This document discusses a sociological analysis of social inclusion and exclusion of transnational migrants in St. Petersburg, Russia. It has three main sections. The first discusses theoretical frameworks around social inclusion/exclusion and defines key concepts. The second examines Russia's immigration regime and policies, as well as trends in transnational student migrants. The third describes field research methods used to study everyday life practices of migrant students in St. Petersburg from 2009-2012, including interviews and observations. It aims to understand exclusion processes and identify challenges for sociological perspectives in exploring migrant integration.

1. Andrey V. Rezaev
Chair and Professor, Comparative Sociology, St. Petersburg State University, Russia
Valentin S. Starikov, PhD. Candidate, St. Petersburg State University, Russia
Natalia D. Tregubova, PhD. Candidate, St. Petersburg State University, Russia
ANO: InterComCenter. Russian Humanitarian Scholarly Foundation (RGNF) 10-03-
00911а/Г.
Social Exclusion and Social
Inclusion of Transnational
Migrants in Action: Sociological
Analysis of Institutional
Framework and Everyday Life
Practices in St. Petersburg,
Russia

2. Objectives and Goals
The paper I am about to present has three foci.
• First, I will discuss, rather briefly, theoretical and
methodological settings that oriented us in sociological
analysis of social inclusion and social exclusion of
transnational migrants.
• Second, I will characterize the case of Russian immigrant
policy and current situation with transnational students
migrants.
• Third, I will try to portrait the challenges that sociology
is facing in exploration of everyday life practices and will
present the ideas, materials and outcomes of the field
researches on transnational migrants the chair of
Comparative Sociology and the IinterComCenter at St.
Petersburg State University, Russia have conducted in
2009 – 2012.

3. I. Social inclusion / social exclusion
Approaches to Define the Concepts

4. Social Exclusion
• Social exclusion as a socio-economic and political
problem came to light recently with the events in
dense immigrant housing quarters in Paris, France. In
spring 2005 immigrant families from the suburbs or
banlieues at the periphery of the greater Paris started
to demonstrate their demand for a solution to their
exclusion from society through weeks of rioting.

5. Defining “Social Exclusion”
“…literature has noted that there is no clarity on exactly
what defines social exclusion, but it’s range can include
poverty, lack of social integration, economic exclusion,
political exclusion, and cultural exclusion…”
Madanipour, Cars, & Allen, 1998, pp. 76-78; Mayes, Berghman, &
Salais, 2001; Percy-Smith, 2000, pp. 3-5).

6. Defining “Social Exclusion” II
“Mandanipour et al. trace the use of the term “social
exclusion” to French social policy and Percy-Smith explains
that originally it referred to a “group of people living on the
margins of society and, in particular, without access to the
system of social insurance” (Madanipour, Cars, & Allen,
1998; Percy-Smith, 2000). “
“The editors of Social Exclusion in European Cities
observe that social exclusion is a growing trend across
Europe in the areas of employment, income, education and
health. In particular, they note that: “In many cities, these
changes are especially visible in the spatial concentration of
immigrant and ethnic minority communities and in large
areas with deteriorating environmental conditions”
Ibid.

7. Defining “Social Exclusion” III
Ali Madanipour has cautioned that the “combination of
multiple forms of exclusion becomes a spatial reinforcement
of exclusion, pushing those individuals to the spatial edge of
society. At that point Madanipour says the exclusion can
become a conflict between ‘the system and actors’ and
continues: ‘In such dissociation, the marginalized people
and marginalized places undermine the legitimacy and
authority of these systems and threaten to block the route
to survival. Tackling the problems of social exclusion
becomes ever more crucial, as these areas become scenes
of riots and social unrest’”
Ibid.

8. Defining “Social Exclusion” IV
Researcher David Mayes has defined social exclusion as “a “process”
and as a “state” (Mayes, Berghman, & Salais, 2001, p. 6). These two aspects
of social exclusion have a direct influence on policy response. As a
“process,” Mayes notes that once social exclusion is evident in the life of an
individual, it becomes a “vicious cycle” from which exit is difficult or
impossible. “
Ibid.

9. Defining “Social Exclusion” V
Mayes concludes that it is, “more efficient and effective to prevent
entry into this cycle than to combat the effects of social exclusion and
try to exit the cycle. Thus it is Mayes’ prescriptive suggestion that policy
measures to encourage social inclusion address the issue of exclusion
more accurately and efficiently than a “prevention” policy strategy
against exclusion, which Mayes describes as a “generic” approach to the
issue.”
Ibid.

10. Defining “Social Exclusion” VI
Mayes’ view is that, “social exclusion is a broad term
that allows member states to tailor it to fit their needs,
which he sees as a pro and a con. His criticism is that “It
does not impose a particular social model on the
members…however that very vagueness would enable
states to do very little that was new” (Mayes, Berghman,
& Salais, 2001, p. 4).”
Ibid.

11. II. Transnational migrants’
exclusion as a challenge for social
research. Case of Russian higher
education

12. Transnationalmigrationin postcommunist
countries
• We believe that transnational migration is one of the
hottest issues in the list of problems and challenges that
all the countries of the fSU have to deal with.
• The liberal democratic principles that have been at least
proclaimed in contemporary Russia have generated a
logic of inclusion and equality of opportunities vis-à-vis
different kinds of migrants. Yet various studies have
emphasized the contradiction between formal inclusion
and exclusionary practices targeting more or less radical
Others. As a rule, this is the case of “visible,” most often
non-Slav minorities.

13. Government Policies to Influence the
Level of Immigration, 2012
unpopulation.org

14. Post-Soviet Immigration Regime
The demographical policy of the Russian Federation until
2025:
“The aim is … to attract migrants in compliance with the
demographical needs and the social-economical
developments, taking into account the necessity of their
social adaptation and integration”.
“In order to compensate for the population loss due to
natural causes and possibly low birth
rates, it is necessary to activate the efforts to attract
working age immigrants for permanent
residency in Russia”.
“Until 2025 the overall aim is to increase the population
(also through substitutional
migration) to 145 million people”.

15. Post-Soviet Immigration Regime
• During the Soviet period, any migration
(immigration, emigration, and internal migration)
was regulated by the propiska system, which
required the registration of each person at a
particular address and required permission to
settle in large cities such as Moscow and St.
Petersburg
• In 1993, laws were adapted to reflect the new
post-Soviet era, granting the right of free
movement, choice of residence and obviating
government-approved permits for residence
changes.

16. Post-Soviet Immigration Regime
• Further changes in 1995 established two options for
registration, either at the place of residence or place of
stay (for periods of ten days or longer), each of which
required passport identification and proof of legal
residence
• The Federal Migration Service was created in 1992 to
oversee the development and implementation of
migration policy. The FMS was primarily concerned with
protecting the rights of migrants and refugees yet it
failed to attract migrants to regions deemed appropriate
for migration and proved ineffective at assisting with
housing and employment (Voronina, 2006)

17. Post-Soviet Immigration Regime
• In 2003 several regions had either retained propiska or
established new rules to officially restrict registration based on
social status, the presence of relatives in the area, age and
health regulations (Open Society, 2006, 39)
• St. Petersburg city government, acting in accordance with
public opinion, has been adamantly opposed to dismantling
restrictive propiska standards fearing a flood of migrants
(Schaible 2001, 350).
• As of January 2007, a new package of laws was completed
with the goal of simplifying previously cumbersome
procedures. According to the new rules, a migrant worker
must be recorded at his/her place of stay, whereas a more
formal registration process is required for a place of residence.
In the period from 1992 – 2008 immigration compensated for a
little less than 50 % of the excess of deaths over births in the
country (Ioffe and Zaĭonchkovskaya, 2010, 105).

18. Theory, Methodology and Empirical
Analysis
• The theoretical and methodological part of the Project
sets out to discuss more general issues regarding
definitions of the major concepts such as “migrants”,
“transnational migrants”, “social inclusion and exclusion”
and so on, discussion of Post-communist migration flows,
incentives, trends, and categories as well as
migrants’membership and sense of belonging. In order to
be able to carry out this task, I considered how the
postcommunist period of Russia provides a fruitful terrain
for the study of migration by challenging well-established
paths in this area, and bringing forth – among others – a
category of migrants hardly explored so far: students.
• Russian immigration policy does not distinguish between
labor migrants and educational migrants. Both face with
the same institutional policies and practices.

19. III. Migrants exclusion in everyday
practices. New perspectives for
sociological perspective.

20. Paradigmatic turn in social analytics
1. A number of recent and influential works of sociology deal with the seemingly
trivial phenomena of everyday life. The standard mass surveys are being replaced
by in-depth, interpretative, and qualitative procedures that focus on the visual
surface of society.
2. We observe a shift in sociological method from the quantitative mass surveys that
for many decades dominated sociological research toward more qualitative
approaches: observation, case studies, in-depth interviews, the interpretation of
‘ego documents’, i.e. spontaneously created personal records of experience
(letters, lifestories, family photographs), and the analysis of the social iconosphere
as a particularly interesting novelty.
3. The ‘third sociology’ takes as its ultimate object of inquiry social events: human
action in collective contexts, constrained on the one hand by the agential
endowment of participants and on the other hand by structural and cultural
environments of action. (Piotr Sztompka, ISA Presidential address)

21. Research objectives and goals
The Project “Sociological analysis of the everyday life
practices of legal transnational labor migrants in St.
Petersburg in 2009-2012”
•The basic research questions of the Project:
• What are the everyday life practices of transnational labor
migrants in St Petersburg during the years of financial and
economic crisis 2009 -2012?
• Can everyday life practices be considered as a barometer
for understanding processes in higher education?

22. Survey procedure
Time: 2009-2012
Research methods: observation, group discussions, semi-
structured interview, in-depth interview, case-study
•Sample: observation - 17 persons in St. Petersburg
•Group Discussion: 118 migrants
•Participant observation (2011-2012 St. Petersburg)
•Semi-structured interviews - 17 persons
Stages of the study:
- 2009 desk research and a pilot project in St. Petersburg
- 2010 networking, observation
- 2011 scaling, studying value orientations of migrants
- 2012 Case-studies

23. Theory, Methodology and
Empirical Analysis
• Part of the empirical analysis relies on data collected in
St. Petersburg in July 2011 - February 2012 by means of
ethnographic observation, semi-structured interviews,
and “informal discussions” (Roger Brubaker classifies
informal discussion as “variant of the focus group” yet
given the more informal and interactive nature of the
setting and conversation usually engaging friends or
acquaintances, the author puts it separately. See, in
Rogers Brubaker et al, Nationalist Politics and Everyday
Ethnicity in a Transylvanian Town Princeton University
Press, 2006.) with migrants from Vietnam. In total there
were conducted twelve in-depth interviews and six
discussions.

24. Theory, Methodology and
Empirical Analysis
• The interview questions revolved around the following
topics: reasons for migration and experience abroad;
first impressions in St. Petersburg; encounters with
neighbors, friends, colleagues, and strangers; academic
life; jobs and opportunities; administration and public
offices; future perspectives; perceptions about host and
home countries; and leisure time and holidays. The
discussions covered similar areas, with sustained
interaction between the participants, who knew each
other very well, some being roommates who voluntarily
offered to participate. In general, the atmosphere in
both interviews and discussions was rather casual and
informal. A limitation of this study is provided by the
sample itself, the absence of experts’ interview and
shortcomings of comparative methods. The Project is an
attempt to overcome these and other limitations as well
as an attempt to prepare and to conduct a more detailed
field research in the future

25. Theory, Methodology and
Empirical Analysis
• In the preparatory phase of the Project three working
hypotheses were formulated. However, the questions for
the focus groups and the semi-structured interviews
were developed in a way which gives room for the
incorporation of unanticipated issues and topics that
might arise during the interviews.

26. Opposing views: What is a
“Migrant”?
• According to Thomas Faist, “person who moves from
one country to another with the intention of taking
up residence there for a relevant period of time. All
those are migrants who reside and stay abroad for
more than three months, be they primary migrants –
those migrating for the first time - return migrants, or
circular and recurrent migrants.”
Thomas Faist, The Volume and Dynamics of International Migration
and Transnational Social Spaces, Oxford: Claredon Press, 2000, p.
18.
Thomas Faist

27. Opposing Views: What is a
“Migrant”?
• According to the UNESCO Migration Glossary
The term migrant can be understood as "any person who
lives temporarily or permanently in a country where he
or she was not born, and has acquired some significant
social ties to this country." However, this may be a too
narrow definition when considering that, according to
some states' policies, a person can be considered as a
migrant even when s/he is born in the country.
http://portal.unesco.org/shs/en/ev.php-
URL_ID=3020&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

28. Commission on Human Rights
Definition
• “The Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights has
proposed that the following persons should be considered as
migrants:
(a) Persons who are outside the territory of the State of which their
are nationals or citizens, are not subject to its legal protection and
are in the territory of another State;
(b) Persons who do not enjoy the general legal recognition of rights
which is inherent in the granting by the host State of the status of
refugee, naturalised person or of similar status;
(c) Persons who do not enjoy either general legal protection of their
fundamental rights by virtue of diplomatic agreements, visas or
other agreements”. ( See, Gabriela Rodríguez Pizarro, Special
Rapporteur of the Commission on Human rights in A/57/292,
Human rights of migrants, Note by the Secretary-General. 9August
2002 at http://portal.unesco.org/shs/en/ev.php-
URL_ID=3020&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html)

29. OpposingViews: Whatis a “Migrant”?
• “The US Bureau of the Census collects data on the
number of persons who change their usual residence
during a 12-month period. If the change is within the
same county, the person is a mover, if to another
country, the person is a migrant.”
The United States Government
Migration. The Encyclopedia Americana International Edition. 1994 ed.

30. So, what is a “Migrant”?
For the purposes of our study, a “migrant shall be
defined as, “One who moves from one place, to another,
for a period of time greater than one year.”

31. What is a “Transnational Migrant”?
“The movement of a person, or people, from one nation,
to another, for duration of time, lasting at least one
year.”

32. Dynamics of the amount of foreign
students in Russia

33. Dynamics of the amount of students
from CIS

34. Rough (Simple) indicator of the problem
Expulsion rate among foreign higher education
students is higher than those of russian (Sgn.<0,01)
0
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2000
3000
4000
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6000
7000
8000
9000
Finish
Start

35. Possible explanations of difference
between ethnic groups
• Armenians (etc.) study harder than Ukrainian (etc.) people
• Emigrants from Tajikistan (etc.) integrate better than
Belarusians (etc.)
• Alternative: Migrants from Kazakhstan (etc.) have better
access to tertiary education?

36. Reasons
Structural framework
• Migration regime
• Economic conditions
• Public opinion (positive towards “slavs” and “kazakhs” but
negative towards Central Asia) [Levada-center, 2013]
Everyday life practices

37. Preliminary Conclusions I
• Transnational Labor Migrants Everyday Life Practices in
St. Petersburg potentially can be called as a means of a
social EXCLUSION.

38. Preliminary Conclusions II
• Although forms of these ‘elitist exclusion’ by the means
of everyday life practices exist today in St. Petersburg the
requirements and aspirations of a modern society urge
that practices that labor migrants experience everyday
should be transformed into means of SOCIAL
INCLUSION.

39. Preliminary Conclusions III
• Taking into account that everyday life practices have a
possibility for a twisted/double role in the process of
social exclusion and social inclusion, policy makers
should have special attention with regards to potential
of labor migrants, youngsters and adults, to take part
in protest movements.

40. Preliminary Conclusions IV: New
Language
• Scholars and policy makers are in need to develop new
language for understanding what is ‘transnational
migrants’ in the time of globalization that foster both
internationalization of education and regionalization of
education. (According to Bologna Process documents, a
student has to study at least on semester in another
university)

41. Preliminary Conclusions V: St
Petersburg
• There is lack of political will and real specialists who
suppose to formulate politics and policies for transnational
labor migrants. The policies in St. Petersburg are dominated
by economic rationalism and instrumentalism. Thus, those
of us who believe that quality of nowadays urban life are
not only necessary to promote but also require constant
actions must be willing to engage in the difficult task of
crafting laws and procedures (new institutions).