Digital Representation of Youth’ Agency in Culture: A Database of Projects

Frontiers in Psychology. 2025. Vol. 16. Article 1716164.

Sorokin P., Novikova V., Goshin M. E.

Agency is a multidisciplinary concept denoting individual ability to initiate and carry out actions that transform one’s own life and social environment. Traditionally, in psychology, agency is viewed as an internal characteristic—a constellation of motives, attitudes, and cognitive schemas that drive human action. Studies of this sort focus on the desire to be active, the aspiration for autonomy, selfesteem, while often overlooking real, objective activity that exerts influence on social structures. Unlike other domains of agency, culture is more accessible to young people, requiring neither substantial initial financial investments nor high risk. Examples of youth projects in culture manifesting agency include preserving cultural heritage, supporting communities and creating new products, services, markets, and landscapes. Importantly, “external effects” of projects on the social environment (mentioned above) and “processual dimension” of agency (stable system of interrelations, regular events) should be distinguished.

Digital traces, including publications, comments, photos, and videos disseminated through media, including social networks, represent an important yet understudied source of data that can be used to document structural aspects of human agency. This paper presents and analyzes a database of youth-led cultural projects, incorporating 94 initiatives across Russia. In contrast to other studies on youth agency, including cultural projects, the paper uses a novel methodological approach based on analyzing digital traces of youth-led cultural projects.

Keywords: culture, база данных, цифровые следы, Database, digital traces, культура, cultural projects, культурные проекты, Youth Agency, агентность молодежи, Agency Effects, эффекты агентности

Publication based on the results of: Independent creative action of different categories of the population in various spheres of activity: universal and specific characteristics (2025)