Status Consistency of the Employed Population in Morden Russia

Abstract

The article investigates the features of social stratification of the employed population of Russia in the context of the status consistency concept by G. Lenski. The author analyzes the place of Russians in the three status hierarchies (government, economic and qualifying), and then, by aggregating these parameters, the calculated integral social status of individuals are assessed along with consistency status for Russians in general and their individual subgroups. It is shown that among the mass strata of modern Russian society, there are three groups that differ in the degree of consistency of the power, economic and qualification status of their representatives, as well as in the indicators of their integral social status calculated on the basis of these statuses. The first of these three groups (numbering 72% of all working Russians) is characterized by the highest level of consistency of its members status. However, this is a negative consistency, since employees in this group are mostly at the lower levels of status hierarchies and even if they have non-zero indicators on one of the scales, they often do not have opportunity to change their position for the better. This, as well as being in the lower positions in the status hierarchies, unites, despite the heterogeneity of its composition, the members of this group. The second (23%) and third (5%) groups are more homogeneous in their composition, but at the same time they feature lower levels of consistency of status positions. Nevertheless, with all the variety of combinations of status positions in these two groups, members of each of them are characterized, first, by at least average positions in individual status hierarchies, and secondly by a relatively high level of prestige of their positions as a whole. At the same time, the relatively low level of consistency of the positions of representatives of even these groups in different status hierarchies does not allow us to speak about stability of the situation for most of them in the future.