. The actual study of ethnic identity is conditioned by the previous socio-political context. In the West, attention to ethnic identity is a marker of post-colonial studies, while in Russia it is a departure from the formation of a new historical community "Soviet people". Accordingly, the cognitive goals of studying ethnic identity also diff er from the manipulation of ethnic identities, leading to the split in a previously unifi ed society, to identifying factors that contribute to the preservation of ethnic minority cultures. Defi ning the content of ethnic identity as consisting of cognitive and behavioral components makes it possible to use the concepts of "ethnic identity" and "ethnicity" as synonyms. The instrumentalist approach combining the ideas of primordial and constructivist concepts was used in a concrete sociological study of the ethnic identity of the aboriginal people. The hypothesis put forward by the study about the threat to the ethnic identity of the minorities from the processes of globalization was confi rmed, but required clarifi cation. The infl uence of globalization on ethnic identity is indirect; the dominant national culture acts as a buff er between them.