Self-identification of the population in the post-soviet space of the Caspian region

Annotation

The main objective of this article is to identify trends in building a hierarchy of basic identities and assess the specifics of national / ethnic identity in the public opinion of the population of the post-Soviet Caspian countries. The article is based on the results of a series of field sociological studies conducted with the support of the Russian Science Foundation in 2022-2024 in the Russian Caspian region (Astrakhan Region, the Republic of Dagestan, the Republic of Kalmykia), the Republic of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and the Republic of Azerbaijan. The results of the study showed that in the public opinion of the majority of the population of the post-Soviet space of the Caspian region, a certain hierarchy of bases (dimensions) for constructing identity is formed, where the leading one is civic identity, which is associated, first of all, with birth and residence in a given territory, and only then with citizenship. The second most important identity in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan unexpectedly turned out to be the “Soviet people” identity, and in Russia and Azerbaijan - the national-ethnic identity, which in all Caspian post-Soviet regions is formed on the basis of cultural traditions, national mentality and language. Such features of the configuration of identity bases can be both a factor defragmenting the Caspian society, but also serve as a consolidating factor in opposing the dominance of non-traditional trends in the global world.

Keywords

• identification
• national identity
• civil identity
• Caspian region
• russia
• kazakhstan
• Turkmenistan
• azerbaijan
• soviet people
• bases
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Contribution of the authors

Romanova A. P. – scientific supervision, development of the research concept, substantiation of the article's purpose, writing the original text, scientific editing of the article; Chernichkin D. A. – development of the research concept, processing and analysis of the material, final conclusions; Rogov A. V. – processing and analysis of practical research data, finalization of the text.

Acknowledgments

the study was carried out by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation No. 22-18-00301 “The process of constructing new identities in the Caspian macroregion in the context of societal security”.

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