know, in general, they told about their hardships of that time. But this is limited to one or two stories. You know, this topic interests me exclusively from the point of view of how my family experienced it” (Ilman, 21, artist). On the other hand, the respondents’ stories include the everyday life of war, the inability to study, and vivid episodes of fear during bombing: “… I remember the bombings..., I even remember that a piece of shrapnel flew by me, I still remember..., I remember running with my mother under the bombings, she still tells me about it.. There are many moments like that, I wouldn’t like to remember them now, I can’t tell everything, I won’t have time” (Islam, 30, a foreman at a construction site). These and other in-depth interviews showed that the history and tragic events of the 1990s are more interesting to young people from an informational and educational perspective. There is no specific ideological attitude towards the political regime, nor is there any emotional involvement in the facts of the past, which are often referred to as “cultural trauma”. Evaluative judgments about the near and distant past and its interpretation lie in the plane of practical relevance of this memory: "it was a long time ago", "what can be changed now?", "parents do not like to talk about pain, do not want to upset us and be upset themselves." The generation of new postmodern values is distinguished by super-tolerance, uncertainty, lack of clear frameworks and boundaries of perception of reality. All this gives rise to fragmentation of life experience, blurring value attitudes and the formation of a new identity, the boundaries of which have yet to be determined. 4. Conclusion and Recommendations For the Chechen Republic, the problem of the relationship between value orientations and cultural memory is especially acute among young people. It leaves a noticeable trace on the formation of the general ideological paradigm of the young people, characterized by the weakening of the mechanisms of cultural succession, a decrease in interest in the past, in the history and traditions of their country, a shift in the core of socio-cultural identity and national self-awareness. This problem raises the question of the need to return or search for new mechanisms to maintain the link between the past and the future, through the revival of models of intergenerational links, as well as raising the motivation of young people to be interested in issues of cultural and national identity. As the results of surveys and interviews have shown, the main trend in the state of the axiosphere of young people is a unique, complex and multifaceted synthesis of traditional and modern values. In the surveys young people clearly put the traditional values of Chechens in the first place, among which respect for elders has become an imperative. However, more detailed research should be conducted: to what extent does the thesis of respect for elders remain unshakable in the context of the current modernization of society, is it rooted in behavioral ways, and is not formal (facade)? The generation of new postmodern values among young people is characterized by over-tolerance, uncertainty, and the absence of clear frameworks and boundaries for the perception of reality. This gives rise to fragmentation of life experience, blurred value systems and the formation of a new identity, the boundaries of which have yet to be determined. A modern young person in the Chechen society is rather indifferent to the cultural heritage of the past, contrary to the existing stereotype. In general, this trend fits into global trends: "... A family and local bond, wherein the past was passed on orally by representatives of generations- witnesses living under the same roof, were replaced by its reduced transfer, in which both acquired knowledge and various areas of memory production prevailed, since we are really talking about production" [24]. The most acute axiological problem among the young people is the issue of cultural succession and attitude towards the past events. Young people, immersing themselves in virtual space, actually exclude images of the past from their consciousness, opposing them with the concept of the “eternal present”, which, of course, leads to a temporal gap, loss of value supports and, as a consequence, difficulties in self-identification. Global processes of the world, with their boundless information agenda, reduce the degree of acuteness of young people's reaction to “national sore spots”. Young people, excluding the historical past from their field of attention, desacralizing it, usually show two inclinations: they either revise their assessments of history, or demonstrate indifference towards it [25]. Meanwhile, 1846 Edelweiss Applied Science and Technology ISSN: 2576-8484 Vol. 8, No. 6: 1837-1848, 2024 DOI: 10.55214/25768484.v8i6.2349 © 2024 by the authors; licensee Learning Gate it is cultural and historical succession that forms the value potential of young people, their readiness to assimilate and practically implement both the social experience of generations passed on to them and their life prospects in the context of the new reality. The transformation of cultural memory in the region is also influenced by structural factors, primarily demographic, migration dynamics, socio- economic living conditions of the population, etc. Over the past two to three decades, the value orientations of the young people have been transforming towards rational-consumer interests, which is also associated with a radical breakdown in socio-economic relations, changes in the organization of life from collective to individual forms. Traditional spiritual values are fading into the background, yielding leading positions to economic, material, and career aspirations. This trend can also be considered as a kind of adaptation mechanism that allows one to adapt to current socio-economic conditions [12]. Nevertheless, despite the dominance of practice-oriented values, young Chechens retain a fairly stable set of basic values inherent in the national socio-cultural archetype - family, traditions, honor, dignity, hospitality, love of culture, etc. These traditional value stereotypes may well be actualized with renewed vigor and in new conditions in a modified, transformed form [25]. The current crisis situation regarding the value orientations of the Chechen youth is based on a number of objective social factors: the socialization of millennials occurred during a difficult period, when society was in a state of disintegration, collapse of ideals, change of ideological paradigm, formation of new social relations. In the post-Soviet space, there was a noticeable break in the ties between generations; the changed worldview paradigm, caused by the deconstruction of the Soviet system, called into question the significance of all past narratives, plunging the younger generation into a state of identification vacuum. People born between the 1980s and 2000s (Generation Y) did not have the opportunity to identify themselves with any ethnocultural space. They are not eyewitnesses and contemporaries of the events of the Soviet period, they do not have their own ideas about the ideals of the unshakable Soviet state, which had the status of a superpower and an indestructible union, meanwhile, new meanings and ideals of the post-Soviet society have not yet had time to form [26]. If in the countries - former Soviet republics, the construction of new identities occurred according to the criterion of new political citizenship, as well as ethnic and religious characteristics, then in the current political situation in Russia, and then in the region under consideration, we can describe in terms of "political crisis", "military conflict", "confrontation between the Center and the Region". The search for a consolidating resource in the memory of the past, a correct attitude to events that do not guarantee a single metanarrative today, can become the main value for young people, determining their life strategy and the boundaries of a new identity. Thus, after two military campaigns, 20 years of building the economic, socio-political, cultural life of the republic, new meanings of identification strategies are being formed in the public consciousness of young people. According to young people, it is advisable to take as the basis for the reproduction of national identity not a sign of ethnicity or political loyalty, but the ability to construct a consistent view of history and culture, tolerance, to be open to the world and its values and, at the same time, to form a system of national and religious meanings that can become a mobilization resource for a family, social group, nation and state. Funding: The research is supported by the Russian National Science Foundation, grant No. 23-28-00698 "Cultural Memory and tolerance: problems of value formation in modern society: the regional aspect" Acknowledgments: The study is supported by the Russian Science Foundation, grant No. 23-28-00698 “Cultural Memory and Tolerance: Problems of Forming Values in Modern Society: Regional Aspect. Copyright: © 2024 by the authors. 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