Ethnic Cultural Interaction of the Population of the North Caucasus Territories

. The article presents the results of a sociological study devoted to the analysis of social practices of the population of several territories of the North Caucasus in the current sphere of ethnic cultural interactions. The study was conducted in 2019 by questionnaire survey in Stavropol Krai, Karachay-Cherkessia, and Ingushetia. In a number of issues, comparative data from the 2013 survey are involved, which allows us to see trends in the development of ethnic cultural interactions among the population of the strategically important territory of Southern Russia. The study found that an increase in the specific gravity of non-titular nationalities for Stavropol Krai, on the one hand, causes greater interpenetration of cultures, their mutual enrichment, on the other hand, an increase in the intensity of interaction between different national groups leads to the need for closer attention to the development of balanced national policies in the region. According to the survey participants, an increase in information about the history and culture of peoples living in the territory of the region will become a stabilizing factor in international relations.


Introduction
The harmonization of interethnic relations, the prevention of extremism, interethnic intolerance and hostility are, especially in the current conditions of significant international geopolitical shifts, one of the key tasks in ensuring the national security of Russia as a whole and its regions.
The constant attention and improvement of ethnic cultural interactions in the multinational region is of particular relevance in connection with the increase in the processes of mobilization of the ethnic factor in political manipulations and destabilization of territories by a number of foreign political forces.
The unity and mutual respect of different peoples, the harmony of different cultures, languages, and traditions are the source of strength of our country. Goodneighborly interethnic and interfaith relations in the south of Russia remain one of the critical indicators of the wellbeing of the region, which is subject to monitoring in order to maintain friendly relations between all ethnic groups and faiths. It is important to ensure a situation where ethnic cultural and confessional differences are not factors of destabilization of the socio-political climate of the region.

Literature review
The relevance of the study of the substantive characteristics of the social practices of the population in the field of ethnic cultural interactions, interethnic relations is confirmed by the interest of scientists in this issue in various regions of the world.
Author of the article "Ethnic Inequality, Cultural Distance, and Social Integration: Evidence from a Native-Settler Conflict in the Philippines" McDoom O.S. emphasizes that for the ethnically diverse region under study, issues of relations between indigenous people and migrants are relevant. A detailed analysis of the barriers to integration created by ethnic cultural differences was carried out on the basis of studying the evolution of interethnic marriages in society, as one of the productive strategies of social integration [1]. Among the important conclusions of the researcher, consonant with the opinion of a number of scholars, a decrease in the cultural distance between the indigenous population and immigrants ensures the socio-economic well-being of the territory [2,3,4,5,6,7,8].
Ethnic cultural interaction as a social process initially has great conflict potential. Researcher Barwiński M. in his article "Geographical, Historical and Political Conditions of Ongoing and Potential Ethnic Conflicts in Central and Eastern Europe" presents his opinion on the possibilities of mobilizing the ethnic factor in regional geopolitical competition [9]. The author emphasizes that such approach by politicians poses a real threat to stability and peace in Central and Eastern Europe [10,11,12,13,14,15,16].
The role of education as one of the most important social institutions that ensure the formation of values and norms of ethnic cultural interaction in modern society is emphasized in a study by scientists Geerlings J., Thijs J., Verkuyten M. "Preaching and Practicing Multicultural Education: Predicting Students' Outgroup Attitudes from Perceived Teacher Norms and Perceived Teacher -Classmate Relations" [17]. The results showed that students of both the ethnic majority and ethnic minority expressed a more positive attitude towards ethnic groups when they felt the approval of the teacher. We find such conclusions in the studies of the authors Toksonalieva R.M., Musurmanova G.S., Astashova N.A., Bondyreva S.K., Koriakina A.A., Tretyakova T.V., and others [18,19,20,21].
Thus a review of publications by contemporary authors confirms the interest in studying the social practices of ethnic cultural interaction between the population of various regions and social communities.
The purpose of the research work is to study the nature and orientation of ethnic cultural interactions among the population of the territories of the North Caucasus.

Methods and material
In April-May 2019, a sociological survey was carried out in Stavropol Krai, Karachay-Cherkessia, and Ingushetia by an individual survey method. The opinion of a group of respondents living outside Stavropol Krai allows us to determine the typicality of the processes of ethnic cultural interaction of the studied territory and more fully characterize the general situation in the North Caucasus.
In the course of the preliminary theoretical analysis on the research topic, objective and subjective factors were identified that affect the content and orientation of ethnic cultural interaction in the regional community. Objective factors are: 1. the general socio-economic and political situation in the country and region; 2. the degree of tension of interethnic relations; 3. historically developed social interactions between ethnic groups; 4. state policy and legal regulation of ethnic cultural interactions; 5. migration burden on the region; 6. conditions for the implementation of cultural and leisure needs; 7. the influence of cultural institutions on the formation of interethnic and ethnic cultural relations.
Subjective factors affecting the content and orientation of ethnic cultural interaction include: 1. value orientations of carriers of ethnic culture; 2. cultural tolerance; 3. willingness to perceive the culture of another ethnic group; 4. knowledge of local community culture.
A total of 527 people-residents of the North Caucasus took part in the survey, among whom 407 peoplerepresentatives of Stavropol Krai and 120 peoplerepresentatives of Karachay-Cherkessia and Ingushetia, respectively.
According to the main socio-demographic characteristics, the surveyed population is comparable to the main parameters of the general population.

Results
The resulting assessment of the effect of a factor related to the general socio-economic and political situation in the country and the region is the degree of respondents' satisfaction with life in general. Among the respondents, they are completely satisfied with how life is currently developing -22.6%, rather satisfied -48.1%, rather not satisfied -14.2%, not satisfied -9.9%, could not give a definite answer to the question -5.2%. The distribution of responses depending on the territory of the survey is presented in the following figure.
In general, it should be noted that the level of satisfaction with life has increased significantly compared to the previous 2013 survey. So, if the share of respondents who are completely and basically satisfied with life in 2013 was 34.3%, then in 2019 -70.7%.
In the mechanism of ethnic cultural interaction, the starting point is the value orientations of interacting entities. Therefore, at the next stage of the analysis of empirical research data, we will present the results of the distribution of answers to the question "What is most important for you in life?".
Among the main, basic values, respondents single out, first of all: • creation of a happy, wealthy family (58. The following values moved to the group of more significant values compared to the previous period: • to love the Motherland and work for the benefit of its prosperity (9. • to achieve a high position in society (6.1% noted by respondents in Stavropol Krai in 2013 and 13.6% in 2019); In the group of less significant values, compared with the previous period, the following have moved: • to live like everyone else, be guided by personal interests (14.1% noted by respondents in Stavropol Krai in 2013 and 12.2% in 2019); • the ability to earn money, increase capital (24.0% noted by respondents in Stavropol Krai in 2013 and 17.8% in 2019).
The following table 1 shows the distribution of attitudes towards values according to a 2013 and 2019 survey. The next factor influencing the content and orientation of ethnic cultural interactions is the state of interethnic relations in the locality of the respondents. In In the opinion of almost a third of respondents, both in Stavropol Krai and in the national republics of the North Caucasus, strict administrative measures will be most effective in solving ethnic problems. In addition, 22.2% of respondents in Stavropol Krai and 28.4% in Karachay-Cherkessia consider the creation of interethnic councils to be an effective impact on the situation. Such a measure as the creation of national-cultural autonomies and centers of national culture was also estimated approximately. A much smaller role is given to the development of a network of cultural institutions of a multidisciplinary nature.
The next important factor is government policy and the legal regulation of ethnic cultural interactions. How the implementation of the established provisions at the level of territorial entities is proceeding, let us consider the example of assessments of the activities of local authorities by respondents of different nationalities. The distribution of answers to the question: "To what extent, in your opinion, the interests of your national group are taken into account in the work of local authorities?"shows that for representatives of non-Russian nationalities, according to their own estimates, this problem is somewhat more acute than for Russians, especially in areas where the share of non-Russians is above the average along the edge.
An analysis of the distribution of answers to the question about the number of representatives of different nationalities in the close circle of respondents of non-Russian nationalities living in the national republics of the North Caucasus shows that 70.0% of such contacts have increased over the past 10 years, and only 13.8% of respondents their number has decreased.
Respondents also note that among their close friends and acquaintances, there are practically no people conflicting on a national basis (75.

Discussion and conclusions
Based on the results of the study, the following conclusions were made: 1. An increase in the specific gravity of non-titular nationalities for Stavropol Krai, on the one hand, causes greater interpenetration of cultures, their mutual enrichment, on the other hand, an increase in the intensity of interaction between different national groups leads to the need for closer attention to the development of balanced national policies in the region.
2. According to respondents, an increase in information about the history and culture of peoples living in the territory of the region will become a stabilizing factor in interethnic relations.
3. The research materials confirm the persistence of the situation when at the level of interpersonal relationships (in the family, immediate environment, production teams) ethnic tension is expressed to a much lesser extent than at the level of social relations between ethnic groups living in Stavropol Krai and the North Caucasus as a whole. The complexity of interethnic interactions is to some extent determined by the mobilization of the ethnic factor by a number of political forces.
4. The majority of respondents are unanimous in their opinion that the customs and traditions of the peoples living in Stavropol Krai are a universal cultural heritage.
5. Respondents of both the titular nationality for Stavropol Krai (Russians) and representatives of other nationalities believe that they have the same opportunities to preserve the national culture.
6. Institutions that harmonize, as a whole, interethnic and including ethnic cultural relations are cultural institutions and national-cultural centres, the functioning and development of which require state support.

Recommendations and research prospects
The information obtained during the study is important for improving interethnic relations in the North Caucasus and for developing a balanced socio-economic and cultural policy. The research strategy can be complemented by benchmarking with other regions and national groups.
Monitoring studies of issues of interethnic interactions in the region will help understanding the vectors of the development of interethnic relations for the long term; provide a balance of interests of different nationalities, which is important for the sustainable development of the North Caucasus.