The relevance of the study is determined by the institutionalization of historical and patriotic volunteering as a hybrid mechanism for transmitting historical memory and civic solidarity under conditions of social experience fragmentation and the youth's demand for authentic forms of participation. The focus is on the motivational specifics and activity profile of young people within the all-Russia public movement, Victory Volunteers, filling a gap in youth sociology and management sociology. The methodological framework is based on the results of a mass survey (formalized online questionnaire) conducted in 2025 in the Belgorod region. A subsample of respondents aged 14-35 years who identified themselves with the Victory Volunteers direction (n = 1,092) was analyzed. Data processing included descriptive and cluster analysis of the motivational structure, recording gaps between importance and realization of motives. The main scientific result of the article is an empirically grounded cluster diagnosis of the motivational deficit among Victory Volunteers, localized in the zones of public recognition, career mobility, and substantive attractiveness of activities, which, in the absence of targeted managerial interventions, creates a risk of erosion of the most qualified segment and ritualization of patriotic activity. Conclusions: The motivational structure of youth patriotic volunteering is polymotivated and hierarchical; sustainability of participation is ensured primarily by the value-altruistic core, but systemic underfulfillment of status-career expectations generates a latent crisis. Victory Volunteers are motivated not by material compensation, but by the symbolic rewards of exclusive access to privileged social spaces and converting volunteer capital into educational and professional dividends.
The relevance of the study is determined by the institutionalization of historical and patriotic volunteering as a hybrid mechanism for transmitting historical memory and civic solidarity under conditions of social experience fragmentation and the youth's demand for authentic forms of participation. The focus is on the motivational specifics and activity profile of young people within the all-Russia public movement, Victory Volunteers, filling a gap in youth sociology and management sociology. The methodological framework is based on the results of a mass survey (formalized online questionnaire) conducted in 2025 in the Belgorod region. A subsample of respondents aged 14-35 years who identified themselves with the Victory Volunteers direction (n = 1,092) was analyzed. Data processing included descriptive and cluster analysis of the motivational structure, recording gaps between importance and realization of motives. The main scientific result of the article is an empirically grounded cluster diagnosis of the motivational deficit among Victory Volunteers, localized in the zones of public recognition, career mobility, and substantive attractiveness of activities, which, in the absence of targeted managerial interventions, creates a risk of erosion of the most qualified segment and ritualization of patriotic activity. Conclusions: The motivational structure of youth patriotic volunteering is polymotivated and hierarchical; sustainability of participation is ensured primarily by the value-altruistic core, but systemic underfulfillment of status-career expectations generates a latent crisis. Victory Volunteers are motivated not by material compensation, but by the symbolic rewards of exclusive access to privileged social spaces and converting volunteer capital into educational and professional dividends.