Europe as Significant Other in Shaping the National and State Identification of the Russian and Armenian Young People | South-Russian Journal of Social Sciences
Europe as Significant Other in Shaping the National and State Identification of the Russian and Armenian Young People
Vol. 19 (2018) No. 4, Identity Politics
Vol. 19 (2018) No. 4
Identity Politics

Europe as Significant Other in Shaping the National and State Identification of the Russian and Armenian Young People

Samarkina I.V.
Kuban State University
ORCID ID 0000-0001-8458-2447
Atanesyan A.V.
Yerevan State University
ORCID ID 0000-0001-8458-2447
PDF (Russian)
https://doi.org/10.31429/26190567-19-4-109-129
https://doi.org/10.31429/26190567-19-4-109-129

How to Cite Array

Samarkina I.V., Atanesyan A.V. (2018) Europe as Significant Other in Shaping the National and State Identification of the Russian and Armenian Young People. South-Russian Journal of Social Sciences, 19 (4), pp. 109-129. DOI: 10.31429/26190567-19-4-109-129 (In Russian)
Submission Date 2018-10-10
Accepted Date 2018-11-26
Published Date 2018-12-23

Copyright (c) 2018 Ирина Владимировна Самаркина, Артур Владимирович Атанесян

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

The article presents the results of a comparative research on how Russian and Armenian youth perceive Europe. The research is aimed at determining the role of geopolitical images in national and state identity shaping, as part of the politics’ subjective space. The study of the subjective space components is based on the model of social perception which takes into account peculiarities of political (geopolitical) objects’ perception. The main strategy in collecting and analyzing the data is the qualitative research strategy that allows the authors to reveal the content of the observable image with the help of social and psychological methodology. The comparative approach used in the research has made it possible to reveal the general and the special in the content and the functions of the geopolitical image (the image of Europe) as part of the politics’ subjective space. The novelty of the authors’ findings consists in identifying the mechanisms that generate the components of the politics’ subjective space (i. e. conceptions with regard to one’s own country, geopolitical images, national and state identity) and in demonstrating how they interact. It is shown that the image of Europe functions as significant Other on the political map of Russian and Armenian young people. Objective, subjective and communicative parameters of Europe’s image perception are singled out. It is shown that Europe is perceived as a multilevel, complex, cognitively diverse and ambivalent space which includes socio-cultural, political and socio-economic aspects. The structure of Europe’s image with its core and periphery is described. Europe’s place within the system of other geopolitical images has been located. Disassociating and integrating factors which determine Europe’s place as Other within the system “Us-Them” are described. The research has revealed the specificity of Europe’s and the Europeans’ image perception by Russian and Armenian youth that unveils different manifestations of their interest in Europe within the frameworks of trivial and professional cognition; it has also dwelt upon the multiplicity of views and a variety of attitudes towards Europe and the Europeans; besides, it analyzed similarities and differences in judgments and opinions of young residents of Erevan and Krasnodar in relation to the explored phenomena. It is shown that the image of Europe in both countries performs a very important function of the Significant Other in shaping the national and state identity. The research has revealed the positive / neutrally positive attitudes in relation to Europe dominating in youth environment; peculiarities of the young Russians’ attitude to Europe have been emphasized. The ascertained = models of the way Europe is perceived by the young people of both countries (We are Europe; We are not Europe yet; We are a unique cultural space) and the pithiness of the models are described in detail.

Keywords

subjective space of politics, political map of the world, Europe, Russia, Armenia, national and state identity, significant Other

Acknowledgements

Работа выполнена в рамках проекта «Восприятие Европы в молодежной среде в контексте современных геополитических трансформаций (на материалах Краснодара и Еревана)» (грант РФФИ №16-23-20001, грант 15РГ-20 Госкомнауки МНО РА).

References

  1. Atanesyan, A. V. (2008) Aktual’nyje problemy sovremennykh politicheskikh i konfliktnykh kommunikatslij [Topical Problems of Present-day Political and Conflicting Communications]. Erevan: Izd-vo Erevanskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta.
  2. Chaban, N., Elgstrom, O., Kelly, S. & Yi, L. (2013). Images of the EU beyond its Borders: Issue-Specific and Regional Perceptions of European Union Power and Leadership. Journal of Common Market Studies, 51 (3), 433-451.
  3. Сastells, M. (2016) Vlast’ kommunikatsii [The Power of Communication]. M.: Izdatel’skij dom vysshei shkoly ekonomiki.
  4. Davyborets, E. N. (2015). Rol’ faktorov subjektivnogo vosprijatija objekta v formirovanii obraza gosudarstva [Role of the Factors of an Object’s Subjective Perception in Shaping the Image of the State]. Vestnik ZabGU [ZabGU Bulletin], 10 (125), 41-49.
  5. Erikson, E. (2006). Identichnost’: junost’ i krizis [Identity: Youth and Crisis]. M.: Flinta.
  6. Evtushenko, A. S., Sazantovitch, A. B., Samarkina, I. V. (2016). Evropa v vosprijatii sosedej: problemy, metodiki I resul’taty sovremennykh zarubezhnykh issledovanij [Europe in Perception of her Neighbors: Problems, Methods and Results of Contemporary Foreign Researches]. Chelovek. Soobshchestvo. Upravlenije [Human. Community. Management], 4, 45–61.
  7. Evtushenko, A. S., Sazantovitch, A. B., Samarkina, I. V. (2016). Sovremennyje zarubezhnyje issledovanija vosprijatija Evropy: problemy, metodiki, rezul’taty [Present-day Foreign Research in How Europe is Perceived: Problems, Methodology, Results]. Srednerusskij vestnik obshchestvennykh nauk [Central Russia Bulletin], 6, 143–154.
  8. Jervis, R. (1976). Perception and Misperception in International Politics. Princeton, Princeton University Press.
  9. Kiseljov, I. Yu., Smirnova, A. G. (2006). Dinamika obraza gosudarstva v mezhdunarodnykh otnoshenijakh [Dynamics of a State’s Image in International Relations]. SPb.: Izd-vo SPbGU.
  10. Kostjaev, S. S. (2015). Imidzh Rossii v USA: Analiz eksogennykh b endogennykh faktorov [Russia’s Image in the USA: Analysis of Exogenous and Endogenous Factors]. Gumanitarnyje nauki. Vestnik Finansovogo Universiteta [Financial University Bulletin: Humanities], 2 (28), 14–21. DOI: 10.12737/11592
  11. Narbut, N. P., Trotsuk, I. V. (2011). Obrazy stran-sosedej v vosprijatii studencheskoj molodjozhi (po rezul’tatam sotsiologicheskikh issledovanij) [Images of Neighboring Countries in Young Students’ Perception (Based on the Results of Sociological Researches)]. Vestnik RUDN Serija Sotsiologija [RUDN Bulletin: Sociology], 4, 109–117.
  12. O’Tuathail, G. & Dalby, S. (1998). Introduction: Rethinking geopolitics: Towards a critical geopolitics. London: Routledge.
  13. Pishcheva, T. N., Vinogradova, N. S., Nedova, A. D. (2010). Obraz Rossii pod uglom zrenija politicheskikh kommunikatsij [The Image of Russia in Political Communication]. Polis. Politicheskije issledovanija [Polis. Political Studies], 4, 107–108.
  14. Samarkina, I. V. (2017) Sub”ektivnoje prostranstvo politiki [The Subjective Space of Politics]. In I. S. Semenenko (Ed.) Identichnost’: Lichnost’, obshchestvo, politika. Entsiklopedicheskoye izdaniye [Identity: Personality, Society, Politics. Encyclopedic Edition] (pp. 380-385). M.: Ves’ Mir.
  15. Samarkina, I. V., Morozova, E. V., Miroshnichenko, I. V. (2018). Vosprijatije Evropy v molodjozhnoj srede v kontekste novykh realij mirovoj politiki (na materialach Krasodara) [Perception of Europe by Young Audiences in the Context of New Realias of World Politics (as Exemplified by Krasnodar)]. Polis. Politicheskije issledovanija [Polis. Political Studies], 3, 110-129. DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2018.03.08
  16. Semenenko, I. S., Lapkin, V. V., Pantin, V. I. (2006). Obraz Rossii na zapade: dialektika predstavlenij v kontekste mirovogo razvitija. K postanovke problem [Russia’s Image in the West: Dialectics of Notions in the Context of World Development. Problem Statement]. Polis. Politicheskije issledovanija [Polis. Political Studies], 6, 110-124.
  17. Shestopal, E. B. (2008). Obraz i imidzg v politicheskom vosprijatii: aktual’nyje problemy issledovanija [Appearance and Image in Political Perception: Topical Problems of the Research]. In E. B. Shestopal (Ed.) Obrazy gosudarstv, natsij I liderov [The Image Data of States, Nations and Leaders] (pp. 8–24). M.: Aspekt Press.
  18. Shestopal, E. B. (2012). Psikhologija politicheskogo vosprijatija v sovremennoj Rossii [Psychology of Political Perception in Present-day Russia]. M.: POCCPEN.
  19. Shestopal, E. B., Gubchenko, V. A., Dzhamaludinov, Sh. Z., Dzhgamadze, K. B. & Tumysov, I. A. (2016). Obrazy Evrosojuza v Rossii: problemy vosprijatija [The Image Data of the EU in Russia: Problems of Perception]. Polis [Polis], 3, 12-24.
  20. The Perceptions about Armenia’s and Georgia’s Policy towards Each Other among Two States’ Youth. Myths and Reality. Yerevan: Political Science Association of Armenia (2015). Retrieved from http://www.fes-caucasus.org/news-list/e/the-perceptions-about-armenias-and-georgias-policy-towards-each-other-among-two-states-youth-myths-and-reality/
  21. Torney, D. (2014). External Perceptions an EU Foreign Policy Effectiveness: The Case of Climate Change. Journal of Common Market Studies, 52 (6),1358-1373.
  22. Vedernikova, M. I. (2016) Objektivnyje I subjektivnyje factory vosprijatija imidzha Rossii v EC [Objective and Subjective Factors of Russia’s Image Perception in the EU]. Vestnik RUDN Serija Politologija [EU. RUDN Bulletin: Politology], 2, 53–60.
  23. Zinchenko, Ju. P., Matvejeva, L. V. (Eds.) (2008). Obraz Rossii v strane i za rubezhom: gumanitarnoje izmerenije [The Image of Russia at Home and Abroad: HumanitarianApproach]. M.: Izdatel’stvo MGU.