Counting the Peoples or Deconstructing Population Censuses

Abstract

By taking the approach of social constructivism, I examine the practices and experience of conducting population censuses in various countries as well as the outcomes of the 2020–2021 Census in Russia. I make suggestions about the principles of census organization in regard to recording information on ethnicity, nationality, and language, and draw attention to problems and complications in the so-called roster of peoples of Russia. I further advance propositions and recommendations on surveying and studying the ethnic composition of the population and make theoretical arguments about the nature of ethnicity and how social constructivism helps to understand better its primordial ties.