Tikhonova N.E. Subjective stratification of Russian society model and its dynamic. The Russian Public Opinion Herald. Data. Analysis. Discussions, 2018. Issue 1–2 (126), pp. 17-29

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Abstract

The article shows that over the past decade and a half in the subjective social structure of the Russian society. There have been fundamental changes - the majority of Russians ceased to consider themselves social outsiders, and the Russian society itself has become a society of mass lower middle class. This is fundamentally different from the situation with subjective stratification in modern Russia, on the one hand, from the picture with it in the 1990s and early 2000s, and on the other hand from the models of subjective stratification of societies in developed countries, which is dominated not by the lower middle, but actually the middle class. These features of the social structure of Russian society are now very stable and do not change under the influence of the sharp deterioration of the situation in the economy. A characteristic feature of the model of subjective stratification in Russia is also the growing overestimation in the public consciousness of the role of material well-being in determining social status, while at the same time diminishing the prestige of the profession, position and education. As a result, the main marker determining their status in society, are for Russians material well-being and lifestyle. It is shown that in general, the situation with the satisfaction of Russians with their social status is currently quite safe, and the proportion of the population belonging to the bottom of society is relatively small. However, due to the illegitimacy in the eyes of Russians of the increasing self-reproduction of the main social strata and the gradual disappearance of the tunnel effect in the public consciousness for the first time in the last quarter of a century began to dominate the belief that the optimal model for Russia stratification is a model of society of social homogeneity. Since at the same time human rights become a priority for Russians in relation to the interests of the state, such changes are fraught with the formation of a mass demand for serious changes in key public institutions.