Conceptual and Methodological Research of Xenophobia in Social Sciences

Abstract

The article presents a conceptual and methodological analysis of xenophobia study in social sciences. In order to investigate the phenomenon of xenophobia, the authors propose to use the methodology of constructive realism that makes it possible to substantiate the social nature of criteria for defining the "outsiders" and their dynamics. By interpreting xenophobia as a way of organizing social relations based on the antagonistic opposition of "insiders - outsiders," the authors state that this method allows us to control human behavior forming the desired images of "outsiders" in our minds. The implementation of the methodology of constructive realism within the study of xenophobia offers the possibility to distance oneself from the purely psychological and sociobiological approaches dominating in the social cognition, and to consider xenophobia as a sufficiently complex and contradictory social phenomenon that, on the one hand, is one of the ways to protect the identity of an individual and a group of individuals in the unpredictable and dangerous world, and on the other hand, is an element of political technology that constructs the image of an "outsider" for achieving specific goals.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n4s4p183