Class solidarity of working youth in the service sector

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to show the peculiarities of the class self-awareness and solidarity formation among the new working class youth occupied in the service sector of the economy. The main tasks include revealing the correlation between the traditional content and forms of class solidarity of workers and their manifestations among the new working class youth; substantiating the use of a class approach to the analysis of the problems of young people employed in the service sector of the economy; and revealing the contradictions between the class interests and corporate habitus of the young customer service workers. The research methodology is grounded in the traditional institutional approach adopted in Russian sociology. This article is based on the materials of an empirical study using quantitative and qualitative sociological methods: a mass survey of working-class youth in the Ural Federal District (a target multistage sample model according to four objective criteria: age, gender, place of residence, and employment). Additionally, a biographical interview was conducted, the informants of which are employed in the real sector of the economy and the service sector. The results have revealed that a new working class is being formed in modern Russia, a significant part of which is employed in the service sector of the economy. The active formation of the sphere of customer service reflects the global patterns of the traditional working class tranformation. In the service sector, in contrast to the traditional working class, a significant proportion of young people lack the experience of the class solidarity of previous generations. A new generation of young workers is shaping their own experience of class solidarity in the face of conflicting demands of corporate culture and social status.