The Russian Middle Class: A Sociological Observation

Abstract

There is a heated debate in Russian society today on whether any middle class exists, and if so, what are its boundaries and specific features. This discussion runs into problems due to the lack of a definition of the middle class, perhaps no surprise to sociologists and economists. This chapter considers two definitions of middle class. The first is based on indicators of income. The second views the middle class as an isolated social group that unites members with certain common social characteristics. Researchers’ data testify that a sizable consumer middle class emerged in Russia during the post-Soviet period and constitutes about one-third of the population. This group's potential and boundaries are based on the current state of the economy and the effectiveness of raw material exports, the revenues of which have been fed into society. The middle class, defined as a separate social group delineated in terms of education level, labor skills, and participation in decision-making, is tangibly smaller than the consumer middle class. Its share is about one-fifth of the population, and its boundaries are stable since they are determined by the productivity of labor, the development of technology in industry, and the access to education and healthcare.