The article explains the sociological theory of immigration risks. Despite the fact that domestic sociology has been recently attracting more attention to the risk theory, risks of migration processes have not yet been properly considered. According to the authors, such a theory must consider social risks for all participants of the migration process: host countries, countries of origin and immigrants. The typological model of immigration risks is based on the theory of integration by H. Esser and F. Heckmann. The model describes how various risks are manifested at the micro, meso and macro level of social reality taking into account the four dimensions of social integration: cultural, structural, interactional and identification. Based on the theoretical model the authors identify several groups of risks for the host population: risks based on local and migrant population interaction at the micro level and perceived risks which can be formed by the media under the influence of certain political forces at the macro level. These risk groups were examined using a telephone survey of public opinion of Saint Petersburg residents (N=1017). The study shows the importance of a cultural distance between the host community and the migrants manifested in increased attention to the standards and values of the host population, whereas risks associated with the labor market and violent behavior remain at the background of public attention. The authors also note a high level of social risk for the part of the host community involved in daily interaction with migrants. Members of community are scared of being involved in the migration process and try to shield themselves from it – they “ignore” the presence of migrants in their everyday life, “do not get involved” in their work and life focusing only on very general view of events which they are actually part of. According to the authors, analysis of social risks of international immigration should be one of the leading areas in sociology of risk and sociology of migration; moreover, this issue may become an independent area of risk assessment and migration theories
Keywords
public opinion, risk, saint petersburg, international migration, host countries, donor countries