Who’s Bad? Attitudes Toward Resettlers From the Post-Soviet South Versus Other Nations in the Russian Blogosphere

Authors

  • Svetlana S. Bodrunova St.Petersburg State University National Research University - Higher School of Economics
  • Olessia Koltsova National Research University - Higher School of Economics
  • Sergey Koltcov National Research University - Higher School of Economics
  • Sergey Nikolenko Steklov Mathematical Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences National Research University - Higher School of Economics

Keywords:

blogosphere, ethnic attitudes, migrants, big data, topic modeling, Russia

Abstract

Communication in social media is increasingly being found to reproduce or even reinforce ethnic prejudice and hostility toward migrants. In Russia of the 2010s, with its world’s second largest immigrant population, polls have detected high levels of hostility of the Russian population toward migranty (migrants), a label attached to resettlers from Central Asia and the Caucasus. We tested the online hostility hypothesis by using the data of 363,000 posts from the Russian-language LiveJournal. We applied data mining, regression analysis, and selective interpretative reading to map bloggers’ attitudes toward migranty, among other ethnicities and nations. Our findings significantly alter the picture drawn from the polls: Migranty neither provoke the biggest amount of discussion nor experience the worst treatment in Russian blogs, in which Americans take the lead. Furthermore, Central Asians and North Caucasians are treated very differently.

Author Biographies

Svetlana S. Bodrunova, St.Petersburg State University National Research University - Higher School of Economics

Affiliation 1: Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Communications, St.Petersburg State University, +79219330214Affiliation 2: Senior Researcher, Laboratory for Internet Research (LINIS), National Research University - Higher School of Economics

Olessia Koltsova, National Research University - Higher School of Economics

Head, Laboratory for Internet Research (LINIS), National Research University - Higher School of Economics

Sergey Koltcov, National Research University - Higher School of Economics

Deputy Head, Laboratory for Internet Research (LINIS), National Research University - Higher School of Economics

Sergey Nikolenko, Steklov Mathematical Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences National Research University - Higher School of Economics

Affiliation 1: Researcher, Laboratory for Mathematic Logic, Steklov Institute of MathematicsAffiliation 2: Senior Researcher, Laboratory for Internet Research (LINIS), National Research University - Higher School of Economics

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Published

2017-08-14

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Articles