Vision of Moscow and Muscovites in Migrants from the Republic of Dagestan and in their Social Environment

Abstract

Sociological research shows that there is intolerance towards migrants staying in Russian society. Moreover, Russian citizens express the highest level of negativism in relation to representatives of the North Caucasus, that is, citizens of our country who come to work in its other regions. Also, the representations of migrants themselves about the local residents in host societies remain unexplored. In the article, based on the theory of contact, an attempt is made to study the migratory experience of migrants from the Republic of Dagestan who are leaving for work in the capital (direct contact) and their social environment in places of permanent residence (extended contact), as well as the role of direct and indirect migration experience in the formation representations of rural residents of the republic about Moscow and Muscovites. Residents of the republic who did not have migration experience were considered as a control group. The study used quantitative and qualitative methods – questioning respondents who had never been to Moscow and in-depth interviews with labor migrants. It was found that extended contact with Muscovites does not have a significant effect on the changes in their perceptions about the descendants of rural areas of the Republic of Dagestan, their social environment of migrants and other residents of the villages under study. Also, a comparative analysis of the formation of representations of migrants and rural residents of the two North Caucasian republics – Chechnya and Dagestan. There are significant differences in the regions studied, connected, in our opinion, with the frequency of contacts with the Russian population in the places where migrants live.