The idea of the essence of labor is largely socio-cultural, i.e. it is conditioned by a connection with a certain type of culture. Therefore, this article looks into the socio-cultural approach to self-regulation of the image of labor. Self-regulation of the image of labor is investigated in connection with the cultural space of young people. With the help of theoretical positions of phenomenological sociology we substantiate the concept of socio-cultural foundation used by young people to create an image of labor; we describe the process of formation of cultural space, consider a role of different types of culture in the process of formation of the meanings that form the image and act as semantic basis of what young people expect from labor. This approach contributes to a more adequate understanding of how young people form their attitude toward labor and of the contradictions arising in this sphere of life. The way in which young people understand the meaning of labor forms a basis on which the image of labor is created. We substantiate the most significant features of the conditions for the formation of meanings, reflecting the following changes in social reality in modern society – social uncertainty, destruction of normativity, and semantic hybridization. The construction of young people’s new ideas about labor takes place through the contradictory interaction between traditional and modern semantic patterns. We use data of sociological studies to analyze the connection between various characteristics of the image of labor and types of culture; we also analyze the influence of terminal and instrumental values in the constructed image of labor on young people’s attitude toward actual labor. The mechanism of self-regulation of the attitude toward labor is revealed as a process of realization of expectations, in trust or distrust toward labor. The role of moral and psychological state of young people in this process is shown. The analysis allows us to understand more deeply the features of self-regulation of the image of labor and its role in the formation of young people’s attitude toward labor. We make conclusions about the changes in the image of labor in the direction of more flexible forms that often depend on the moral and psychological state of young people, which is manifested in their attitude toward labor. We show a connection between self-regulation models based on terminal and instrumental values of labor and “adaptive” and “spiritual” types of culture
Keywords
young people, labor, image of labor, self-regulation, cultural space, socio-cultural mechanism of self-regulation, meanings, terminal and instrumental values of labor, trust and distrust, expectations