Secure self-actualization of the young generation in a world of global correlations from the perspective of thirty years (1989–2019)

The Author examines values involved in the formation process of ontological security culture of the Polish youth from the perspective of thirty years (1989–2019), as well as determines which values are predominant in the youth community today. The author develops and justifies a thesis, according to which “the politics of life” constitutes a young person’s necessary ability to manage their life in the age of modernity. This management requires a creative and reflective effort, arranging and planning one’s life story, which is the core of identity. It also requires the creation of such a lifestyle in which the overriding value would be the concern for the future and well-being of other individuals, collectives, nations, societies and humanity. This leads to responsibility for the whole, for life, as one’s own future and prosperity also depends on it. The author also proves that youth in Poland are not indifferent to cultural universals, but instead rather attempt to co-create those universals in course of intercultural dialogue and globalization processes. This generation is the first one to have the opportunity for intercultural participation on a global scale in such a widespread way, the ability to choose the content and forms of such participation through the internet and electronic media of global reach. Today’s youth are proficient in navigating the internet. The ways and time they devote to particular digital resources indicate their social affiliation directions, value hierarchies and activity styles. At the same time, the creation and use of online content causes and requires dynamic redefinition of one’s attitudes, opinions, relationships that is, social identity, both in real and virtual reality.