“We-Identity” Discourse in Academic Communications and Favored Groups of 21st Century Russia

This article examines the academic discourse of “we-identity,” established within the practices of authors and readers of scientific texts as a discursive community. The empirical data source comprises highly cited publications from the Russian Index of the Science Citation database published between 2000 and 2024, featuring the lexeme “identity” in their titles, along with the titles of citing publications and contexts of citation. A discursive-analytical approach to the research allows for the characterization of conceptual strategies in the unfolding of the “we-identity” scientific discourse against the backdrop of shifting favored groups within Russian society, delineating four distinct phases: 2000–2009 — Russian identity as part of a globalization and transculturalism narrative; 2010–2013 — Russian identity, still affiliated with the global community, becomes fragmented along sociographic lines; 2014–2021 — a marked transition from global identity to local identity; 2022–2024 — a shift from local identity to national solidarity. It is established that the landscape of Russian scientific discourse on “we-identity” is marked by lexemes reflecting the emergence and transition of favored groups in Russian society, relevant to each new period of selfidentification. The study concludes that there has been a fourfold change in favored groups within the “we-identity” scientific discourse of the 21st century: these are the global community, sociographic group, region, and nation.