The analysis of the present-day perception of cross-border migrants by the residents of the republics of Southern Siberia

The study analyzes the impact of cross-border labor migration on the society of polyethnic regions. The concepts of network migration theory and transnational migration theory are used as a theoretical basis of this research. The author determines a set of factors that influence the creation of the image of a migrant in a host society. The significance of ethnic identity is postulated as the fundamental basis for the perception of the surrounding reality for the dominant part of the population in the republics of Southern Siberia. There are three main international migration flows to this region: Western (Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine), Southern (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan), and Eastern ones (China and Korea). Based on the analysis of mass sociological surveys of 2014 and 2018, the author reveals a tendency to improve the attitude of the residents of the republics of Southern Siberia to labor migrants who come to work from abroad.