Middle Strata in Present-Day Russia

Abstract

There are many reasons for increased interest in the formation of the middle classes in the social structure of modern Russian society. The first and most important of these is the actual conditions that prevail in the social structure of Russian society, the magnitude of the changes that have taken place in the reform years, leading to a qualitative transformation of the whole socioeconomic system. The criteria of social differentiation have changed, the social structuring of society has acquired new dimensions, and the economic classes—owners and wage workers—are being formed. We should also mention scholars' many attempts to apply the model of social structuring of Western society to Russian reality.