National Identity as a Means of Reducing Ethnic Negativism

Abstract

Leokadiya Drobizheva – Doctor of Science in History, Chief Researcher, Head of the Centre for the Study of Interethnic Relations, Institute of Sociology, Russian Academy of Science; Professor-Researcher, HSE, Address: bld. 5, 24/35, Krzhizhanovskij St., Moscow, 117218, Russian Federation. E-mail: drobizheva@yandex.ru

This article discusses how national identity in Russia is understood by the public and among experts who study ethnic issues. The author separates the notion of national identity into categorical identity and associative identity (i.e. the consolidating type of identity which is based on a strong feeling of connection with other citizens). The latter type of identity is present only among a third of people who identify themselves as Russian. The author further analyses the connection of this type of identity with interethnic negativism. She finds that national identity does not remove bias towards abstract ‘others’. However, it affects direct interethnic communication in the labour and family spheres. The positive impact of national identity on interethnic attitudes is more apparent in Astrakhan region, which has longer experience of interethnic communication. It is argued that one obstacle to national identity having a positive impact on interethnic attitudes is the lack of a  clear and consistent understanding of national identity among education experts, social scientists, and journalists. The study utilizes data from Wave 24 of the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS-HSE) conducted by the Institute of Sociology (“The dynamics of social transformation of modern Russia in the socioeconomic, political, socio-cultural and ethno-religious contexts” Wave 4) and several separate regional polls conducted by the Department of Ethno-sociology of the Institute of Sociology, Russian Academy of Science (IS RAS) between 2014 and 2016.