FEATURES OF SELF-DETERMINATION OF FORCED UKRAINIAN MIGRANTS IN THE NEW SOCIAL CONTEXT

Abstract

Relevance. In the scientific project, carried out with the financial support of the Latvian government in August-September 2022 explicit and implicit competencies of forced migrants were investigated, and their markers were described.
Methodology. The research is based on the concept of self-determination, which is one of the methodological principles of informal socialization. The project aims to study the role of implicit competence in the self-determination of the life path of internally displaced persons. The research was based on qualitative methods. In particular, the principles and procedures of the so-called "grounded theory" were used. Data collected during free interviews with eight forced migrant women from Ukraine, who ended up in Latvia as a result of Russian aggression, were analyzed.
Results. It was found that forced migrants in their choice of the place of forced displacement are guided by both clearly expressed competence, in the formation of which social ties play a significant role and their own experience of experiencing the difficulties associated with forced relocation. The study showed that the indicators of implicit competence in the informants' narratives were significantly greater than indicators of explicit competence, and they were more diverse. In addition, the growing role of national identity in the informal socialization of forced migrants was revealed.
Conclusions. In the structure of self-determination of an individual, it is appropriate to divide implicit and explicit competence, while the first one is related to social relations, and the second one is related to manifestations of autonomy. Future research can obtain a larger sample to study the influence of social and autobiographical contexts on attitudes toward temporary resettlement in another country and the orientation and intensity of attitudes toward integration into the Latvian society of refugees from Ukraine.