Justice and solidarity in the perceptions of working-class youth in service industries

Abstract

The modern approaches to the concepts of solidarity and justice that are basic for society have been examined in the article. In the Russian intellectual tradition, solidarity practices were considered within a moral and axiological dimension. The purpose of the article is to demonstrate the specifics in the perceptions of new working-class youth involved in service sector of the economy of social justice and solidarity, interconnection of class self-awareness and corporate solidarity practices. The article contains an analysis of the original empirical material obtained by the implementation of qualitative sociological research tools. The object of the study was the working-class youth employed in the service sector of the economy, both in the field of customer service and in the infrastructure field of industrial production. Novelty of the article lies within generalization of this youth’s perceptions of justice, types and forms of solidarity. The research yielded such conclusion that the most significant and recognized issues of justice and solidarity for the working-class youth are in the field of industrial relations. As it was revealed during the research, the youth of the service sector is objectively vulnerable to the highest precarity of industrial relations. However, its actual dangers have not yet gained enough recognition of public consciousness and are not studied by Russian sociologists. Issues of the first employment of the youth, discrepancy between professional qualifications and labor markets, intergenerational crisis in industrial relations remain the most acute problems of justice. The respondents view solidarity as relations in a particular workforce, usually in a passive manner; the awareness of class solidarity is virtually nonexistent. The working-class youth demonstrates indifference towards political forms of solidarity and to political life.