Социальная успешность российских профессионалов: масштабы, характер, факторы

Abstract

As evidenced by the 2018, 2021, and 2022 surveys of the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian professionals are characterized by greater social success than the average working Russian. If we talk about those aspects of life that professionals themselves usually consider the main criteria for success in life (getting a good education, having an interesting job, etc.), then they more often succeed in achieving the corresponding goals. More often they also realize such goals as making a career, having a prestigious job, etc. They also more often assess their own social status as good. The key factor of such assessments is the possibility of self-realization in the profession, which allows overcoming alienation in work, which is especially important exactly for professionals, taking into account the specificity of their values and identities (increased importance of self-realization, autonomy of life and work, perception of education as an independent value, etc.). At the same time, the social success of professionals in Russia is now very relative and limited, and can be perceived as such only in comparison with the situation typical for other Russians. Most of them only manage to realize their life goals of getting an education, finding an interesting job, and becoming a professional in their field. Less than half of representatives of this professional group have opportunities for self-realization in work, and even fewer of them have made a career, have a prestigious job, etc. Less than 50% of professionals assess their social status as good, and less than 40% characterize their life in general as good. Opportunities of self-realization in the profession increase professionals' satisfaction with their financial status as well, though in general their economic success is even more limited and conditional than their social success. The median individual incomes of professionals in general are only 1.65 times higher than those of unskilled workers in their types of settlements, and only every fifth Russian professional gives a good assessment of his/her material situation. The social and economic success of professionals depends on different factors. The type of settlement where representatives of this group live, as well as personal characteristics which predetermine the ability to use the opportunities provided by external conditions play a decisive role for social success. The resource of social networks is significant for social success but plays a relatively smaller role than the type of settlement and personal characteristics. At the same time, for the economic success of professionals the spectrum of these factors is wider, and gender, age and quality of their human capital, which are not significant for social success, are important.