Social Success and Self-Determination Representations of Youth

The article presents results of the study on youth representations of social success. In the context of the Western culture individual success is associated with material well-being, pragmatism and individualism. Success appears as one of the most desirable and proclaimed values. The term “success” is one of the most common in the language culture of the modern Russian society. However, its content is very contradictory today. Success is considered to be linked to the social nature of a man, to the manifestation of his essential principle. Our study reveals nuclear and peripheral components of social success representations, the subjective assessment of connections with other phenomena and the differences in boys and girls. The differences in representations and self-determination of boys and girls viewed as “successful” and “unsuccessful” are identified. The results indicate an association between social success and self-determination strategies.