Precarization of the Middle Class of the New Russia: What are the Results of a Study of Heterogeneous Middle Strata?

Abstract

The paper aims to study the heterogeneity of the middle classes in the new Russia. Drawing from the monitoring survey data collected by the Institute of Sociology of FCTAS RAS, 2015 and 2018, the author employed Bayesian latent class analysis to detect Russian middle class and its main subgroups. In 2015 and 2018 it counted 58% and 61% of the population, respectively. Precarization of the middle is occurring in the lower stratum of the middle class, which comprises up to half of the middle class. The paper aims to study the heterogeneity of the middle classes in the new Russia. Drawing from the monitoring survey data collected by the Institute of Sociology of FCTAS RAS, 2015 and 2018, the author employed Bayesian latent class analysis to detect Russian middle class and its main subgroups. In 2015 and 2018 it counted 58% and 61% of the population, respectively. Precarization of the middle is occurring in the lower stratum of the middle class, which comprises up to half of the middle class.