printThe Role of Internal Migration in the Construction of Political Identity:
the Case of Regional Youth Moving to Russian Megacities
Poretskova A.A.
Cand. Sci. (Pol.), Assoc. Prof. of School of Politics and Governance, Faculty of Social Sciences, HSE University; Assoc. Prof. of International College of Economics and Finance, Moscow, Russia a.poretskova@hse.ru
Chebanova D.S.
Lecturer School of Politics and Governance, Faculty of Social Sciences; Research Assist. of Laboratory for Studies in Economic Sociology, HSE University, Moscow, Russia dchebanova@hse.ru
Poretskova A.A., Chebanova D.S. The Role of Internal Migration in the Construction of Political Identity: the Case of Regional Youth Moving to Russian Megacities. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2026. No 3. P. 98-110
This article explores the activation of political identity among young people from various Russian regions through their subjective experience of relocating to megacities in Central Russia. To address the research question – what triggers the activation of political identity, and how does regional identity create a context for young people’s reflection on their political identity? – a phenomenological analysis of in-depth interview with young respondents was conducted. Using techniques of interpretative analysis, it was found that the political identity of young people undergoes a process of formation and is activated in metropolitan settings due to both the social context in which they become immersed and the physical context that enables them to recognize their involvement in the political agenda. Thus, political identity is shown to be not only subject to transformation but also to interact with other forms of selfidentification, moving beyond the conceptual vacuum in which it is traditionally studied. Key outcomes of this study include the authors’ development of an original theoretical model and the adaptation of the operationalization of political identity – commonly used in Western identity studies – to the specific Russian context. This contributes to the expansion of the field of complex empirical research on political identity and its interplay with other forms of collective identity.
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