Generational features of ethnic personal identification in a MultiEthnic society

Abstract

© 2018 Transilvanian Association for the Literarure and Culture of Romanian People (ASTRA). All rights reserved. The paper deals with the thesis about the generational factor's influence on personal identification in conditions of a multi-ethnic society. Based on input received through the representative survey held in the multi-ethnic and multi-confessional region of Russia - the Republic of Tatarstan, the authors recorded the enhanced relevance of ethnic identification in elder and younger generations and the absence of the sharp ethnic bias as well as religious intolerance in all generations. The study identified the following categories of intergenerational relationships: optimists, pessimists and fatalists. The analysis revealed the higher level of ethnic identity among the Tatar population of the region as compared with the Russian one. It was justified that in order to preserve inter-ethnic tolerance in a multi-ethnic society it is necessary to ensure social and cultural continuity of generations by promoting optimal combination of macro- and micro-social identifications of both traditional established forms and modernist, especially postmodernist types.