?
Территория общественного благополучия. Взаимодействие этно-социальных групп в Еврейской автономной области
The paper considers peculiarities of settlement of the present Jewish Autonomous Region by different ethno-social groups. The author discusses the conditions and factors determining intergroup relations. The article defines and describes the types of conflicts (contradictions) among different ethno-social groups that determined the role and importance of these groups in the region.
The author outlines six successive stages of the territory settlement by different groups over the last 200 years. It is highlighted that large groups of settlers and the periods of their settlement did not overlap in time. These are the groups of the Cossacks and the Old Believers, the Transsib builders and workers involved in the industrial development of the region, the Jews and the Tajiks, the representatives of the Caucasian peoples. All groups differed according to the following important characteristics: the origin and previous ethnic history, cultural stereotypes and economic practices of households, they also had confessional differences. Finally, the groups had different population and demographic characteristics. Basic relations were established between those ethno-social groups which were specializing in different economic spheres and developing different resources: commerce, entrepreneurial activities, handicrafts (Tajiks, Armenians, Chechens, Dagestani, Azerbaijani, and also Old Believers), budget and administrative resources (Jews, Russians and Armenians). All the above mentioned factors contributed much to the special character of relations among ethno-social groups in the region. The relations can be characterized as contrasting and conflicting. They determine a unique socio-demographic status of the region and allow to assess the ethno-social potential of the territory. Diversity and contrast provide the overall high social potential of local society, where the Jewish ethnos stands out against the background of all the others.
The modern territory of the region is divided into several “zones of influence” of different ethno-social groups. It resembles “a patchwork”. The region, as an administrative entity, is divided into three parts, loosely linked. The northeastern part, the Middle Amur lowland, has been inhabited by Russians and Jews, and now Tajiks are pouring into the region. The northwest of the region, the mountain-taiga territory of the Small Hingan, is controlled mainly by Russian representatives of the period of Soviet development and a small Russian Old Believer community. The south of the region, the territory adjacent to the Amur, forms a “zone of influence of the frontiers”: these are the descendants of the first-settlers – the Cossacks and the current military men. The Azerbaijani and the Chinese also have great influence here. Territorial “patchwork” creates several “spheres of influence” for different ethno-social groups. They are supposed to have a competition for the administrative resource among the groups controlling these parts of the territory. The Jewish group holds the key positions here, the representatives of which for various reasons occupy a central place in the current system of economic relations and political-administrative relations.
There is a discrepancy between the real situation and the external ideas about the region, its political, social and demographic status and ethnic potential. According to the estimates and official statistics on the number of Jewish population in the region, the influence of the Jewish ethnic factor turned out to be significantly larger than it appears from the outside. The influence of the Chinese factor, on the contrary, turned out to be significantly less important not only in the socio- political sphere but also in the economy. The factor of interethnic relations turned out to be very significant and has an undoubtedly positive significance. The factor of confessional differences between the key ethno-social groups – several Russian groups, Jews, Tajiks and Chinese – is equally positive.