The article demonstrates how the study of social practices helps disprove myths on ethnicity in a global world and on the lack of political involvement in the ethnically marked Russian society. Furthermore, the article highlights the dangers of treating xenophobia solely as an attribute of extremism and lists problems that require targeted research for the purpose of preventing inter-ethnic hostility and creating a positive civic identity. Among other myths, the notion that globalization is making ethnicities disappear is not grounded in reality. Several latest studies published by Western authors prove that politicians continue to use the sense of ethnic identity for rallying their constituents, particularly when it comes to anti-immigration attitudes. The insights of Russian ethno sociologists also confirm that the sense of identity remains just as prevalent as ten years ago, both among ethnic Russians and among other ethnicities that the republics within Russia are named after. Furthermore, a very sizeable share of Russian citizens still harbors the idea of belonging to the same community with the people of their ethnicity. We would even go as far as to say that globalization may actually heighten the sense of identity, because globalization promotes free capital flow, and consequently, free migration of the labor force, resulting in environments that are culturally diverse to a notable degree and give rise to an “us versus them” mentality. This article considers the application of a constructivist approach to studying ethnicity, and proves that the improved version of this approach, which we refer to here as “constructivist structuralism”, is very efficient when applied to Russian realia. Methodology-wise, it is important to find the social and cultural core of the consolidation that the Russian identity rests upon in specific ethno cultural society segments, such as the ethnic Russian majority, other peoples living in Russia, and groups of migrants that are adapting to life in Russia. One of the important factors at the foundation of civic identity is the extent to which the ethnic majority’s ideological and psychological “imperialistic syndrome” of alienating others stops being relevant. In addition to the above, the article describes the issues that arise from the ethnic aspect of social inequality. We highlight the dangers of expanding the ethnic bias and giving social issues an ethnic subtext. This has become a major issue lately, as evidenced in the intentional exaggeration of data on crimes committed by immigrants. We describe the changes that result from bolstering the power vertical, including a certain depoliticization of ethnicity.

ethnic prejudices, ethnic ethnicity, social space, marking civil identity.

1. Myuller Dzh. My i oni [We and they]. Rossiya v global’noy politike, 2008, no 3 (in Russ.).

2. Schutz A. Seus commun et interpretatious scientifiqie de e’action hur naine. Le chercheu et le quotidian. Paris, Meridiens – Keincksieck, 1987.

3. Berger P., Lukman T. Sotsial’noye konstruirovaniye real’nosti. Traktat po sotsiologii znaniya [Social construction of reality. A Treatise on the Sociology of Knowledge]. Moscow, Medium, 1995, p. 213 (in Russ.).

4. Burd’ye P. Nachala. Choses Dites [Beginning. Choses Dites]. Moscow, Sociologos, 1994, p. 159 (in Russ.).

5. Il’in V. Sotsial’noye neravenstvo [Social inequality]. Moscow, Institut sotsiologii RAN, 2000 (in Russ.).

6. Drobizheva L. M. Grazhdanskiye, etnicheskiye i religioznyye identichnosti v sovremennoy Rossii [Civil, ethnic and religious identities in modern Russia]. Responsible ed. V. S. Magun. Moscow, Izdatel’stvo Instituta sotsiologii RAN, 2006 (in Russ.).

7. Drobizheva L. M. Rossiyskaya identichnost’ v Moskve i regionakh [Russian identity in Moscow and regions]. Moscow, Institut sotsiologii RAN; MAKS Press, 2009 (in Russ.).

8. Khaliy I. A. Sovremennyye obshchestvennyye dvizheniya: innovatsion nyy potentsial rossiyskikh preobrazovaniy v traditsionalistskoy srede [Modern social movements: the innovative potential of Russian transformations in the traditionalist milieu]. Moscow, Institut sotsiologii RAN, 2007 (in Russ.).

9. Khaliy I. A. Instituty grazhdanskogo obshchestva v sovremennoy Rossii. K metodologii izucheniya [Institutes of civil society in modern Russia. To the methodology of research]. Rossiya reformiruyushchayasya. Ezhegodnik. Responsible ed. M. K. Gorshkov. Release 6. Moscow, Institut sotsiologii RAN, 2007, pp. 265–280 (in Russ.).

10. Yanitskiy O. N. Mobilizatsionnaya struktura grazhdanskogo obshchestva [Mobilization structure of civil society]. Ofitsial’nyy sayt IS RAN. 2010. URL: http://www.isras.ru/publ.html?id=1924 [date of visit: 13.04.2009] (in Russ.).

11. Kincburgskiy A. V. Potentsial massovogo protesta i sotsial’naya baza podderzhki (k voprosu o perspektivakh rossiyskikh reform) [The potential of mass protest and the social base of support (to the question of the prospects for Russian reforms)]. Rossiya reformiruyushchayasya: Ezhegodnik – 2005. Responsible ed. L. M. Drobizheva. Moscow, Institut sotsiologii RAN, 2006, pp. 214–230 (in Russ.).

12. Klimova S. Profsoyuzy v poiskakh vliyaniya [Trade unions in search of influence]. Rossiya reformiruyushchayasya: Ezhegodnik – 2005. Responsible ed. L. M. Drobizheva. Moscow, Institut sotsiologii RAN, 2006, pp. 231–247 (in Russ.).

13. Tishkov V. A. Narody i gosudarstvo [Peoples and the state]. Kommunist, 1989, pp. 50–59 (in Russ.).

14. Tishkov V. A. Rossiyskaya natsiya i rossiyskiye natsional’nosti [The Russian nation and Russian nationalities]. Rossiyskaya natsiya: stanovleniye i etnokul’turnoye mnogoobraziye. Responsible ed. V. A. Tishkov. Moscow, Minregionrazvitiya RF, IEA RAN, 2008 (in Russ.).

15. Tishkov V. A. Rossiya – eto natsiya natsiy. V poiskakh formuly [Russia is a nation of nations]. URL: http://www.valerytishkov.ru/cntnt/novye_publikacii/ rossiya__e1.html [date of visit: 13.04.2009] (in Russ.)

16. Dobrynina E. Ponayekhali, ponaostavalis’... [arrived, remained ...]. Rossiyskaya gazeta, no 5038, November, 1, 2009 (in Russ.).

17. Pettigrew T. F. In defence of the subtle prejudice concept: a report. European Journal of Social Psychology, 2001, vol. 31.

18. Nel’son T. Psikhologiya predubezhdeniy. Sekrety shablonov myshleniya, vospriyatiya i povedeniya [Psychology of prejudice. Secrets of patterns of thinking, perception and behavior]. Saint Petersburg, Praym-EVROZNAK, 2003, pp. 170–175 (in Russ.).

19. Billing M. Rasizm, predrassudki i diskriminatsiya [Racism, prejudice and discrimination]. Billing M. Sotsial’naya psikhologiya. Saint Petersburg, Izd-vo «Piter», 2007, pp. 47–83 (in Russ.).