The Permeability of Social Boundaries for Russians in the Post-Soviet Space: The Role of Social Identities and Perceived Security

Russians are one of the largest ethnocultural minorities in the post-Soviet and the issue of their inclusion in the societies of host countries remains relevant. Therefore, this study was focused on the relationship between perceived security and social identities (civic, ethnic or European) and the perceived permeability of social boundaries for Russians in Armenia, Kazakhstan, Estonia, and Kyrgyzstan. The study had a cross-sectional design. The data were collected online in 2020-2022, from samples of Russian minorities in these countries (total N = 765, including: 145 Russians in Armenia, 133 Russians in Kazakhstan, 186 Russians in Estonia, and 300 Russians in Kyrgyzstan) using the scales of ethnic identity, civic identity and perceived security from the questionnaire of the international MIRIPS project, the scale of European identity developed by K. Velkova, and the scale of permeability of social boundaries by M. Ramos et al. Path models were built to test the hypothesis and find an answer to the research question. The analysis of regression coefficients, as well as direct and indirect effects in the path models, demonstrated a universal positive relationship between perceived security and the perceived permeability of social boundaries for the Russians. The inclusiveness or exclusiveness of a particular identity was found to be culture-specific. Civic identity contributes to the perceived permeability of social boundaries in Armenia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. European identity impedes perceived it in Kazakhstan. Ethnic identity promotes it in Kazakhstan but hinders it in Estonia (at tendency level). In a number of countries, significant mediation effects of ethnic (Estonia), civic (Kazakhstan and Armenia), and European (Kazakhstan) identities were found. The results were discussed in relation to the structural characteristics of the socio-cultural contexts of the studied countries. It was concluded that perceived security would affect the inclusiveness of the context in combination with social identities, depending on the characteristics of the sociocultural context.