Rocheva, A. (2015). Research of 'Tenant Career' Positions and Housing Models of Migrants from Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan in Moscow. Sociological Journal, 21(2), 31-50. [in Russian]

This article addresses a topic that is thoroughly studied in international research but is almost ignored in the Russian social sciences, which is migrants’ residency in the receiving society. The goal of the article is to elaborate on the concept of “housing career” which means change of housing consumption of an individual or a household in the life course. Limiting oneself to the cases of rented premises, the author constricts herself to the concept of “tenant career” and shows the main positions of the career, as well as resources, obligations and social relations which pertain to these positions. The article outlines one of the possible “tenant career trajectories” that goes from the position of a person renting a bed to the position of the “principle tenant”. Moreover, the article discusses three migrant housing models, each of which implies a specific degree of belonging to the place of residence. The minimum belonging is characteristic of a migrant who rents a bed in a flat where he knows no flatmates and even has no idea of their exact number. The maximum belonging is typical for a migrant who rents a room or flat with its aged owner living there when “symbiotic relations” between them are formed: migrants-tenants start caring for the owner who takes less money. The empirical basis of the article consists of 61 interviews conducted in 2013 with migrants from Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan in Moscow.