Acknowledgements -- Preface -- Table of contents -- Introduction -- 1. Russian immigration: The third wave -- Introduction -- 1.1. Who were they? -- 1.2. Why did they leave? -- 1.3. How did they leave? -- 1.4. Israel -- 1.5. United States -- 1.6. Germany -- 2. Theoretical framework and methodology -- Introduction -- 2.1. Acculturation Theory -- 2.1.1. Acculturation framework (Berry 1990) -- 2.1.2. Acculturation framework: Adapted -- 2.1.4. Antecedents -- 2.1.5. Psychological acculturation -- 2.1.6. Acculturation consequences -- 2.1.7. Variables -- 2.2. Methodology -- 3. ''Prodigal children'' of Mother Russia -- 3.1. US -- 3.2. Israel -- 3.3. Germany -- 3.4. Socio-demographic background of the participants -- 3.4.1. Age -- 3.4.2. Sex -- 3.4.3. Nationality -- 3.4.4. Marital status -- 3.4.5. Place of origin -- 3.4.6. Education -- 3.5. Reasons for emigration -- 3.5.1. Economic and political crash of the 1990s -- 3.5.2. Political system -- 3.5.3. Anti-Semitism -- 3.5.4. Ethnic conflicts and saving sons from army service. -- 3.5.5. For the sake of a better future for the children -- 3.5.6. ''Mass madness'' -- 3.6. Reasons for choosing their host country -- 3.7. Length of immigration -- 3.8. Employment -- 3.9. Hardships in immigration -- 3.9.1. Language -- 3.9.2. Finding and/or not losing a job -- 3.9.3. Adaptation to the new country -- 3.9.4. Loss of familiar networks -- 3.9.5. Making the decision to leave -- 3.9.6. Nostalgia -- 3.10. Success in immigration -- 3.11. Integration into the host society -- 3.12. Looking back at the decision to emigrate -- Conclusion -- 4. Culture: Change of the cultural perception -- Introduction -- 4.1. Culture as an interdisciplinary project -- 4.2. Acculturation Framework: Culture -- 4.2.1. Internal antecedents: Russian culture -- 4.2.2. External antecedents.

4.2.3. Traditional antecedents -- 4.2.4. Acculturation process and consequences -- 4.3. Initial perception of the host culture/society -- 4.3.1. US -- 4.3.2. Israel -- 4.3.3. Germany -- 4.4. Change in the perception of host culture -- 4.4.1. US -- 4.4.2. Israel -- 4.4.3. Germany -- 4.5. Host cultures/societies: Collective portraits of the ''cultural other'' -- 4.5.1. US: Societal level -- 4.5.2. US: Interpersonal level -- 4.5.3. Israel: Societal level -- 4.5.4. Israel: Interpersonal level -- 4.5.5. Germany: Societal level -- 4.5.6. Germany: Interpersonal level -- 4.5.7. Summary -- 4.6. Nostalgia -- 4.7. Socio-linguistic factors and comfort in the new country -- 4.8. Russian community -- 4.9. Discussion -- 5. Culture: Individualism versus collectivism -- Introduction -- 5.1. Friendship in Russian culture -- 5.2. Collectivism versus individualism -- 5.3. Linguistic relativity and individualism versus collectivism -- 5.4. Study -- 5.4.1. Objective -- 5.4.2. Participants -- 5.4.3. Procedure -- 5.4.4. Research hypothesis -- 5.4.5. Data analysis -- 5.5. Results -- 5.5.1. Pronoun use across groups -- 5.5.2. Pro-drop analysis -- 5.5.3. Lexical analysis -- 5.6. Discussion -- Conclusion -- 6. In search of ''self '': Self-identification and identity transformation among Russian immigrants -- Introduction -- 6.1. Theoretical approaches to the study of identity -- 6.2. Acculturation Framework: The study of identity -- 6.3. Traditional antecedents: ''Official'' identity -- 6.4. Internal antecedents: Ethnic discrimination and social stigma -- 6.5. Identity transformation: Process and consequences of acculturation -- 6.5.1. Discrimination and identity shift -- 6.5.2. Religion and identity shift -- 6.5.3. Partners and identity shift -- 6.5.4. Place of identification.

6.6. Identity transformation: Analysis of narratives -- 6.6.1. US: Identity transformation. Jewish immigrants -- 6.6.2. US: Identity transformation. Russian immigrants -- 6.6.3. Israel: Identity transformation. Jewish immigrants -- 6.6.4. Israel: Identity transformation. Russian immigrants. -- 6.6.5. Germany: Identity transformation. Jewish immigrants -- 6.6.6. Germany: Identity transformation. Russian immigrants -- 6.7. Summary -- 6.8. Russian immigration and the perception of the term ''Russian'' among immigrants -- 6.8.1. US -- 6.8.2. Israel -- 6.8.3. Germany -- 6.9. External antecedents: What did we learn about the host countries? -- 6.9.1. US -- 6.9.2. Israel -- 6.9.3. Germany -- 6.10. Discussion -- 7. Sense of belonging -- Introduction -- 7.1. Home -- 7.2. Findings: Surveys -- 7.2.1. Citizenship vs. visits to Russia -- 7.2.2. Citizenship vs. sense of home -- 7.2.3. Linguistic measure of ''belonging'' -- 7.2.4. Sense of home vs. age at immigration, length of immigration, and ethnicity -- 7.2.5. Summary -- 7.3. Findings: Interview narratives -- 7.3.1. Feeling like an outsider in the host country -- 7.3.2. Sense of belonging in the host country -- 7.3.3. Sense of non-belonging in the host country -- 7.3.4. Summary -- 7.4. Discussion -- 7.5. Feeling like an outsider during visits to Russia -- 7.5.1. Sense of belonging on visits to Russia -- 7.5.2. Sense of non-belonging on visits to Russia -- 7.5.3. Summary -- 7.6. Hurt feelings towards Russia -- 7.6.1. Summary -- 7.7. General discussion -- 8. Language change and language maintenance -- Introduction -- 8.1. First language maintenance/attrition -- 8.1.1. Socio-linguistic factors in L1 attrition -- 8.2. Acculturation Framework: Language maintenance/attrition -- 8.3. Research question and data analysis -- 8.4. Findings -- 8.4.1. L2 acquisition.

8.4.2. First language attrition -- 8.4.3. Metalinguistic awareness -- 8.4.4. First Language maintenance: Generational view -- 8.5. Discussion -- Conclusion -- References -- Index.