Migrants in host community of Russia: problems of successful adaptation
On January 23rd has been held academic seminar from series "Culture Matters" with Yaroslav Bakhmetiev, lecturer of Department of Political behavior, trainee researcher of the Laboratory for Political Studies.
Jaroslav Bakhmetiev in his report presented first results of the project "Value heterogeneity of society as factor of social dynamics"of the Laboratory for Political Studies. Y. Bakhmetiev and his colleagues analyzed ethnocultural heterogeneity of society through the eyes of each other's local population and migrants in Russia. The purpose of this study is to identify the main obstacles to full integration of migrants into the host Russian community, and vision migrants sources of these factors.
Jaroslav Bakhmetiev in his report presented first results of the project "Value heterogeneity of society as factor of social dynamics" of the Laboratory for Political Studies. Y. Bakhmetiev and his colleagues analyze ethno cultural heterogeneity of the society through mutual perception of local population and migrants in Russia. Goal of this study is to identify main obstacles to full integration of migrants into the host Russian community, and understanding sources of these factors by migrants.
To achieve research goal Y. Bakhmetiev and colleagues outlined following objectives: identification of main institutional and non-institutional barriers for successful integration of migrants into Russian society, definition of "subjective" barriers and reconstruction of the most striking myths of migrant communities.
Emphasis of this study is done on relationships of external migrants to Russia as host country, its people, its government institutions, etc. (meaning integration itself, adaptation to the community, and not to its laws). Empirical base consisted of in-depth and biographical interviews with migrants about their staying in Russia, their prospects, their relationships with host community (with an emphasis on subjective, emotive evaluations).
Problem identified at the end of first phase of the study lies in the fact that migrants interviewed (selected on the basis of belonging to "working class") don’t have deep reflection about their presence in host community. Most of migrants perceive Russia as a "place to work", and social interaction takes place within same representatives’ community.