Representation of ethnicity in the Russian-speaking social media

Abstract

The paper presents the results of a study based on the Big Data paradigm analysis. The study aims at defining the features of the ethnic discourse in the Russian-speaking social media and the place of the North Caucasus ethnicities in this discourse. The informational basis for the study is 2,659,849 social media publications containing ethnonyms. The author concludes that the ethnic discourse is full of problematic topics mainly discussed by male participants. The study shows that the ethnonyms related to the North Caucasus peoples are often used in the context of crime and terrorism.