Gender studies

Sociology

Archaeology

Identity (music)

Bulgarian

Social science

Politics

History

Aesthetics

Ethnic group

Philosophy

Political economy

Political science

Estonian

Anthropology

Latvian

Identity crisis

Face (sociological concept)

Context (archaeology)

Linguistics

Typology

Europe Asia Studies

In this essay, we examine the connections between media use and trust strategies, and the identity development of the Russian-speaking populations in Estonia and Latvia in the context of the political crisis in Ukraine. We argue against the levelling, uniform view of Russian-speaking audiences as being completely under the influence of Russian media and thereby politically identifying themselves with the Kremlin. We present a typology of Russian-speaking audiences, explain how they construct their identities as audience members within these types in times of political crisis, and discuss how this self-identification as audience members shapes the development of broader civic and ethnic identities among the Estonian and Latvian Russian-speaking populations.

Identity and Media-use Strategies of the Estonian and Latvian Russian-speaking Populations Amid Political Crisis