To support this claim, the professor referred to a recent survey that students had worked on. It included more than 1,000 respondents from all the regions of Latvia.
The research shows that the Latvian society is concentrated inwards - towards family, safety and work. Accordingly, judging what people from other cultures could threaten, the respondents primarily thought of these values - family and safety.
"While values such as national identity and religion are quite far removed. The younger the people, the less meaning religion holds," said the professor.
"I think - we are even more open [to other cultures] than we ourselves thought," said Zemītis.
More than half of the respondents completely or partially accept that people from other cultures could become their family members.
While a provocative question - whether they'd accept if the large flag was carried by someone from another culture - was only supported by 7%.
