This article explores popular culture as a space for competing sociopolitical alternatives and assesses its role in shaping Russian youth’s perceptions of the future. The underlying assumption is that, under the influence of the digital transformation of society, popular culture is ceasing to be an instrument of homogenization and becoming a polycentric space for the competitive struggle of various socio-political alternatives and competing visions of the future. The theoretical section substantiates a shift from classical manipulative interpretations to an understanding of popular culture as an arena where various social order projects collide. Empirical evidence confirms that youth consumption of cultural artifacts is complex, and social activity is increasingly realized in hybrid and online formats. The authors demonstrate that traditional forms of popular culture (literature, cinema) are giving way to more personalized digital practices, and the image of the future is being constructed through interaction with multiple disparate narratives. The results obtained in this study allow us to understand the current changes in the role of mass culture, as well as its influence on the formation of ideological attitudes of various social groups, including young people, which can become an important part of the analytical basis for the development and subsequent high-quality implementation of a social development strategy.
mass culture; image of the future; youth; digitalization; Russian society; Russia; socio-political relations.