Ethnic Phobias in the Structure of National Identification

The most recent (July 1996) monitoring studies conducted by VTsIOM [the Russian Center for Public Opinion Research], which included measures of the ethnic attitudes and national orientations of the Russian population, indicate that mass ethnic phobias or frustrations, as well as traumatic experiences associated with the loss of the country's former great-power status, the disintegration of the USSR, and the Soviet way of life in general have already peaked' (Table 1). Indices of ethnic hostility have dropped in comparison with the preceding year (1995), in some respects reaching the level of 1993, or even the still earlier and lower threshold values determined in 1989-90.