Transformations of the Social Structure of Russian Society in Late 1980s - Late 2010s

The article describes specifics of the social structure of Soviet society, three stages of its transformation in the late 1980s - late 2010s, and stratification models of modern Russian society. It is shown that the key foundations of the social differentiation in late Soviet society (merging of power and property, role of non-monetary privileges, etc.) retained their significance throughout this period, although in the 1990s the effect of access to the ‘deficit’ has disappeared, and since the end of the 2000s importance of higher education has also started to decline. Moreover, the role of such factors of social differentiation as accumulated wealth, current income, employment stability and the resource of social networks has sharply increased in the 1990s, and the role of attributes of precariousness in employment and the social origin has increased in the 2000s. It is shown that the social structure of Russian society currently consists of four main macro-groups: the “top” of society where most power and property is concentrated (top 5%), and three opposing strata of the mass population. Among the latter – a stratum privileged against the background of other Russians, accounting for slightly less than 20% of population; the median stratum, which includes about half of the total population and sets the typical standard of life for modern Russia; the lower stratum, uniting about a quarter of population, whose lives are dominated by the deprivations and risks that are atypical for average Russian. In the determination of the place in the stratification hierarchy in the first two of these macro-groups, the volume and type of resources that determine the position in various markets (including labor market) play a decisive role, which allows us to wiev them as a basis for the formation of the upper and middle classes. However, the inequalities of the non-class type (age, health, family composition, etc.) play a decisive role in falling into the median or lower strata.

Keywords

social structure, social stratification, strata, social inequalities

Received

02.08.2021

Publication date

27.09.2021

Number of characters

30620

Cite

GOST	Tikhonova N. Transformations of the Social Structure of Russian Society in Late 1980s - Late 2010s // Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya – 2021. – Issue 8 C. 22-32 [Electronic resource]. URL: http://ras.jes.su/socis/s013216250014308-1-1-en (circulation date: 13.10.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S013216250014308-1
MLA	Tikhonova, Natalia "Transformations of the Social Structure of Russian Society in Late 1980s - Late 2010s." Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya 8 (2021):22-32. DOI: 10.31857/S013216250014308-1
APA	Tikhonova N. (2021). Transformations of the Social Structure of Russian Society in Late 1980s - Late 2010s. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya (8), pp.22-32 DOI: 10.31857/S013216250014308-1

100 rub.

When subscribing to an article or issue, the user can download PDF, evaluate the publication or contact the author. Need to register.

Number of purchasers: 2, views: 2011

Readers community rating: votes 0

1. Anikin V.A. (2018) Social stratification based on life chances: operationalization for mass surveys. Monitoring obshchestvennogo mneniya: ekonomicheskiye i sotsial'nyye peremeny [Monitoring of Public Opinion: Economic and Social Changes]. No. 4: 39–67. (In Russ.)
2. Credit Suisse. (2018) Global Wealth Databook 2018. Credit Suisse group AG. Switzerland.
3. FSSS (2021a). Distribution of the total volume of cash income and characteristics of the differentiation of cash income of the population. URL: https://rosstat.gov.ru/folder/13723  (accessed 26.01.2021). (In Russ.)
4. FSSS (2021b). Population with incomes below the subsistence level and cash income deficit (URL: https://rosstat.gov.ru/folder/13723  (accessed 02.02.2021). (In Russ.)
5. Karavay A.V. (2019). Basic models of socio-economic adaptation in different strata of Russian society. Terra Economicus. Vol. 17. No. 3: 128–145. (In Russ.)
6. Karavay A.V. (2020). Factors of Inequality of Russians’ Life Chances (Empirical Analysis). Sociologicheskaja nauka i social’naja praktika [Sociological science and social practice]. Vol. 8. No. 1: 63–78. (In Russ.)
7. Lezhnina Y. (2019) The Risks and Capabilities of Russians as a Base for Social Dynamics. The Journal of Social Policy Studies. No. 7 (2): 207–222. (In Russ.)
8. Lukyanova A.L. (2010) Return on education: what the meta-analysis shows. Ekonomicheskiy zhurnal Vysshey shkoly ekonomiki [HSE Economic Journal]. Vol. 14. No. 3: 326–348. (In Russ.)
9. Mareeva S.V. (2019) Inequality of Life Chances in Work-Life Balance of Russians. Monitoring obshchestvennogo mneniya: ekonomicheskiye i sotsial'nyye peremeny [Monitoring of Public Opinion: Economic and Social Changes]. No. 3: 324–344. (In Russ.)
10. Model of income stratification of Russian society: dynamics, factors, cross-country comparisons (2018). Ed. by N.E. Tikhonova. Мoscow: Nestor-Istoriya. (In Russ.)
11. Naumova F.M. (1990) Transition period: world experience and our problems. Kommunist [Communist]. No. 8: 3–14. (In Russ.)
12. Novokmet F., Piketty T., Zucman G. From Soviets to Oligarchs: Inequality and Property in Russia, 1905–2016. Working Papers, 201709, World Inequality Lab.
13. Radaev V.V., Shkaratan O. I. (1996) Social stratification. Moscow: ASPECT PRESS. (In Russ.)
14. Shkaratan O.I. (2012) Sociology of Inequality. Theory and Reality. Moscow: VSHE. (In Russ.)
15. Slobodenyk S. Stratification of the russian society by life chances and risks: the dynamics of the structure and mobility of Russians. Vestnik obshchestvennogo mneniya. Dannyye. Analiz. Diskussii. [The Russian Public Opinion Herald. Data. Analysis. Discussions]. No. 3–4 (129): 57–68. (In Russ.)
16. Starikov Ye. N. (1990) Does the emergence of a «middle class» threaten us? Znamya [Banner]. No. 10: 192–196. (In Russ.)
17. Tikhonova N.E. (1999) Factors of social stratification in the transition to a market economy. Moscow: ROSSPEN. (In Russ.)
18. Tikhonova N.E. (2014) The Social Structure of Russia: Theories and Reality. Moscow: Novyi Khronograf: IS RAN. (In Russ.)
19. Tikhonova N.E. (2018) Stratification by Life Chances of mass Strara in modern Russian Society. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. No. 6: 53–65 (In Russ.)
20. Tikhonova N.E. (2021) Intergenerational Reproduction of Professional Statuses and Class in Modern Russian Society. Voprosy teoreticheskoy ekonomiki [Questions of theoretical economics]. No. 2: 61–78. (In Russ.).
21. Tikhonova N.E., Karavay A.V. (2017) The Impact of the 2014-2016 economic crisis on the employment of Russian. Monitoring obshchestvennogo mneniya: ekonomicheskiye i sotsial'nyye peremeny [Monitoring of Public Opinion: Economic and Social Changes]. No. 2: 1–17. (In Russ.)
22. Tikhonova N.E., Karavay A.V. (2018) Dynamics of some Indicators of Russians’ General Human Capital in 2010–2015. Sotsiologicheskiye issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. No. 5: 84–98 (In Russ.)
23. Tikhоnova N. (2020) The Worldviews and Identities of the Mass Strata of Modern Russian Society. Mir Rossii [Universe of Russia]. Vol. 29. No 1: 6–30 (In Russ.).
24. Toshchenko Zh.T. (2018) Precariat: from protoclass to a new class. Moscow: Nauka.
25. USSR in figures in 1989. (1990) Moscow: Finansi i statistika. (In Russ.)
26. Weber M. ([1924] 1978) Economy and societ. Berkeley: University of California Press.
27. Zaslavskaya T.I. (1996) Transformation of the social structure of Russian society. Where is Russia heading? Social transformation of the post-Soviet space. Iss. 3. Moscow: Aspect press: 11–21.