Xenophobes and Their Opposites: Who Are They?

Abstract

Vladimir Mukomel – Doctor of Science in Sociology, Chief Researcher, Head of Department for Migration and Integration Studies, Institute of Sociology, Russian Academy of Science. Address: bld. 5, 24/35, Krzhizhanovskij St., Moscow, 117218, Russian Federation. E-mail: mukomel@isras.ru

The decline in xenophobic attitudes in Russia between 2014–2015, which has recently been documented by some researchers, has a transient nature. Xenophobia acquires latent forms that go unnoticed in the public space. This article attempts to answer the following questions: who are the people with xenophobic attitudes and why are they hostile to outsiders? and who are their opposites, i.e. people who consistently support tolerant attitude towards foreigners? Empirically the article draws on Wave 24 of the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS-HSE), the total sample size comprises of 15 200 respondents interviewed between October 2015 and January 2016 and 40 focus groups conducted by the Institute of Sociology, Russian Academy of Science (IS RAS) in five Russian regions in 2015. Depending on their attitudinal profiles respondents are first classified into four categories (“tolerant”, “swinging”, “hypointolerant” and “hyper-intolerant”) and further compared with respect to their typical socio-demographic profile, economic, human and social capital, the level of trust, and specific structures of identity. It is shown that intolerant individuals, particularly the “hyper-intolerant” are characterized by low levels of social capital and low levels of human capital, unwillingness or ill-preparedness to investment in human capital,. As a result a specific structure of identities develops among such people characterized by negative narcissism and social pessimism. In turn, uncertainty, frustration and the social fears experienced by such people are channelled away in the form of xenophobic attitudes. On the contrary, their opposites – tolerant individuals – are characterized by higher levels of human and social capital and social trust, which form the basis for their social optimism, self-confidence and higher levels of satisfaction with life as a whole.