THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF UKRAINIAN SOCIETY IN THE CONTEXT OF POST-SOCIALIST TRANSFORMATIONS

Abstract

The article studies the specificy of social stratification processes in Western developed countries and modern Ukrainian society. Market transformations, changes in social priorities, the abandonment of full employment and equalization in the distribution made significant changes in the social structure of society, in the composition and nature of relations between its main strata. Today, along with the previous sources of structuring, new mechanisms are created due to the introduction of private property, the capitalization of state-owned relations, urbanization, the restructuring of communications, the growth of national consciousness, and others. This all led to the emergence of entrepreneurial groups, farmers, large, medium and small owners, highly skilled managers, the diversification of ethno-cultural groups and lifestyles that are not confined to traditional classroom characteristics.The urgent need for modernization requires the emergence of new socio-professional groups that are actively involved in modernization and have an interest in this process as a source of intellectual and financial well-being (entrepreneurs, managers, professionals and highly skilled workers). It is about the active formation of the middle class, the components of which are highly skilled and highly motivated professionals, and which presents the guarantee of the stability of society and the agent of scientific, technical and social progress. It is noted that during the modernization of the technical-technological and social structures of Ukrainian society a collapse of many industries and industries is observed, which leads to the release of those groups of the employed population, whose level of vocational training is outdated, leads to an increase in general and structural unemployment, a decrease in the level covered by modernization layers and the need to develop adequate measures for social protection of those who provide not only the payment of material assistance, but also assistance in retraining, job search and labor adaptation.Pointing out the dependence of the formation and development of the social structure of society on radical social transformations in all spheres of social life, first of all in the economic, the author declares that the social division of Ukrainian society is becoming critical. The public dissatisfaction with the existence of the oligarchs highlights the need to introduce institutional safeguards for the influence of big business on the political sphere. Today, the problem of preventing its development on the path of formation of a bipolar closed society and the transition to an open society with a mass and influential middle class, which is considered as a social base of democracy and a pledge of stability, is being topical in Ukrainian society. The main task of social policy should be economic, legal and informational assistance to the development of various forms of social and innovation activities of different sectors of society in the field of technical, technological and social progress.