During Russia's societal transition extremist behavior by young people shows signs of increasing. An extra effort is required on the part of Russian educators to try to contain this phenomenon. The increasing extremist activity on the part of young people is linked to a particular stage of the development of society. It appears that youth extremism serves as an indicator of society's economic development, and of its transition to the postindustrial phase of development. In this article the author attempts to substantiate this paradoxical assertion. The author discusses extremism as an indicator of social troubles and describes some measures to overcome youth extremism. The author stresses that the most important way to combat youth extremism consists of showing concern for the development of the social institution of education and perfecting its structural components. (Contains 1 note.)