Sterilization of Social Differentiation: Russian ‘Middle Class’ and Emigration

Abstract

Lev Gudkov — Director, Yuri Levada Analytical Center. Address: 17, Nikolskaya St., Moscow, 109012, Russian Federation. E-mail: gudkov@levada.ru

Natalya Zorkaya — Head of the Sector for Social and Political Research, Yuri Levada Analytical Center. Address: 17, Nikolskaya St., Moscow, 109012, Russian Federation.

The purpose of this article is not only to analyze the motives of emigration of the most successful young citizens in Russia, but also to draw the attention of sociologists once again to the problem of social stratification or social structure of Soviet society; the problem of which still remains one of the most debatable in Russian modern sociology.

The uncertainty of subjective stratification in Russia makes accepted class and layer classification conventional. The authors connect the opacity of the social structure of Russian society with the institutional lack of differentiation, the dependence of the economy, and the judicial system of authoritarian government. They also explore the consequences of egalitarian policies, ensuring social cohesion and morally political unity with Soviet authorities for decades. As a result, the group that may become Russia’s “middle class” does not have sufficient cultural and symbolic capital to identify themselves as a self-contained class, the social function of which is recognized in the community by other groups. Migration moods of the studied group have a specific function: they are important for human self-determination, determination of the position in Russian reality, and for a distanced attitude to what is happening around. This point is not so much about the motives of real action, but about the symbolic construction of a group or personal identity. In this case, identity is expressed through self-isolation from the current order. A portion of young people (but not all), who are urbanized, educated and financially independent, express such isolation through thoughts about the possibility of departure from the native country.

The article is based on the perennial poll data on people’s perceptions of their status and willingness to emigrate among the most successful groups in the economic sense — from big cities — gathered by the Levada Center.