Социальный портрет современного российского отходника

Журнал социологии и социальной антропологии. 2016. Т. XIX. № 1. С. 73–89.

Zhidkevich N.

The phenomenon of new domestic temporary labour migration (otkhodnichestvo) is becoming increasingly widespread in contemporary Russia. However, due to its “invisibility” it rarely becomes a target of research. The author has supplemented the available data by a comprehensive social portrait of domestic temporary labor migrants, which she formed on the basis of qualitative research (main methods being observation and interviews) in fifteen regions of Russia. The author depicts and analyzes labor migrants’ social characteristics based on 141 in-depth unstructured interviews with the migrants and their family members and 209 interviews with other local residents who provided their characterization of the migrants. The author brings to light migrants’ labor motivation and some personal features that help an individual select migration as a subsistence pattern. She provides main demographic characteristics (gender, age, educational level, health). and describes the specifics of the migrants’ labour activity (migration destinations, professional groups, and work regime), the associated economic and social state of the household (finance management, house and plot conditions, leisure) and migrants’ status in the local community. The obtained results show certain trends in the social profile of contemporary temporary migrants, which allow classifying them as a separate social type. A domestic temporary migrant is a proactive, highly motivated individual, aspiring to a decent standard of living and adaptable to strenuous labor and living conditions far away from home and family. A particular, dispersed way of living with corresponding social problems and associated material well-being distinguish the migrants from other local citizens.

Keywords: Russia, migration, local community, социальный портрет отходника, провинциальное общество, domestic temporary labor migration, внутренняя временная трудовая миграция, современные отходники, social portrait