Assessing the level of social adaptation among young migrants in the megapolis

The purpose of the research is to develop a methodology for a sociological analysis. It should also be a basis for assessing the level of migrants’ social adaptation, its impact on the solution of key accommodation problems, behavior reactions, social sentiments, ideas about Russia’s adaptation strategies, personal acculturation strategies, and support for integration processes in the EAEU. The novelty of the research is the lack of a consistent theoretical model for the empirical measurement and explanation of these complex processes, as well as the necessity to study young Kyrgyzstan citizens living in Moscow as a group with the most serious adaptation difficulties, compared to migrants from other EAEU member states. The analysis of young Kyrgyzstan citizens’ adaptation in Moscow is based on basic ideas of sociological theories on adapting a person to changing social environment: social adaptation creates a conceptual field that encompasses a wide range of interaction with such phenomena as accommodation, acculturation and integration as a result of successful integration into the structures of host societies, adaptation to the norms and ideas of the majority. Methodological strategy includes structured interviews of young migrants from Kyrgyzstan who live in Moscow. We selected participants using the snowball sampling with the following criteria: Kyrgyzstan citizens, aged 17-30, who arrived in Moscow after 2015 and lived there for more than a month. Unlike our previous works that analyze certain aspects of adaptation of migrants from Kyrgyzstan in the Russian regions, the current study achieves several objectives. It creates opportunities for expanding the study on the social adaptation features of young citizens from the Kyrgyz Republic. Our research enhances the migrants’ social adaptation theory with new methodological content. This work also allows ensuring the implementation of further empirical studies on the social adaptation issues of migrants from the EAEU member states in Russia conceptually. It provides a differentiated approach to the development of adequate tools and mechanisms by social institutions in Kyrgyzstan, Russia, The Eurasian Economic Commission and creation of productive environment for social adaptation.