ISSN online: 2221-1616

Bulletin of the Institute of Sociology (Vestnik instituta sotziologii)

Research Article

Vyacheslav N. Bobkov Doctor of Economics, Professor,
Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, Moscow, Russia
bobkovvn@mail.ru
ORCID ID=0000-0001-7364-5297
Elena V. Odintsova Candidate of Economics
Institute of Socio-Economic Studies of Population of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
odin_ev@mail.ru
ORCID ID=0000-0002-7906-8520
Middle classes in the social structure of Russia’s working population.
Vestnik instituta sotziologii. 2019. Vol. 10. No. 2. P. 58-74


This Article is downloaded: 431 times
Topic: Middle class: author's methods of research

For citation:
Bobkov V. N., Odintsova E. V. Middle classes in the social structure of Russia’s working population. Vestnik instituta sotziologii. 2019. Vol. 10. No. 2. P. 58-74
DOI: https://doi.org/10.19181/vis.2019.29.2.576


Abstract

This article presents the main results of studying the composition and scale of Russia’s middle classes, which are comprised of the working population. The study is based on an authentic methodology, which develops a multi-criterion approach to identifying social structures, based on standards and quality of living, and to revealing middle classes within their composition. Determining the potential for developing middle classes within the working population, their qualitative and quantitative identification while utilizing an array of objective and subjective characteristics – all of this was conducted based on comparing actual values with specially formulated social standards. Said standards record the normative requirements for education level, position in the field of employment, level of personal income, amount of savings, income level from primary occupation and possession of real estate, as well as the corresponding values of standards and quality of living, determined by means of subjective assessment. The study revealed that the proportion of middle classes within the structure of the working population is less than 25%. And only 2% of the working population can be identified as the core middle classes, while another 21% relate to either a broadened core or the periphery. The article reveals that potentially, if they were to attain the necessary position in the employment field and the proper level of education, a wider range of workers could comprise the middle classes. However, considering the relatively low level of material security for workers and their households, as well as inconsistencies with subjective identification markers, workers for the most part remain outside of the middle classes. The authors consider the main reasons which lead to the lower general quantitative estimates of the boundaries of middle classes. Assessed is the scale of “losses” when it comes to the potential size of the middle classes, which are linked to the specifics of workers implementing their educational potential in the workplace, to their level of material security and subjective evaluation of living standards and quality, and which identify the potential of middle classes in terms of their position in the field of employment and their level of education.

Keywords

middle classes, employed population, education, position in employment, material and property security, subjective assessment, identification criteria, social standards, the potential of the middle classes

References

Avraamova E. M. New challenges to the expansion of the Russian middle class. RANEPA official website. URL: https://www.ranepa.ru/images/insap/Avraamova-srednii-klass.pdf [accessed 23.07.2017] (In Russ.).

Bobkov V. N., Herrmann P., Kolmakov I. B., Odintsova E. V. Two-Criterion Model of the Russian Society Stratification by Income and Housing Security. Economika regiona = Region Economy. 2018; 14(4):1061–1075. doi 10.17059/2018–4–1 (In Russ.).

Eriksson R., Goldthorpe J. H., Portocarrero L. Intergenerational class mobility in three Western European societies: England, France and Sweden. British Journal of Sociology. 1979; 30(4):415–441. doi: 10.2307/589632

Maleva T. M., Burdjak A. Y., Tyndik A. O. Middle classes at different stages of life. Zhurnal Novoy economicheskoy associacii= Bulletin of the New Economic Association. 2015; 3:109–138 (In Russ.).

Middle classes in the capitalist Russia. Scientific monograph. Ed. By V. N. Bobkov, E. V. Odintsova, V. G. Kvachev, I. B. Kolmakov, V. V. Pavlova. Moscow: KNORUS, 2018. 208 p. (In Russ.).

Quality and standard of living of the population in new Russia (1991–2005). Moscow, VCUZh publ., 2007. 719 p. (In Russ.).

Russian middle classes on the eve and at the peak of economic growth. Moscow: Econ-Inform, 2008. 200 p. (In Russ.).

Russian society and challenges of the time. Volume 3. Ed. By M. K. Gorshkov, N. E. Tikhonova. Moscow: Ves' Mir, 2016. 424 p. (In Russ.).

Weber M. Economy and Society. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press. 1978. 1469 p.

Wright E. O. Class Counts: Comparative Studies in Class Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2000. 576 p.