Ethnic Self-Categorization of the Russian-Speaking Population in Latvia

Abstract

The paper discusses the peculiarities of self-categorisation of Russian-speaking population as an ethnic minority in Latvia. The author considers categorisation as a cognitive process for classification of objects and phenomena into separate groups (categories). The article shows the institutional factors of reproduction of categorization and self-categorization of the Russian population of Latvia as a subordinate ethnic minority. At the same time, the issue of Russians as one indigenous people of Latvia is being discussed. The article examines the question of the extent to which the self-categorisation of Russians as an ethnic minority is reproduced in the younger generation of this ethnic group. In 2000 and in 2019, the author of the article conducted a survey of students studying in Russian in three private universities in Riga, to find out the evolution of this self-categorisation. The data of the study show that in the perception of young Russian respondents, Latvian society is stratified into Latvians and ethnic minorities, whose identities have different social weight in the country. The data of the study show that the narrative form of respondents is most often associated with identification with these groups, but not with Latvian citizens or residents.