DATUKISHVILI E.Z. Influence of migration flows to the identity of russian people

DOI 10.35775/PSI.2020.34.4.004

E.Z. DATUKISHVILI Post-graduate student of the Chair of political science and political administration, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANKhiGS), Moscow, Russia

INFLUENCE OF MIGRATION FLOWS TO THE IDENTITY OF RUSSIAN PEOPLE

This article is devoted to the analysis of the influence of migration flows on the identity of Russians in modern socio-political conditions of the country's development. Based on the study of a wide range of theoretical material and analysis of sociological studies, the author of the article comes to the conclusion about a significantly negative impact of the immigration factors in the civil and ethno-cultural identity of Russians. The article also formulates proposals for changes in the migration and national policy of the country to level the above risks.

When analyzing the influence of migration flows on the Russians’ identity it is necessary, first of all, to pay special attention to the fact that a person's identity from the sociological point of view is multilevel in nature and its structure is influenced by a variety of factors relevant to different levels of identity formation.

The impact of migration flows on the identity of Russian citizens is multifaceted and profound, and is manifested to varying degrees in different parts of the country and in the context of different types of identity.

Key words: migration, identity, ethno-cultural identity, transformation of identity, integration of migrants, cultural policy.

In the global era of our time, the vast majority of the world's countries are facing a wide range of challenges of historical scale, which include not only such obvious threats as the threat of terrorism and extremism, the growing drug threat and the need to combat global warming. They also include the challenges that have been actualized in recent years and have attracted the attention of a wide audience in all economically developed countries, from the United States to Russia. Such challenges undoubtedly include the problems caused by the intensification of global migration flows, which form threats to the socio-economic stability of the recipient countries.

It should be emphasized that the works of Russian authors published in recent years covers a wide range of issues in this subject area [3; 18; 5; 6; 16. Pp. 157-172].

The intensification of migration flows, linked not only to traditional migration factors such as the escalation of military conflicts in particular regions of the world, the persecution of people on the basis of their national or religious origin, but also dictated by the desire of millions of people to improve their life, radically transforms the political reality of these countries. It directly affects not only the growth of competitiveness in the labor market, but also has an impact on changing the identity of the population of Europe, the United States and Russia. Due to this factor, the relevance of the problem of the influence of migration flows on the identity of Russians, which is now the focus of this article, does not cause any doubt [11. P. 42].

In a number of their works devoted to the analysis of the civil identity of the population of Russia, major Russian sociologists such as E. S. Kukva and A. Yu. Shadzhe came to the conclusion that it is necessary to separate such important levels of civil identity of the population of Russia, as ethnic, regional, national, geopolitical and civilizational level. At the same time, the development of the identity of Russian citizens is based on the transformation of their ethno-cultural identity as the most stable element of the identity structure, which represents the semantic basis of human life [13. P. 131].

At the same time, at the present stage of the country's development, migration flows have a significant impact on all levels of identity of Russian citizens. This trend is formed not so much by the fact of migration of citizens of the post-Soviet countries to the territory of Russia in search of work. The main reason for this process is the increase in the volume of migration flow in absolute terms and the decrease in the cultural level of the average migrant and the unwillingness of migrants to accept the specifics of Russian culture and integrate into the national economy.

To a large extent, the above trends are due to the fact that the vast majority of migrants staying in Russia are from Central Asian republics such as Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, where the influence of Russian culture was largely weakened after the collapse of the Soviet Union. According to the Russian migration service, for the period from January to August 2019, 12 984 565 people legally entered the territory of Russia and were put on the migration register, while during the same period of 2018, this figure was 11 960 763 people. Moreover, more than half of this migration flow is accounted for by citizens of Central Asian countries, where the level of proficiency of the Russian language leaves much to be desired [10].

All these processes lead to an increase in the negative attitude towards immigrants in Russian society and cause an increase in social instability in some regions of the Russian Federation. They also create fears about the prospects of forming in the country a favorable soil for the interethnic peace and constructive relations between the citizens, as well as the basis for the development of xenophobic sentiments, on the one hand, and social alienation and deprivation of immigrants, on the other hand. All of it is reflected in the transformation of the political identity of Russians and the change of their assessment of many factors of public life [4].

In modern sociological science it is considered that human identity, including civil identity, is characterized by its multilevel nature. In particular, if the influence of migration flows on the development of the political identity of the population of Russia, as they perceive themselves as citizens of a single country is difficult to trace, this influence of the same factor on the identity of residents of Russian regions, as well as residents of small or medium-sized cities, as a more compact cultural space is much more obvious [2. P. 167].

The identity of the population of Russian small or medium-sized cities is a special form of identity of Russians. It is formed on the basis of the summation of the population of these cities of their country, regional and settlement identity. At the same time, for the vast majority of Russian citizens, their correlation with their small homeland, with their locality, as well as with their region, is of particular importance. Due to certain factors, the intensification of migration flows in Russia has a direct impact on the level of formation of their country identity. These migration flows, supplemented by internal migration flows of residents of Russia itself, form the basis for changing the identity of Russians at the regional level, actively contributing to the erosion in these regions of the existing ethno-cultural norms [11. P. 76].

Often, migration causes both in large cities and in smaller settlements an increase in conflict and violence not only between the local population and migrants, but also between migrants of different origins. Example of this is the incident that occurred on 18 August 2005 in the village of Yandyki, Astrakhan region, when as a result of a clash between Kalmyks and Chechens, caused by the murder in a mass brawl of a Kalmyk boy, twelve Chechens and one Kalmyk were sentenced to imprisonment for up to seven years.

In mid-June 2006 in the city of Salsk, Rostov region, there was a similar precedent, when as a result of a quarrel between local residents and immigrants from Dagestan, one resident of the city was shot. The most striking example of the growing tension in respect of the citizens and strengthening of nationalism and intolerance, caused by the increase in migratory flows, are the events of December 2010 in Moscow Manege square, where thirty-five people suffered and sixty people were arrested [8].

The influence of migration flows on the identity of Russians can be traced in the most obvious way on the example of large Russian cities, including not only Moscow and St. Petersburg, but also Samara, Krasnodar, Novosibirsk and Yekaterinburg. Data from the Russian Migration Service show that the flow of migrants into the country has increased by forty percent since 2009. Such cities and regions as Moscow, Moscow region, St. Petersburg and Leningrad region, Novosibirsk and Yekaterinburg became the centers of attraction for migrants. At the same time, an increase in migration flows has a huge impact on the identity of the population of Yekaterinburg, where more than one and a half million people are officially registered.

Yekaterinburg as a regional center attracts more than half of the migrants arriving to the Sverdlovsk region, this situation has changed the ethnic composition of both the city of Yekaterinburg and the Sverdlovsk region. Official data show that between 1989 and 2010, the number of citizens in the region of the East Asian origin increased fourfold. The number of citizens in the region of the Central Asian and Transcaucasia origin has doubled. The number of citizens of Slavic and Finno-Ugric origin has decreased [17. Pp. 35-59].

The natural result of these trends was the growth of tension in interethnic relations in the region, an example of which was the events of July 2011, which took place in the village of Sagra, forty kilometers from Yekaterinburg. These events developed according to the traditional scenario of interethnic clashes, which has become more frequent in recent years. It all started with a shootout in the village between local residents and an armed group of natives of the Caucasus, who came to the village to help a Gypsy family in its conflict with local residents. As a result of the collision, a native of Azerbaijan was fatally wounded. The Sagrin man who has shot him received the victim status, while twenty-three visitors were charged with banditry, participation in riots and threats to kill [8].

Similar trends are also typical for Moscow as the most attractive center for the migrants. At the present stage of its development, the presence of a large number of diverse cultures is both a certain advantage of the Russian capital and its complex problem. This migration factor gives Moscow additional economic dynamism, forms its image as a major metropolis of the world scale and contributes to the dialogue between peoples. It is the multiculturalism of the Russian capital that makes it the real capital of Russia as a multinational and multi confessional state [12. P. 18].

On the other hand, the presence of a large number of diverse cultures within the boundaries of the Moscow metropolis increases social tensions in the city and extrapolates various ethnic conflicts into the life of the city, changing the identity of Muscovites. Post-Soviet megacities, which include the Russian capital, have a similar character. However, Moscow in many respects differs from other cities of the country. Above all, this difference is expressed in the large scale and a wider degree of mass character of the Moscow agenda, which is political economic and financial center of the country. This fact is reflected at the level of interethnic relations.

At the moment, changes in the identity of Muscovites under the influence of migration flows can be traced by sociological surveys. Thus, in the Russian capital there is a gap between the more patient attitude towards migrants, typical for the older generation, brought up in the traditions of the Soviet internationalism, and a higher degree of nationalism, which distinguishes the new generation. Moreover, the effect of generational change strengthens the position of nationalism, as evidenced by the social surveys conducted in Moscow.

First of all, majority of Moscow residents in recent years associated representatives of other nationalities, especially from the Caucasus and Central Asia, with visitors and migrants. This determines the psychological attitude of the relationship Russian-non-Russian. Almost a third of Moscow residents surveyed in 2010 have contacts with migrants at the household level. The majority of residents of megacities are ready to accept a migrant as a colleague (40 percent), as a neighbor (34 percent), even as a citizen of Russia (31 percent). However, only 9 percent of respondents are ready to accept a representative of another nationality as a business partner, a spouse – 8 percent, or a boss – 2 percent. The expert survey gives an idea of the localization of conflicts on the ethnic basis. Most conflicts are recorded in the streets, transport, markets (about 80%), in businesses (44%), between neighbors (31%). Least number of conflicts is noted in educational institutions in spite of the fact that negative attitudes develop actively in the youth environment [9. P. 76].

Strengthening of the importance of religion and nationality in the self-consciousness of Russian citizens can also be considered an important consequence of the growth of migration flows to Russia. If in 1991, a little more than 30 percent of the population of Russia called themselves believers, in 2012, according to surveys conducted by the Levada Center, more than 75 percent of the population of Russia consider themselves religious and only one in 20 citizens of the Russian Federation is an atheist [14].

The factor of religion allows preserving the ethno-cultural basis against the formation of a multicultural society in the country. It is particularly important that interest in religion is increasing not only among Muslim youth, brought up in a strictly conservative spirit, but also among Russians as the main ethnic group of the country, forming the basis of the Russian statehood. The Russian Orthodox Church as the largest religious institution in Russia plays a leading role in this movement. In particular, the Synodal Department of the Russian Orthodox Church develops contacts with representatives of the Russian state authorities, with various Russian political, social and cultural organizations, and coordinates its public agenda with state authorities. However, within the framework of this activity, the Russian Orthodox Church adheres to the principle of non-interference of Church and state in each other's internal affairs [1. P. 58].

The Russian Orthodox Church, which was one of the organizations that suffered most during the Soviet time, is being actively restored in modern Russia both as a religious organization and as a public institution. Russian Orthodoxy is strengthening its position largely due to the religious Renaissance in our country that took place in recent decades and is also related to the need of the Russian people to preserve their cultural basis in a changing world.

Another important consequence of the growth of migration flows in Russia, including the growth of internal migration of the population of the North Caucasus regions to the large Russian cities, is the complication of the attitude of Russian citizens to the problem of interfaith relations, controversial in their nature. In particular, on the one hand, an important feature of the development of religious relations in modern Russia is the benevolent attitude of representatives of different religious movements to each other. For example, according to the surveys of the same Levada-Center, 92 percent of respondents have respect for the Orthodox Christians, which means that positive attitudes to them are shared not only by the Orthodox Christians themselves, but also by representatives of other religions.

The attitude of the country's Muslim towards Russian civil identity is also positive. Over the past decade, Russian Muslims have become an important organic part of the Russian society, and their level of tolerance towards other religions has increased significantly.

According to the results of sociological studies published in January 2018, it was Russian Muslims who were the most tolerant part of the Russian society. For example, 72 percent of Muslims reported “a very positive” or “somewhat positive” attitude toward Christians. However, the results of a similar survey revealed that among the Orthodox Christians symmetrical positive attitude towards Muslims is lower by 20 percent. This fact indicates the continuing prejudice against Islam in modern Russian society, which can also be associated with the negative attitude of Russian citizens to the migrants who are predominantly Muslim by origin [15].

Thus, summing up the results of our work devoted to the analysis of the impact of migration flows on the identity of Russians, we can conclude that these trends to a certain extent undermine the unity of the Russian people as a single cultural and political space. This fact actualizes the need to make changes in the migration policy of Russia, as well as in the policy aimed at the integration of migrants into the Russian cultural space [4].

At the present stage of its development, the Russian state proceeds from the fact that the country needs an influx of foreign labor in certain segments of the Russian economy, but at the same time, considers the task of controlling migration flows and combating illegal migration to be fundamentally important. This task is considered strategic in Russia, as uncontrolled migration undermines both economic security of the country and its socio-political stability. To neutralize the negative impact of migration flows on the identity of Russians, it is necessary to raise the level of transparency of the migration flows as a part of the work carried out within the Eurasian integration and also raise requirements for migrants. It is also necessary to increase the number of centers for checking the migrants’ Russian language proficiency and their knowledge of Russian legislation.

As a part of measures aimed at the adaptation of migrants, Russia should raise the level of requirements for the migrants’ Russian language proficiency and their knowledge of the basics of the Russian legislation, without the knowledge of which migrants shall not be granted the right to work in our country. Russia must also fight illegal migration and unfair treatment of illegal migrants by unscrupulous employers. Finally, Russia must control the fight against extremism within the migrants’ communities.

At the same time, an important area of work aimed at neutralizing the negative impact of migration flows on the Russian identity should be strengthening of the unity of the Russian nation and maintenance of the country’s ethnic and cultural diversity. The aim of such policy should be, on the one hand, preservation of the socio-political stability of the state on the basis of respect for the local national cultures, and on the other hand, strengthening of the all-Russian civil unity and maintenance of the country’s territorial integrity. These two tasks at the present stage of the country's development are implemented within the framework of the adopted Federal targeted program on Strengthening the unity of the Russian nation and ethnic and cultural development of the peoples of Russia in 2014-2020 [7].

Within the framework of this Program, the national policy in Russia is implemented in two areas. On the one hand, it aims at combating the manifestations of nationalism, xenophobia, religious fundamentalism and separatism in the regions with the predominantly non-Russian population, and also at strengthening all-Russian civic identity, based on the support of the Russian language and Russian cultural policy, promotion of ethnic and cultural development of the Russian people. On the other hand, the program emphasizes that it is not aimed at leveling ethnic or cultural diversity in the Russian Federation. The Program emphasizes that the ethnic and cultural diversity of Russia is considered its competitive advantage, it forms an integral part of the world spiritual heritage and a necessary element of its international image, the Russian Federation also has a number of international obligations with respect to the rights of indigenous minorities and national minorities and countering extremism and terrorism.

With the effective implementation of such measures, the Russian Federation will be able to use the positive potential of intensification of migration flows, while maintaining the socio-political stability of the Russian society.

REFERENCES:

1. Averintsev S.S. Theology // The New philosophical encyclopedia: in 4 volumes / Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of science; NAT. societies' [Teologiya // Novaya filosofskaya entsiklopediya: v 4-kh t. / In-t filosofii RAN; Nats. obshchestv]. M.: Mysl, 2010 (In Russ.).

2. Baryshnikova I.V. The concept of identity in sociological discourse [Ponyatiye identichnosti v sotsiologicheskom diskurse] // Bulletin of Volgograd State University. 2016. No. 2 (In Russ.).

3. Buyanov V.S. Features of the Russian mentality and its ability to adapt to modern conditions [Osobennosti russkogo mentaliteta i yego sposobnost' adaptirovat'sya k sovremennym usloviyam] // Eurasian Union: international relations. 2018. No. 3 (In Russ.).

4. Contemporary Russian identity: measurements, challenges, answers [Sovremennaya rossiyskaya identichnost': izmereniya, vyzovy, otvety] // VTsIOM // https://wciom.ru/fileadmin/file/reports_conferences/2014/2014-02-19-ros_identichnost.pdf (In Russ.).

5. Datukishvili Е.Z. National and civil identity in Russia: problems of conjunction [Natsional'naya i grazhdanskaya identichnost' v Rossii: problemy sopryazheniya] // Issues of National and Federative Relations. 2019. V. 9. No. 10 (55) (In Russ.).

6. Drobizheva L.М. Russian civil identity in scientific and political discussions and public opinion [Rossiyskaya grazhdanskaya identichnost' v nauchno-politicheskikh diskussiyakh i obshchestvennom mnenii] // Issues of National and Federative Relations. 2018. V. 8. No. 4 (In Russ.).

7. Electronic Fund of legal documentation [«Elektronnyy fond pravovoy dokumentatsii»] // http://docs.cntd.ru/document/499040473 (In Russ.).

8. Famous ethnic conflicts in Russia [Gromkiye mezhnatsional'nyye konflikty v Rossii] // Kommersant // https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/2939714 (In Russ.).

9. Gadjiev К.S. The concept of civil society: ideological origins and milestones [Kontseptsiya grazhdanskogo obshchestva: ideynyye istoki i osnovnyye vekhi formirovaniya] // Issues of Philisophy. 2010. No. 3 (In Russ.).

10. Key indicators on the migration situation in the Russian Federation for January-August 2019. Official website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation [Osnovnyye pokazateli po migratsionnoy situatsii v Rossiyskoy Federatsii za yanvar'-avgust 2019 goda. Ofitsial'nyy sayt «Ministerstvo vnutrennikh del RF»] // https://xn--b1aew.xn--p1ai/Deljatelnost/statistics/migracionnaya/item/18329606/ (In Russ.).

11. Коkhichko А.N. On the principles of attitude to the world as the basis of basic national values [O printsipakh otnosheniya k miru kak osnove bazovykh natsional'nykh tsennostey] // Elementary school plus, Before and After. 2010. No. 1 (In Russ.).

12. Кozhanov I.V. Civil and ethnic identity: the problem of interrelation and interdependence [Grazhdanskaya i etnicheskaya identichnosti: problema vzaimosvyazi i vzaimozavisimosti] // Modern problems of science and education. 2013. No. 3 (In Russ.).

13. Кukva Е.S., Shadzhe А.Yu. The Modernizing North Caucasus: parameters of identity [Moderniziruyushchiysya Severnyy Kavkaz: parametry identichnosti] // Bulletin of MGOU. Series: Philosophical science. 2012. No. 2 (In Russ.).

14. Levada-Center Analytical Center [Analiticheskiy tsentr «Levada-Tsentr»] // https://www.levada.ru/2017/07/18/religioznost/ (In Russ.).

15. Levada-Center Analytical Center [Analiticheskiy tsentr «Levada-Tsentr»] // https://www.levada.ru/2018/01/23/otnoshenie-k-religiyam/ (In Russ.).

16. Мedvedev N.P., Nesterchuk О.А., Slizovskiy D.Е. Post-Soviet Commonwealth (CIS). Are there any resources left for a new reintegration? [Postsovetskoye sodruzhestvo (SNG). Ostalis' li resursy dlya novoy reintegratsii?] // Przeglad Strategiczny. 2018. V. 11. (In Russ.).

17. Starostin А.N. Integration potential of the Middle Urals: risks, trends and prospects // Problems of human rights observance in the conditions of mass labor migration: spec. report [Integratsionnyy potentsial Srednego Urala: riski, tendentsii i perspektivy // Problemy soblyudeniya prav cheloveka v usloviyakh massovoy trudovoy migratsii: spets. doklad]. Yekaterinburg, 2013 (In Russ.).

18. Voronina N.А. Social and labour rights of migrants in the context of Eurasian integration [Sotsial'no-trudovyye prava migrantov v kontekste yevraziyskoy integratsii] // Issues of National and Federative Relations. 2019. V. 9. No. 10 (55) (In Russ.).