Social development of modern Russia: trends, risks, prospects

2018 ◽  
pp. 76-89
Author(s):  
E. M. Avraamova ◽  
V. N. Titov

The analysis of present-time directions in the study of social development has allowed to identify the resource approach as the most productive one which enables to assess social dynamics through the range of resource characteristics of different population groups and abilities of the relevant groups to apply development resources in the current economic and institutional conditions. Basing on the sociological survey conducted by ISAP RANEPA, the quantitative estimation of material and social recourses of the population has been made; integral values of the resource potential have been calculated as well. The issues of social structure formation are analyzed through the aspect of resource availability; the barriers of Russian middle-class enlargement are defined.

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 92
Author(s):  
V. V. Gorshkova ◽  
A. A. Melnikova

The article considers the contradictions and conflicts that are characteristic of modern Russian society. The processes of social disintegration are analyzed and interpreted as a result of fundamental social and economic transformations. The problems of economic inequality are presented in the historical perspective in close connection with the previous stages of Russia's socioeconomic development. Significant polarization of the population is one of the most significant conflict factors in modern society, which leads to an increase in protest moods and may in the long term threaten social upheavals. Nevertheless, dissatisfaction with the socio-economic situation does not lead to ideas of the unification and consolidation of society, but find expression in social conflicts. The emergence and development of social conflicts is influenced by a number of factors: economic, ethnic, religious. One of the most important characteristics of society is its social structure. After the collapse of the USSR, the previous social structure was abolished, and a new social reality was formed in Russia. When considering the stratification structure of society, most attention is paid to the middle class, which is considered the backbone of a stable society. The middle class in Russia is in the stage of formation, it is hardly possible to speak of a complete analogy with the middle class of Western society. The share of middle class in society can be estimated in different ways depending on the methodological approaches used by researchers. An important consequence of the transformation of the social structure was the problem of marginalization, since the dismantling of the old social structure and the slow formation of the new one put the social status and place in the division of labor system of many individuals into question. The sharp impoverishment of representatives of prestigious professions led to a reassessment of their situation, especially for the younger generation. When analyzing the origins of social conflicts in modern Russian society, it is necessary to consider the issue of the attitude of the broad masses of the population to power and national elites. It should be noted that power in Russia historically takes shape around specific leaders and does not have an institutional character. The most significant factor shaping the attitude towards the authorities and the elite in general in Russian society are the economic results of the market reforms that have taken place. Only a small part of the population believes that they won as a result of the changes that have taken place, the natural consequence of which is the population's distrust of the authorities and, in general, political institutions.


Inter ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 7-22
Author(s):  
Bernhard Begemann

Since the dissolution of Soviet Union, Russian society has undergone historic change. Following the upheaval of the 1990s, the beginning of the 21st century was characterised by economic growth and stabilisation. This period of socioeconomic change has frequently been interpreted as the cradle of an emerging “middle class”, triggering the transition from a socialist to capitalist society. However, while some researchers find a fuzzy share of “middle class” in descriptive criteria, others question the applicability of the analytical category of “middle class” to contemporary Russian society on principle. Drawing from ongoing research in Moscow, this article scrutinises this conventional class ontology by pointing out the ambiguities of the socioeconomic dynamics, based mainly on qualitative ethnographic fieldwork. As a productive lens to reveal social dynamics, the article distinguishes between formalist and substantivist uses of the term “middle class”, thus implying that a new language is needed to reflect this distinction. Illustrating these arguments through two ethnographic examples, it aims to contribute to current anthropological debates about class and post-socialism.


Author(s):  
Nataliya Stoyanets ◽  
Zetao Hu ◽  
Junmin Chen ◽  
Lichen Niu

The evaluation of rural governance capacity is a crucial part of studying the economic and social development of rural areas in the Henan Province. Based on the theory of social structure, this article studies the rural governance capacity. We construct a governance capacity evaluation indicator system from the perspective of social structure theory and use the entropy weight method TOPSIS evaluation model to calculate indicator weight and governance ability score of every township. The results illustrate that the overall governance capacity score is low, and there are differences among regions. The weights, which are different among different governance agents, provide a certain guidance for effectively improving governance capabilities. This study will offer a reference for the assessment of the governance of rural areas in Henan or in areas with similar economic and social development to the Henan region.


Author(s):  
Elif Ulker-Demirel

Socio-economic, political, and socio-cultural changes that occur in specific periods over the years cause changes in social dynamics and social transformations. Generations, who are living in the same historical period and are expected to have similar consumption and lifestyle habits, are now a reference point for the companies and brands to correctly identify target consumers and choose the right communication tools. At this point, the changing technology has influenced the social structure, people and the way companies do business. Besides, the development and diversification of the means of communication by the influence of the internet technologies have caused the differentiation of the consumption behaviors and changed the connections and the ways of reaching the information. In the frame of these changes, the primary purpose is to examine consumption habits in the context of changing lifestyles and priorities of people with the effect of social transformations, as well as to explain the transformation of these changes regarding businesses, brands and communication tools.


2019 ◽  
pp. 144-164
Author(s):  
D. W. Harding

The model of social structure in British prehistory still owes much to the legacy of Gordon Childe, for whom economic competition was the catalyst of social inequalities. Even from the Neolithic, however, control of land or stock would have conveyed status, and the construction of major works such as tombs or henges implies authority over labour and resources, even if it was religious rather than temporal. Classical sources indicated that late pre-Roman Iron Age society was stratified, but recent opinion has questioned how far back this extended into earlier prehistory. Using grave goods as a proxy for social status may be simplistic, though whether explained as possessions of the dead, debts repaid by dependents, dedications to deities or ancestors, or displays of communal wealth consumption, they surely indicate social complexity. Settlements in British prehistory or early historic archaeology seldom display clear evidence of social hierarchy, since social status was evidently not expressed in the same terms as in contemporary materialistic and capitalistic societies. Anthropological models of social development from simple communities to chiefdoms and state societies can now be seen as neither consistent nor uniform in progression.


Author(s):  
Christopher Robert Reed

This chapter explores the intricacies of the first discernible class structure that conformed to normative standards of socioeconomic status in Chicago's history. Black Chicago developed a very small but distinguishable upper class, large segments within the broad middle classes, enormous laboring classes including industrial and service sector workers, and an underclass. The members of the upper class owned and managed businesses, chose housing commensurate with their status, consumed their disposable income with conspicuous delight, engaged in civic activities, and socially acted as a group apart from other segments of their racial cohort to which they traditionally held their primary social allegiance. The middle class focused on occupation, wealth production, educational attainment, cultural interests, and character. The working-class, however, formed the bulk of black Chicago's citizenry.


2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 44-54
Author(s):  
Алексеенок ◽  
Anna Alekseenok ◽  
Гальцова ◽  
Anna Galtsova

The article presents a study of the dynamics of the social structure of the Russian middle class. It examines the dynamics of a number of different social groups in Russia in 2003-2014, «blocking» signs for the population which is not a member of the middle class, 2003-2014, self-assessment of the dynamics of 2014 and the possible dynamics for the next year of the financial position in the last year prior the survey in the different groups of the population. Also the analysis of dynamics of value orientations of different population groups, social identity, of the ways and the main types of leisure in the middle class is held. The article compares the model of Russian social structure, built on the basis of social self-assessment of the status of the Russian people in 2014 and 2000.


2006 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. J. FULLER ◽  
HARIPRIYA NARASIMHAN

Since 1991, when the policy of economic liberalisation began in earnest, the size and prosperity of India's middle class have grown considerably. Yet sound sociological and ethnographic information about its social structure and cultural values is still sparse, and as André Béteille (2003a: 75) comments: ‘Everything or nearly everything that is written about the Indian middle class is written by middle-class Indians…[who] tend to oscillate between self-recrimination and self-congratulation’ (cf. Béteille 2003b: 185). The former is exemplified by Pavan Varma's The Great Indian Middle Class (1998), which excoriates this class for its selfish materialism and the ‘retreat from idealism’ that was manifest in the smaller, ‘traditional middle class’ of the earlier, post-independence period (ibid.: 89). A good example of the opposite tendency is Gurcharan Das's India Unbound (2002), which celebrates ‘the rise of a confident new middle class’ (ibid.: 280). Das's diagnosis of what has changed is actually very similar to Varma's, but he insists that the new middle class is no ‘greedier’ than the old one, and the ‘chief difference is that there is less hypocrisy and more self-confidence’ (ibid.: 290).


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