The present paper operationalizes one of the oldest concepts in the sociological literature about social stratification. Relying on Weber's theory, the authors consider life chances in terms of positive and negative privileges. This framework is fertile ground for constructing a series of indices measuring opportunities and risks in key areas of life such as economic conditions, work situation, human capital accumulation, and consumption and leisure activities. Drawing on empirical data from three 2015 representative Russian surveys, the authors classified the Russian population on a continuum of life chances. The majority of Russians obtain just one third of the maximum scores on the life-chance scale. It is also shown that the life-chance scale has a strong correlation with the peaks of income distribution; however, the relationship between lower-and middle-income groups are not that salient. Finally, we show that life chances are uniquely distributed across different localities in contemporary Russia. We admit therefore the high analytical power of the neo-Weberian concept of life chances in stratification studies. Measured via a multidimensional index, life chances appear a good alternative to a gradational approach and the relational stratification schema developed particularly for the working population.

The various approaches to income stratification can be divided into two broad categoriesrelative and absolute. Our study suggests that the most widely used thresholds of the absolute approach cannot be efficiently applied to contemporary Russian society, which has undergone fundamental changes over the last 15 years regarding income, as they fail to define the subgroups within the population.Absolute models of stratification which define income groups based on a pre-determined income thresholds rank Russia in line with industrially advanced rather than developing countries, rendering the absolute income bounds, set for the latter group of countries, irrelevant.The relative approach, based on the median income as the social standard of living, appears more effective for income stratification in Russia. Furthermore, it also implies possibilities for structural adjustments such as regional-and settlement-specific disparities in income distribution, which are relevant for Russia given its regional heterogeneity. The application of the relative approach in authors' version shows that the income stratification model in Russia is quite stable even during the economic crisis. The results of the comparison between the Russian income stratification model and those of other countries confirm that Russia's income stratification model is currently more similar to those of developed rather than developing countries. JEL Classification: I31.

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This paper investigates the underlying nature of the demand for state support in Russia in the labor market and employment, social investments, and material support. Based on recent findings from social policy studies, the authors tested four different mechanisms: (a) the demographic features of the population, (b) household incomes and disposable assets including human and social capital, (c) interests, and (d) locus of control and cultural attitudes. Drawing on an all-Russian representative monitoring survey conducted by the Institute of Sociology of the Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2018, the authors argue that the population's demand for state support has a very complex nature. The relative effect of income has a paradoxical nature. On the one hand, the Russian data confirm the hypothesis of 'the altruistic rich', developed in recent studies, which predicts that, in societies with high inequalities, higher incomes boost the likelihood of demand for redistributive policies. On the other hand, higher incomes foster state escapism among those Russians who do not consider the state as a reliable agent capable of solving their problems.