Peshkova V. M. (2023) Attitude to Marriages with Migrants as an Indicator of Social Interac­tion and the Level of Xenophobia (On the Example of Moscow). Monitoring of Public Opinion: Economic and Social Changes. No. 6. P. 171–196. https: ...

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Abstract

The article is focused on the attitudes of the Russian population to communication with migrants in the marriage and family sphere using the example of the Moscow residents’ attitudes to marriages with migrants from the Transcaucasia, Central Asia and the North Caucasus regions. Particular attention is paid to how the experience of such marriages influences contacts in other areas of interaction and attitudes towards such contacts in the future, as well as the perception of migration in general. The empirical part was conducted in the winter of 2020 and includes quantitative (survey of 452 people) and qualitative (24 interviews) data. Following the scientific tradition of studying contacts and the Bogardus methodology, it is expected that Muscovites who have some experience in the marriage and family communication are more open to communication in other social spheres, and are also more positive about such experience in the future. Our findings confirm the main statement of the contact theory, at the same time the attitude towards migrants depends both on the sphere of interaction and on where the migrant comes from. This attitude is also influenced by the attribution of ethnic, but more racial and religious characteristics related to migrants. In addition, personal experience does not always mean a clearly positive attitude towards such communication in the future, but and a negative attitude at the time does not guarantee a negative attitude in the future. Therefore, on the one hand the Muscovites attitudes towards migrants is characterized by a fairly high level of xenophobia, and on the other hand by fairly active personal communication in various spheres of social interaction. Compared to other spheres, the marriage and family sphere is the most closed sphere of social interaction. At the same time, survey participants who have relatives married to migrants also have a wider circle of contacts, have more diverse environment, and also more positively, compared to those who there are no such relatives, they are disposed towards this interaction in the present and in the future. In other words, the marriage with migrants is one of the factors in attitudes towards interaction in different social spheres, as well as attitudes towards migrants and migration in general.