“Praying Muslim Youth” as a Subculture of Kabardino-Balkar Society

This article examines a social group within Kabardino-Balkar society — the so-called “praying youth” that emerged during the post-Soviet religious revival. The article presents some distinctive features of this group — its members’ social base, their world outlook, and their behavioral patterns and markers. Special attention is paid to analysis of the reasons for the emergence of the religious conflict that divided society into those professing a “popular” form of Islam and those “praying,” with their fundamentalist agenda. Field materials illustrate how “folk” and/or “traditional” culture vanishes within the subculture of the “praying youth”.