Social identity as a factor of young people’s attitude towards international integration in the era of globalization

 
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Abstract

Context and relevance. The global tensions and increasing sanctions pressure on Russia create the context when it seems particularly important to study the factors influencing Russian youth’s attitudes toward cross-country integration. Social identity is known to be one of the key factors shaping perceptions and evaluations of integration processes between states is social identity. However, the potential of social identity as a socio-psychological resource for shaping youth attitudes toward international integration remains quite unexplored in the Russian context. Objective is to analyze foreign studies that examine the role of social identity in shaping youth attitudes toward cross-country integration. Methods and Materials. We used a theoretical analysis of articles from international scientometric databases on the research topic and based on the keywords: «social identity», «attitude to integration», «international integration», «intergroup interaction», «intergroup contact», and «perceived threat». Results. The study reveals that different types of social identity are ambiguously connected with cross-country integration. The nature of intergroup interactions between countries determines the youth perception of integration and a high level of ethnic, national (civic), and global identity acts as either a barrier or a resource of this process. Conclusions. The complexity of social identity itself, the quality and depth of intergroup contact, and the level of perceived intergroup threat are the key parameters mediating the relationship between social identity and youth attitudes toward cross-country integration.

General Information

Keywords: social identity, ethnic identity, civic identity, global identity, attitude to international integration, intergroup interaction, European Union, Eurasian Union, intergroup contact, intergroup threat, youth

Journal rubric: Social Psychology

Article type: review article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/jmfp.2026150103

Funding. The study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, project number 25-18-01020, https://rscf.ru/project/25-18-01020/.

Received 21.08.2025

Revised 14.11.2025

Accepted

Published

For citation: Gritsenko, V.V., Shorokhova, V.A., Uzoikina, A.I., Tsyplakova, E.A., Murashcenkova, N.V. (2026). Social identity as a factor of young people’s attitude towards international integration in the era of globalization. Journal of Modern Foreign Psychology, 15(1), 27–37. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.17759/jmfp.2026150103

© Gritsenko V.V., Shorokhova V.A., Uzoikina A.I., Tsyplakova E.A., Murashcenkova N.V., 2026

License: CC BY-NC 4.0

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Information About the Authors

Valentina V. Gritsenko, Doctor of Psychology, Professor of the Department of Cross-Cultural Psychology & Psychological Problems of Multicultural Education, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Moscow, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7543-5709, e-mail: gricenkovv@mgppu.ru

Valeriya A. Shorokhova, Candidate of Science (Psychology), Associate Professor of the Department of Cross-cultural Psychology and Multicultural Education, Faculty of Social Psychology, Moscow State University of Psychology & Education, Moscow, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5424-2350, e-mail: shorokhovava@gmail.com

Alena I. Uzoikina, Master Student of the Department of Cross-cultural Psychology and Multicultural Education, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Moscow, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-2220-6192, e-mail: uzoikina.ai@gmail.com

Elizaveta A. Tsyplakova, Master Student of the Department of Cross-cultural Psychology and Multicultural Education, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Moscow, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-4999-2994, e-mail: elisatsy@mail.ru

Nadezhda V. Murashcenkova, Candidate of Science (Psychology), Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, School of Psychology, HSE University, Moscow, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0793-3490, e-mail: ncel@yandex.ru

Contribution of the authors

Valentina V. Gritsenko — ideas; planning of the research; data collection and analysis; annotation; writing of the manuscript, control over the research.
Valeriya A. Shorokhova — ideas; planning of the research; data collection and analysis; writing of the manuscript.
Alena I. Uzoikina — ideas; data collection and analysis; writing and design of the manuscript.
Elizaveta A. Tsyplakova — ideas; data collection and analysis; writing and design of the manuscript.
Nadezhda V. Murashcenkova — ideas; planning of the research; annotation; writing of the manuscript; control over the research.
All authors participated in the discussion of the results and approved the final text of the manuscript.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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