The Value Orientations and Conceptions of the Middle Class Concerning the Desired Vector of the Country's Development

Abstract

Based on materials of national surveys conducted by the Institute of Sociology, Russian Academy of Sciences, in 2013–14, the article analyzes the norms and values of the middle class of Russia, its ideas concerning the desired vector of the country's development. It shows that the values that representatives of the middle class are guided by in everyday life are of a modernized, activist character, which distinguishes them from other groups in the population. Political values and attitudes toward the country's future development basically do not differentiate the middle class from the rest of Russians. Among the representatives of the middle class (and among the rest of Russians) there is a consensus that it is not useful to copy the Western model of development and that a “special path” is necessary for the country. This is defined both by the characteristics of their norms and values and by their attitudes toward private property and the supremacy of law.