Integration Potential of Internal Migrants: Measurement Issues (Using the Example of Dagestani Youth Living in St. Petersburg)

This article attempts to examine the integration potential of internal migrants, using the example of Dagestani youth living in St. Petersburg: despite the fact that the integration policy of states is focused on external migrants, the article nevertheless recognizes the need to consider the barriers to the integration of internal migrants into the host society. The theoretical and methodological framework of the study included theories and concepts of integration/assimilation (R.E. Park's "race relations cycle" model, J. Berry's acculturation theory, M. Gordon's assimilation theory, N. Glick Schiller, L. Bash and K. Blank-Zanton's concept of transnationalism, which made it possible to formulate the basic concept of "integration potential of migrants" and refine the integration model developed by representatives of the Dutch school H. Entzinger, R. Penninx, B. Garces-Mascareсas, modifying it for the purposes of this study (indicators were proposed to measure the integration potential of internal migrants). The purpose of this article is to consider the integration potential of internal migrants using the example of Dagestani youth living in St. Petersburg. The information sources of the study were: the Strategy of the State National Policy of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2025, research data of Russian scientists of a ethnic negativism exhibition, research data of Dagestanis living outside the Republic of Dagestan, data of the author's sociological study (questionnaire survey). Based on a questionnaire survey of Dagestan youth living in St. Petersburg (n = 280), the integration potential of internal migrants is considered in three dimensions: political and legal, socio-economic and cultural and religious, and the interdependence of the dimensions is also shown. As a result, the success of migrants in mastering the place of settlement is recognized, despite the presence of integration barriers.