Studying Self-Understanding of Ethnocultural Identity in the Titular Armenian Ethnos and the Associated Armenian Diaspora in Russia

Abstract

The study was supported by the State Committee for Science of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Armenia within the Armenian-Russian joint research project “The psychological aspect of the person’s self-understanding of national identity in the context of historical experience in the post-Soviet space (the study of young people of Russia and Armenia)” This paper presents generalized results of a two-year empirical study. The sample involved Armenian respondents from Armenia (310 persons) and Armenians residing
in the Kuban region (307 persons). Diagnostic tools of the present study included: (a) a modified technique of “graph-schemes” by B. V. Kaigorodov; (b) method of semantic differential; (c) questionnaire by S. Schwarz and V. Bilski; and (d) techniques for studying types of self-interpretation by T. Singelis and T. DeCicco. Findings of the present study concern (a) a nucleus of ethnic normativity in Armenian young
people, (b) statistically significant differences in representations of an ethno-cultural ideal in the respondents of the titular Armenian ethnos and the Armenian diaspora, (c) elements of self-image in the context of ethno-cultural norms and values. Self-understanding of ethno-cultural identity in the titular ethnos had a number of features: (a) the national and the civil were closely associated with each other in the feeling of belonging to a nation, its historical past, and cultural originality; (b) the
respondents of the titular ethnos perceived civic consciousness as a personal value. In the Armenian diaspora, the multiplicity of identities led to a sense of responsibility for various communities and comprehension of ethnic cohesion as a personal value; this was a distinctive feature of self-understanding of ethno-cultural identity in this group of respondents.