Entrepreneurs and Perspectives for the Emergence of the Middle Classes in Post-Communist Ukraine

Abstract

:The article discusses the social phenomenon of entrepreneurship, which recently reemerged in post-socialist societies of the former Soviet Union, in the context of its possible pertinence to the formation of the middle classes in Ukraine. Several aspects of the issue are considered as follows:1. A brief history of contemporary private enterprise, major social sources as well as main social and demographic indicators of the new social category of private entrepreneurs.2. The position of entrepreneurs in a changing social structure and their class self-identification.3. Political partisanship and forms of self-organization utilized by business people as well as their socioeconomic attitudes in terms of the prospects for the appearance of a middle class.The analysis shows that, for the time being, there is little sign of entrepreneurs’ consolidation as a means of exerting political influence on the state. Though objectively sharing common interests distinct from those of managers of state-owned enterprises, they fail to organize and pursue them assiduously. This is explained by both unfavorable external conditions and peculiarities of the nascent business community itself. New entrepreneurs are characterized by heterogeneous social, professional, and family background, diversified paths to business, and ambivalent socioeconomic attitudes as well as dissimilar political preferences and partisanship.