Special aspects of civic identity of South Ossetians residing in the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania

The article considers the problem of studying civic identity of South Ossetians having double citizenship of the Russian Federation and of the Republic of South Ossetia. ‘Who am I?’ technique developed by M. Kun and T. Mackpartland (adapted by T.V. Rumyantseva) and the author’s questionnaire ‘Psychological Profile of a Russian Citizen‘ served the basis for research methodology. The article shows that in civic identity of South Ossetians, residing in the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, characteristics of ethnicity and universal human identity dominate over characteristics of Russian civic consciousness. At a cognitive level ethnic cultural norms and values are most clearly defined in the structure of civic identity, followed by universal human values and all-Russian cultural norms and values. At emotional and behavioral levels of civic identity dominate universal human values and all-Russian cultural norms. It should be noted that at the same time South Ossetians reveal a quite high degree of identifying themselves as the citizens of the Russian Federation.