Social Justice and its Mirages

Abstract

Mikhail Chernysh — Head of the Sector for Social Mobility Studies, Institute of Sociology, Russian Academy of Sciences. Address: Bldg. 5, 24/35, Krzhizhanovskogo St., Moscow, 117218, Russian Federation. E-mail: mfche@yandex.ru

This article considers the possible strategies in describing contemporary Russian society and the nature of inequality in it. One of such strategies, elaborated earlier in a concept authored by S. Kordonsky and his colleagues, attempts to portray the Russian society as estate-based. The article claims that such an approach should be weighed against sociological tradition that regards estates as a phenomenon that precedes the process of rationalization. F. Toennis, M. Weber and T. Marshall define estates as status-based groups that can only exist in a society where status is endorsed by law, social mobility is at minimum and elite groups are characterized by “honor”. The rationalization process reduces these factors and opens way for social competition on principles other than status.

The estate-related approach has to be checked for its epistemological consistency. There is ample evidence to show that neither the USSR, nor the new Russia, are societies divided into estates. Even more dubious is the appeal of S. Kordonsy and his colleagues to the concept of social justice. Social justice is a concept that is only valid in modernity, in a secular society where distribution is a part of the political and social agenda. It is hardly relevant in pre-modern societies, where the acceptance of one’s social status and milieu was ensured by the existing institutional regimes.