Intercultural relations in Kabardino-Balkaria: Does integration always lead to subjective well-being?

Abstract

This article examines intercultural relations in Kabardino-Balkaria. Among a great number of ethnic groups living in Kabardino-Balkaria, Kabardians and Balkars are one of the largest (they are so-called titular ethnic groups). Russians are the second largest of the ethnic groups after Kabardians. We report here the results of an empirical study of the intercultural relations, mutual acculturation, and adaptation of Kabardians and Balkars (N = 285) and Russians (N = 249). Specifically, we examine the relevance of three hypotheses formulated to understand intercultural relations: the multiculturalism hypothesis, the integration hypothesis, and the contact hypothesis. We conducted path analysis in AMOS with two samples: a sample of Russians and a sample of the two main ethnic groups (Kabardians and Balkars), and we further compared the path models with each other. The results revealed significant effects of security, intercultural contacts, multicultural ideology, acculturation strategies, and acculturation expectations on attitudes, life satisfaction, and self-esteem in both samples. These findings partially confirm the three hypotheses in both groups. However, we also identified a regionally specific pattern. We found that, in the Russian sample, the integration strategy was negatively related to wellbeing, while contact with the dominant ethnic group was positively related to well-being. At the same time, in the sample of Kabardians and Balkars, acculturation expectations of integration and assimilation were positively related to well-being. In the article, we discuss these regional specifics.Keywords: acculturation strategies/expectations, intercultural contact, intercultural relations, multicultural ideology, life satisfaction, perceived security, perceived discrimination/threat, ethnic toleranceIn our study, we sought to verify three hypotheses of intercultural relations (the multiculturalism hypothesis, the integration hypothesis, and the contact hypothesis).

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“…These findings are consistent with results obtained in the Kabardino-Balkar Republic (KBR), Russia, by Z. Lepshokova and A. Tatarko (2016). The authors explained this phenomenon through the group-threat theory (Bobo, 1999) stating that when a minority group challenges the social position of a majority group by maintaining their own culture, the majority group feels threatened and prefers the assimilation of the minority (Davies, Steele, & Markus, 2008;Tip et al, 2012).…”

“…In previous studies it was found that preference for assimilation is positively related to life satisfaction (Lepshokova & Tatarko, 2016;Ryabichenko & Lebedeva, 2016) and sociocultural adaptation, but negatively related to selfesteem Ryabichenko & Lebedeva, 2016). Based on the above, we formulated the following hypothesis:…”