Civic, ethnic, hybrid and atomised identities in Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

While the topic of identity of ethnic minorities abounds in theoretical insights, most discussion is still clustered around the civic–ethnic divide while assuming conclusions with limited empirical evidence. By contrast, this article uses a four-category typology of identity that considers both in-group and out-group attachments to address hypotheses about competing identities and about factors influencing minorities to adopt one identity type over others. Based on unique data evidence of 12 ethnic minorities in Central and Eastern Europe, this study concludes that the ‘hybrid’ identity, rather than the literature-assumed ‘ethnic’ identity, tops the identification preference of minorities, although there are differences in levels and patterns when controlling for various covariates. The choice of identity depends on the socialisation process, the economic status, the perceived discrimination and intergroup tensions, reflecting variations in the system of values common to a region with complex ethnic dynamics.

Keywords:

• ethnic identity
• civic identity
• hybrid identity
• atomised identity
• ethnic minorities
• Central and Eastern Europe

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The following ethnic minorities are present in this study: Russians in Latvia, Belarusians, Russians and Poles in Lithuania, Hungarians and Poles in Ukraine, Belarusians and Ukrainians in Poland, Lithuanians in Russia (the Kaliningrad enclave), Slovaks in Hungary, Poles in Byelorussia and Hungarians in Slovakia.

2. For self-rated social standing, the following question was asked: ‘In [COUNTRY] today, some people are considered to have a high social standing and some are considered to have a low social standing. Thinking about yourself, where would you place yourself on this scale?’

3. This study acknowledges the fact that a strict comparability of various studies in relation to the concept of identity is difficult because of different measurements employed by authors to scale this concept.

4. For example, the evidence presented here is the inverse of that of Hansen and Hesli (2009), who found hybrid identities to be the least common among five ethnic minorities in Ukraine.

Additional information

Funding

Primary funding for this research was provided by the European Commission [FP7-SSH grant number 217227], Interplay of European, National and Regional Identities: Nations between States along the New Eastern Borders of the European Union (ENRI-East). Financial support from the Marie Curie Actions of the European Commission (COFUND) and Fonds National de la Recherché Luxembourg [grant number 1787100] is gratefully acknowledged.

Notes on contributors

Victor Cebotari

VICTOR CEBOTARI is currently a researcher with Maastricht Graduate School of Governance at Maastricht University. He works on issues of transnationalism and ethnic dynamics. He holds a PhD from Maastricht University.