The article reveals the evolution of the concept of “ethnic minority” in Latvian sociology. Sociologists’ research carried out in the first half of the 1990s showed the impossibility of applying the concept of “ethnic minority” to all ethnic groups in Latvia. During the 2000s, multicultural ideas of Latvian sociologists about a multi-ethnic Latvian society are taking on more special significance. The concept of “ethnic minority” also is important for the clarification of a concrete issue: in what way is the Russian ethnic group, as the largest ethnic minority, “built in” to the civil community and the Latvian national state.