The Social Structure of Contemporary Russian Society

The transformation of the institutions of Russian society has had a major impact on its social structure. Property and power relations have changed and continue to change, the mechanism of social stratification is undergoing restructuring, and a process of intensive transformation of elites is under way. New social groups are appearing in the public arena, mass strata are being marginalized, the "social bottom" is growing, and economic relations are becoming increasingly criminal in nature. Accordingly, the system of group interests, behavior, and social interactions is changing. These apparently disparate phenomena are actually different aspects of a process of structural transformation of society. Hence they must be studied not only separately but also within the context of their interconnections. The fundamental task of social scientists is to describe Russian society as an integral social system undergoing transformation, above all under the influence of internal driving forces. The most important characteristics of this system are, first, its social structure—that is, the composition, status, and relations of the groups determining its development—and, second, the stratification of society, or the location of the aforementioned groups on the hierarchical scale of social status

Economic system · Economics · Geography · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Restructuring · Social change · Social entropy · Social group · Social inertia · Social order · Social philosophy · Social relation · Social science · Social stratification · Social structure · Social system · Social transformation · Sociology · Law · Sociopolitical Dynamics in Russia

• Family business in Russia

  Open Access•Nonna Barkhatova, Peter Mcmylor Nonna Barkhatova et al.•British Journal of Sociology•2001

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