Stratification by life chances of mass strata in modern Russian society

Stratification by life chances of mass strata in modern Russian society


Tikhonova N.Ye.

Dr. Sci. (Sociol.), Professor-researcher of National Research University Higher School of Economics; Chief Researcher, Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia. ntihonova@hse.ru

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Tikhonova N.Ye. Stratification by life chances of mass strata in modern Russian society . Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2018. No 6. P. 53-65




Abstract

Specifics of stratification model of mass strata in Russian society, based on the M. Weber ideas of the positive and negative privileges of different strata, are analyzed. It is demonstrated that the Russian population is divided into three main strata – top one (15%), whose position and well-being are qualitatively different from the rest of population, and relatively close to each other average (55%) and lower (30%) strata. It is shown that three defined strata differ in professional and educational status of its representatives, in their satisfaction with various aspects of their life, property characteristics, etc. The greatest polarization currently characterizes life chances of different strata representatives in their employment and access to the channels for increasing their human capital. This will contribute to the further preservation of the differences between representatives of different strata and to gradual social closure of their borders. According to deprivations, the greatest polarization of the upper and lower strata characterizes the features of their consumption and leisure. It has been demonstrated that the consistency in the life chances of different strata is relatively low, and as a result, inequality in life chances is much smoother than income inequality. It is also shown that the share of the poor “by income”, defined by Federal State Statistics Service), is several times less than the actually deprived part of the population, which is not capable of leading a typical way of life for the average Russian.


Keywords
stratification; social structure; life chances; stratification model

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Content No 6, 2018