The publication presents the author’s explanation of the reason why the picture of the value political orientations of young people, created by the eff orts of many domestic researchers, does not look holistic and convincing enough to be used as an indisputable argument when choosing directions and methods for implementing state youth policy. The problem is not that diff erent researchers build a hierarchy of values in diff erent ways, to which the minds of young people are oriented. In a specifi c study, the greater signifi cance of some values and the lesser signifi cance of others is often determined, naturally, by its objectives, methodology, and conditions. The materials and conclusions presented in them convince the reader that the value orientations of young people for modern and future Russian politics contain as many threats as there are prerequisites for the state and society to be able to counter these threats. Such a “balanced” result of scientifi c research does not allow us to identify a trend towards changes in the value orientations of young people and, accordingly, to choose the most important direction for the implementation of state youth policy. The source of contradictions in the opinions of researchers about the state of value orientations of young people, the author considers the commitment of researchers to the social myth about youth, according to which the younger generation is both a risk factor for basic social practices and the main resource for their development.