RUDN journal of Sociology (Dec 2015)
The social dynamics of employees in Russia
Abstract
The article describes the specific features of the socio-structural processes that take place in the Russian economy over the past decades, determine the dynamics of interaction between social groups, and change the criteria of social inequality and differentiation. The authors believe that the transformation of property relations in the Russian society led to a sharp polarization in income and changed the structure of employment. In the first part of the article, the authors analyze the employment by economic sectors, identify general characteristics of the labor market at different levels (macro- and micro-levels in the field of socio-economic and socio-labor relations). In the second part of the article, the authors on the basis of their own empirical studies estimate the positions of employees working in both the public and private sectors, but focus on the private sector employees as a new social class. The authors describe how a class of employees is forming in Russia; indicate the general characteristics of this community, as well as the factors that determine the social differences within it, and the nature of these differences, which depend on the sector of employment, employee professional and educational level, his age, and job position.