Russians In Latvia Research Articles

The Relationship Between Social Identities, Acculturation Strategies and the Psychological Well-Being of Young Russians in Latvia and Crimean Tatars in Crimea

This cross-cultural study examines the role of social identities (ethnic, national and place) and acculturation strategies in the psychological well-being of young ethnic minorities in regions with different policies on minority integration - Russians in Latvia (N=109, age 16-24) and Crimean Tatars in Crimea (N=122, age 17-24). Results revealed the identities that promote psychological well-being of the young generation of these minorities. Ethnic identity predicts self-esteem in both groups and life satisfaction in Crimean Tatar youth. Place identity is positively related to life satisfaction of both groups. The national identity of ethnic minority youth predicts integration in both groups, while integration promotes self-esteem among Russian youth in Latvia only. The findings are discussed taking into account the historical, political and social context of Latvia and Crimea.

Множественные идентичности, аккультурация и адаптация русских в Латвии и Грузии

The article presents the results of a comparative study examining the relationship between different types of social identity (ethnic, national, and place identity), acculturation strategies (assimilation, integration), and psychological adaptation (satisfaction with life and self-esteem) of Russians in two sociocultural contexts: Latvia and Georgia. Participants were 320 Russians in Latvia (M = 42,89; SD = 21,19), and 312 Russians in Georgia (M = 31,11; SD = 11,67). Path analysis was used to test the relationships. The results showed that national and place identities related to integration in both countries. Direct effects of place identity on psychological well-being are universal for the studied countries, while relationships of national and ethnic identities with well-being are context specific. Indirect positive effects of national and place identities on self-esteem through integration are universal in Latvia and Georgia.

Intercultural relations in Russia and Latvia: the relationship between contact and cultural security

The project Mutual Intercultural Research in Plural Societies was designed to examine three hypotheses of intercultural relations: the multiculturalism hypothesis, the integration hypothesis, and the contact hypothesis. These hypotheses were derived from the Canadian multiculturalism policy (Berry, 1984), and their validity has been assessed in a number of countries. Our goal was to evaluate these hypotheses in Russia (Moscow) and Latvia (Riga). We used sociopsychological surveys of two dominant groups (Russian Muscovites and Latvians in Riga) and two nondominant groups (migrants from the Caucasus in Moscow and the Russian minority in Riga) employing structural equation modeling. A sense of perceived security promoted tolerance toward other cultural groups in three of the samples. Perceived security was related significantly to multicultural ideology in Riga, but there was no significant relationship to multicultural ideology in the Moscow samples. A preference for the integration strategy among the migrants in Moscow as well as among the Russians in Latvia promoted their better sociocultural adaptation and had a significant impact on the life satisfaction of the Muscovites but had no impact on the Latvian sample in Riga. Our results provided some support for the effect of intercultural contact on the acceptance of others in three of the groups: the migrants in Moscow, the Russian minority in Riga, and the dominant group in Moscow. However, among the Russians in Riga, the relationship between contacts and perceived security was negative. The multiculturalism hypothesis was confirmed with the dominant group in Riga and was partly confirmed with both the dominant and the nondominant groups in Moscow and with the Russian minority in Riga. The contact hypothesis received partial support with both groups in Moscow and the Russian minority in Riga but was not confirmed with the Latvians in Riga. There was partial support for the role of the integration strategy in promoting sociocultural adaptation and well-being among the migrants in Moscow and the Muscovites. These findings require additional analysis of the sociopolitical and historical context in Latvia in order to understand the psychological outcomes of acculturation among the Russian minority there.

Subjective vitality and patterns of acculturation: four cases

The article presents a comparative analysis of the subjective vitalities (SVs) of the minority groups of Latvia (Russian-speakers), Lithuania (Russian-speakers and Poles) and Mari El (Maris) in the Russian Federation, with a particular focus on the Mari case. The same extended version of the SV questionnaire was used in quantitative surveys in all four cases. The analysis revealed that Russians in Latvia and Maris have relatively high SVs, while the Lithuanian minorities had considerably lower SV scores. An investigation of the interaction of some of the variables within the samples detected different acculturation patterns between the Baltic minorities and the Maris. While in the Baltic settings, higher level of acculturation to the culture of the dominant group was related to lower perception of interethnic distrust towards the dominant group, in the Mari sample higher level of acculturation was related to higher interethnic distrust. The difference is due to the nature of interethnic relations in Mari El, and is influenced by some social factors that determine the distinction of Maris in the context of acculturation.

The Case of the Russians in Latvia and the Need of the Comprehensive Research Approach in Contemporary International Relations

This article refers to the problem of the Russians in Latvia and a catalogue of determinants that accompany the processes of naturalization and social integration in this country. The article claims that the legal analysis alone is not a sufficient attitude to understand the complex character of both processes. The full picture of the naturalization and social integration in Latvia would be impossible without a much deeper analysis of historical, social, (internal) political and international context of both problems, to include the question of the attitude of the Russian community living in Latvia towards the independent Latvian statehood. Finally, the case of the Russians in Latvia is the illustration of the thesis about a need of the comprehensive and multivariable research attitude to social and political processes in contemporary international relations, and especially in East-Central Europe.

Влияние мотивации к этнокультурной преемственности и стратегий аккультурации родителей на аккультурацию детей в русских семьях Латвии

The paper presents outcomes of an empirical research on the relationship between motivation for ethno¬cultural continuity and acculturation strategies in ethnocultural minorities (with Russians in Latvia as an example). Since acculturation is a process that affects several generations, we adopted a research plan that involved representatives of two generations of a family (parents and children). 112 Russian families partici¬pated in the research (parents: N=112, age 35—59, Me=42; children: N=112, age 16—24, Me=17). A question-naire we used included J. Berry's acculturation strategies, scales of satisfaction with life and oneself, and the Motivation for Ethnocultural Continuity scale by C. Ward. The employed structural modeling revealed that acculturation strategies of the children correlate significantly with those of their parents as well as with their own motivation for ethnicultural continuity. The adolescents' choice of integration strategy is positively relat¬ed to their satisfaction with themselves; however, in the cases of marginalization and assimilation this relation is negative.

Citizenship, Europe and ethnic boundary making among Russian minorities in Latvia and Lithuania

This article uses Andreas Wimmer’s model of ethnic boundary making to examine ethnic boundaries among the Russian-speaking minorities in Lithuania and Latvia, two countries with contrasting integration policies. We argue that the exclusive integration policies of Latvia, particularly with regard to citizenship, result in the ‘hardening’ of ethnic boundaries for Russian-speaking minorities in the country, while the more inclusive policies of Lithuania lead to the ‘softening’ of ethnic boundaries for the Russian-speaking minorities. The article considers exogenous factors of boundary making for Russians in Latvia and Lithuania, such as the influence of national policies, the policies of the Russian government and the European integration, but also examines endogenous factors such as the role of civil society, sense of identification and the different experiences of generations. We conclude that whilst endogenous and exogenous factors have shaped ethnic boundaries in different ways in the two countries, these boundaries are blurring because Europe opens up wider possibilities for work and study and younger generations are less likely to be excluded from participation by language or citizenship. In both countries, increasingly hybrid and fluid identities are replacing reified and essentialist ones that are based upon the previous Soviet-style constructs.

Intergroup intrasexual competition: Reactions towards outgroup members as romantic rivals

Mating rivalry is not only limited to one's ingroup, but also outgroup members can be perceived as potential romantic competitors. In the present research, intergroup intrasexual competition (IIC) is defined as the extent to which individuals react negatively towards potential outgroup same-sex members in the context of mating competition. The authors present a scale developed to assess individual variation in IIC. The scale was administered to five student samples: 78 Dutch, 396 Dutch, 105 German, 306 Latvian and 96 Russian. Through a factor analysis, a long version of the scale was reduced to a 12-item version. A moderate test-retest correlation was established. IIC correlated positively with intrasexual competition, social dominance orientation, possessive jealousy and perceived vulnerability to disease, serving as indicators of convergent validity. As predicted, men scored overall higher than women on the IIC scale, but not in the samples where the participants came from a national minority group (Germans in the Netherlands and Russians in Latvia). Latvian male participants showed the highest level of IIC, followed by the Russians, the Dutch and the Germans.

Russians in Latvia: Peculiarities of Socio-cultural Adaptation and Identity

Russians in Latvia: Peculiarities of Socio-cultural Adaptation and Identity

Русские в Латвии: особенности социокультурной адаптации и идентичности

The author identifies trends and variations of the socio-cultural identity and integration of Russians in Latvia. According to the author, since the middle 1990s, two trends have been recognized first, the ingrowing of ethnic Russians into the life of independent Latvia, and second, forming their new identity. The article presents a number of factors hampering the integration of ethnic Russians into Latvian society. Variations and options of socio-cultural identity and integration (or assimilation) of the Russian population of Latvia are shown.

Some Thoughts on Extrinsic Linguistic Minorities

This paper defines and provides examples of a category of linguistic minorities that we call extrinsic minorities. Three case studies are summarised to illustrate the spectrum of linguistic heterogeneity of extrinsic minorities, and the linguistic consequences. These cases show a continuum of how they fit into our definition of extrinsic minorities: Russians in Latvia are the most prototypical; Hungarians in Transylvania are less prototypical; while Slovenes in Austria reflect the least prototypical case. One main conclusion is that the norm amongst extrinsic minorities is language maintenance with very slow shift, if at all. We conclude by identifying several social factors that contribute to the linguistic course of extrinsic minorities.

The Geopolitics of Tolerance: Minority Rights Under EU Expansion in East-Central Europe

Post-communist states aiming to join European organizations such as the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the European Union felt pressure early on after 1989 to adopt emerging European norms on minority rights. Though scholars have already noted frequent acceptance of these standards, the question remains of how European norms actually affect the political salience of identity. Pressure to adhere to them undoubtedly reigned in potential conflict over the Hungarian minority in Slovakia as well as over Russians in Latvia and Estonia. Yet such beneficial results can be offset, first, when political elites' strategic acceptance of European standards undermines the legitimacy of liberal values, and second, when such norms create friction by unintentionally encouraging ethnic groups such as Moravians in the Czech Republic and Silesians in Poland to transform themselves into “nationalities.”

Latvia's Russian minority: balancing the imperatives of regional development and environmental justice

Abstract This article examines the political, economic and social marginalization of Latvia's ethnic Russian minority in the post-Soviet era, and considers the impact of marginalization on both regional development and issues of environmental justice. I argue that demographic concentration of Russians in the region known as Latgale in southeast Latvia as well as the severe marginalization of this population has led to growing economic disparities in regional development since 1991. Contrary to expectations, however, the marginalization of ethnic Russians in Latvia does not appear to have led to increased environmental injustices relative to this group; based on an examination of siting decisions of new hazardous waste facilities in post-Soviet Latvia, I argue that industrial facilities commonly viewed as environmentally hazardous in advanced capitalist democracies hold quite different connotations in struggling transitional societies. Rather than the tendencies of growing regional underdevelopment and increased environmental discrimination reinforcing each other (as is commonly observed in developed capitalist societies), in these transitional societies the two tendencies appear to work in opposition to each other. In this article, I will investigate this unexpected relationship and highlight unique aspects of post-communist transitions that provide an explanation for this outcome.

THE BALTIC STATES AFTER THE COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION: APPENDIX

Two population tables, which were to have accompanied my article in the pre- vious issue of Hungarian Studies (14/2 [2000], 275–284), were inadvertently omitted. They are published here as an appendix to that text. Tables 1 and 2 provide an overview of the evolution of the ethnic composition of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania since the interwar era. They indicate a notable divergence in demographic trends in Lithuania in comparison with the other two Baltic states. Despite suffering the same kinds of population losses in World War II and under Stalinism as the Estonians and Latvians, the Lithuanians displayed a strong demographic dynamism, based on higher birth rates, and maintained a re- markably stable share of the total population of their country. On the other hand, demographic growth in Estonia and Latvia had already slowed considerably by the interwar period, and the native population in those two countries was much less able to withstand the disasters of the 1940s. It is striking that in 1989 there were fewer Estonians in Estonia and Latvians in Latvia than in the 1930s. It is also noteworthy that the number of ethnic Russians in Latvia throughout the Soviet era was more than double the combined corresponding figure for Estonia and Lithua- nia, a phenomenon that reflected Riga™s attractiveness and size as the one true metropolis in the Baltic states.