Russian Language in Russian Identity: Theoretical Approaches and Current Context
Research Article
Acknowledgments
The article was supported by the RFBR. Project No. 20-011-00241 «Content bases of the all-Russian civil identity in the regional and ethno-cultural context»
How to Cite
Arutyunova E.M. 2021. Russian Language in Russian Identity: Theoretical Approaches and Current Context — Sociologicheskaja nauka i social’naja praktika. Vol. 9. No. 1. P. 111-123. DOI: https://doi.org/10.19181/snsp.2021.9.1.7876
Abstract
The article is devoted to some aspects of the role of the Russian language in the Russian identity. It analyzes the main concepts of civil nationalism in the Western scientific literature, identifies their elements associated with giving the national language one of the key roles in the formation of civil nations as a special type of solidarity (the concepts of E. Gellner, B. Anderson, E. Hobsbawm, M. Billig, etc.). It is shown that national languages, formed under the influence of certain economic and political circumstances, continue to be reproduced as linguistic constructs in the modern conditions of fragmentation of space, trends in the recognition of the rights of linguistic and other minorities, and transformations of the ideas of nationalism. Based on the materials of representative sociological studies in different countries, it is shown that language is the “cornerstone” of national (civil) identity in people’s perceptions – national or nationally dominant languages in different countries are perceived as necessary to be considered part of a civil nation. Russian surveys also show that the Russian language is one of the most important identifiers of Russian identity in the mass representations of our fellow citizens at the moment, which is much more noticeable in the Russian ethnic environment. Russian language potential in the Russian identity is negatively influenced by both long-standing factors (in particular, the opposition of Russian and native languages in language policy and education) and recent factors related to the emphasis on the role of the Russian language as the language of the state-forming people. The article concludes that the potential of the Russian language in the Russian identity is negatively influenced by the long-standing factors (in particular, the opposition of Russian and native languages in language policy and education).
Keywords:
Russian language, national language, civil nationalism, Russian identity, public opinion
References
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3. Buhr R. (2013). Official Language Debates in American Civil Society Essentialist vs. Utilitarian Arguments. [Ofitsial’nyi yazyk v amerikanskom grazhdanskom obshchestve: essentsialisty protiv utilitaristov]. Zhurnal mezhdunarodnogo prava i mezhdunarodnykh otnoshenii. Iss. 2. P. 77–88. (In Russ.)
4. Gellner E. (1991). Nations and Nationalism. [Russ. ed.: Natsii i natsionalizm]. Ed. by I. I. Krupnika. M. : Progress publ. 320 p. (In Russ.)
5. Greenfeld L. (2012). Natsionalizm = Nationalism: pyat’ putei k sovremennosti. [Nationalism = Nationalism: Five Roads to Modernity]. M. : PER SE publ. 528 p. (In Russ.)
6. Miller A. (2016). Natsiya, ili mogushchestvo mifa. [Nation. Power of a Myth]. Saint Petersburg : EUSP Press publ. 146 p. (In Russ.)
7. Mukharyamov N. M. (2017). Politika yazyka i yazykovaya politika. [Language Politics and the Politics of Language]. Identichnost’: Lichnost’, obshchestvo, politika. Entsiklopedicheskoe izdanie. [Identity: Personality, Society, Politics. Encyclopedic Edition]. M. : Ves’ Mir publ. P. 677–684. (In Russ.)
8. Rossiiskoe obshchestvo i vyzovy vremeni. Kniga vtoraya. [Russian Society and Challenges of the Time. Book Two]. Ed. by M. K. Gorshkov, V. V. Petukhov. M. : Ves’ Mir publ. 432 p. (In Russ.)
9. Sidorina T. Yu., Polyannikov T. L. (2006). Natsionalizm : teorii i politicheskaya istoriya. [Nationalism : theories and political history]. M. : HSE publ. 35 p. (In Russ.)
10. Silverstein M. (2005). Uorfianstvo i lingvisticheskoe voobrazhenie natsii. [Whorfianism and the Linguistic Imagination of Nationality]. Logos. Iss. 4 (49). P. 87–132. (In Russ.)
11. Tishkov V. A. (2019). Language situation and language policy in Russia (revising categories and practices). [Yazykovaya situatsiya i yazykovaya politika v Rossii (reviziya kategorii i praktik)]. Polis. Political Studies. Iss. 3. P. 127–144. (In Russ.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2019.03.08 (In Russ.)
12. Tishkov V. A., Stepanov V. V. (2019) Russkii yazyk – yazyk grazhdanskoi natsii. [Russian is the language of the civil nation]. Izmerenie kul’turnogo mnogoobraziya. Yazykovaya situatsiya, perepisi, polevaya etnostatistika. [The Measurement of Cultural Diversity. Language Situation, Censuses, Field Ethnostatistics]. M. : IEA RAS publ. P. 21–32. (In Russ.)
13. Hobsbawm E. (2005). Are All Tongues Equal? Language, culture, and national identity. [Russ. ed. : Vse li yazyki ravny? Yazyk, kul’tura i natsional’naya identichnost’]. Logos. Iss. 4 (49). P. 49–59. (In Russ.)
14. Modood T. (2020). Multiculturalism as a New Form of Nationalism? Nations and Nationalism. 2020. Vol.26., Iss. 2. P. 308–313. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/nana.12571.
15. What It Takes to Truly Be One of Us. 01.02.2017. Pew Research Center. URL: https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2017/02/01/what-it-takes-to-truly-be-one-of-us/.
Article
Received: 20.11.2020
Accepted: 28.03.2021
Citation Formats
Other cite formats:
Harvard
Arutyunova, E. M. (2021) ’Russian Language in Russian Identity: Theoretical Approaches and Current Context’, Sociologicheskaja nauka i social’naja praktika, 9(1), pp. 111-123. doi: https://doi.org/10.19181/snsp.2021.9.1.7876.
Section
ETHNOSOCIOLOGY
Publisher: Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (FCTAS RAS)