Endryushko A. (2026). Subjective Social Status of Migrants in Russia: Structure and Factors of its Formation. Demographic Review, 13(3), 81-106.

Текст статьи на сайте журнала URL: https://demreview.hse.ru/ru/article/view/43133 (дата обращения 05.11.2026)

Abstract

The analysis of the social position of international migrants in Russia has traditionally relied on objective indicators such as education, income, and employment. This article addresses a largely unexplored topic in the Russian migration context: the subjective stratification of migrants. It examines three dimensions of subjective social status: self-assessments of wealth, respect, and power. The aim of the study is to identify the factors determining each of these dimensions and to establish similarities and differences in how migrants define their own position in terms of economics, power, and symbolic status. The empirical analysis is based on data from a sociological survey of migrants (foreign citizens) conducted in 2023 (3,533 respondents). Stepwise multiple linear regression models were used, with four blocks of predictors introduced sequentially: demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, cultural factors, indicators of transnational involvement, and integration. The results show that the three dimensions of subjective status have distinct structures of determinants. Self-assessed wealth is most strongly associated with objective socioeconomic characteristics and only partly with indicators of integration. Self-assessed respect, Эндрюшко. Субъективный социальный статус мигрантов в России: структура и факторы формирования www.demreview.hse.ru 82 by contrast, is shaped less by this logic, with transnational ties, identity, migration experience, and perceived discrimination emerging as its key predictors. Self-assessed power occupies an intermediate position, combining the effects of objective characteristics and integration-related factors. Income is the only consistent predictor across all three dimensions. Several unexpected effects were also identified: having permanent legal status is negatively associated with self-assessed wealth and power, while a longer migration history is associated with lower self-assessed wealth but higher perceived respect. These findings may indicate a gradual shift in migrants’ frames of reference for social comparison in the course of integration into Russian society. Overall, the results demonstrate that migrants’ subjective social status is a multidimensional construct reflecting different aspects of their position in Russian society.