Social networks in the structure of channels for broadcasting the historical memory of the Great Patriotic War
among Moscow students
The Great Patriotic War remains one of the key events defining Russian historical memory and national identity. For young people today, the connection with this past is formed mainly through family narratives, educational practices, and media environments, including digital platforms. In the context of accelerating digitalization, social networks are becoming particularly important as one of the main communication channels for young people. The article analyzes the place of the social network VKontakte among the channels of broadcasting historical memory of the war and describes the emerging forms and modes of digital engagement of young people. The theoretical and methodological basis of the research is the concepts of social and cultural memory, a typological approach to the analysis of the historical memory of youth, as well as ideas about digital media as an infrastructure of memorial practices. The empirical basis of the study is data from a mass survey of Moscow university students aged 18-25 years, conducted according to a quota sample by level of education and areas of study. The analytical part uses descriptive statistics methods, cross-distribution comparison of indicators, and cluster analysis. The results of the study show that for the majority of respondents, the memory of the war is still rooted in family biographies and educational practices at the school and university levels, while social networks serve as an additional channel expanding the presence of the theme of war in everyday life. An analysis of the significance of the war, emotional reactions and features of digital behavior on the VKontakte social network revealed a pronounced heterogeneity: against the background of high declared significance and the predominance of positive value emotions, a significant part of students is limited to passive consumption of content, while sustained participation in online forms of war memory transmission and reflexive use of thematic material is typical for relatively small groups. On this basis, several modes of digital engagement were identified, differing in the degree of involvement and the nature of interaction with memorial content: ritually engaged users, distanced observers, critically selective and minimally involved users. It was established that rich family practices of preserving the memory of the war and meaningful participation in school and university memorial events increase the likelihood of both ritual participation and critically meaningful access to digital content about the Great Patriotic War. On the contrary, weak or formalized offline channels of historical memory transmission are more often associated with a fragmentary and minimal presence of the theme of war in the digital experience of students. It is concluded that social networks are being integrated into the existing structure of historical memory transmission channels as a special digital layer that reinforces already established trajectories of attitudes to the past and creates new formats for both symbolic participation and critical reflection on socially accepted ideas about war.
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Zimova, N. S. (2026), “Social networks in the structure of channels for broadcasting the historical memory of the Great Patriotic War among Moscow students”, Research Result. Sociology and Management, 12 (2), 47-67, DOI: 10.18413/2408-9338-2026-12-2-0-4.
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