LATENT MIGRANTOPHOBIA IN REGIONAL DIMENSION: ON THE MATERIALS OF MARI EL AND MORDOVIA

Abstract

The article analyzes the features of public perception of foreign labor migration in modern Russia, identified in the course of a sociological survey conducted by the authors of the article in the Republic of Mari El and the Republic of Mordovia. As a phenomenon of a global order, migration processes have their own specifics in different regions of the world. Thus, the migration situation in the countries of Western Europe, characterized by the so-called “crisis of multiculturalism”, has become widely known. The situation is fundamentally different in Russia, where the main source of labor migration is the states that were previously part of the USSR as union republics. In the presence of manifestations of migrant-phobia (latent or open) in most Russian regions, the migration situation for our country still does not have such a critical and acute character. To a large extent, its features can be traced to the example of individual subjects of the Russian Federation. In September - October 2020, the authors of this article conducted a survey of the population in the Republic of Mari El and the Republic of Mordovia. This survey was conducted within the framework of the Program of Fundamental and Applied Research on the topic “Ethnocultural Diversity of Russian Society and Strengthening the All-Russian Identity” (2020-2022). The survey showed that a significant part of the respondents view migrants as a threat to the economic security of the regions under consideration. The most effective management measures to prevent ethnopolitical and interethnic conflicts associated with migration are support for ethnic and cultural associations, interdepartmental and inter-level coordination in the implementation of state national policy, including the prevention of extremism and early warning of conflicts, as well as constant monitoring of the ethnopolitical sphere and interethnic relationships.