Work and Employment in the Modern System of Social Stratification

About the author:

Dmitri N. Yadransky, Dr. Sci. (Sociol.), Professor, Department of State and Municipal Management, Ural State University of Economics (Yekaterinburg); jadransky@yandex.ru

Abstract:

The article considers the process of stratification taking place in the modern society in the process of informatization. The main attention is paid to the processes related to employment and labor activity, which, being caused by the social transformations, change the entire logic of stratification in the former Soviet Union. The author suggests a concept of social stratification, which on the theoretical level proves a fundamental increase in interclass barriers that in most cases is insurmountable for individuals. The author also provides the scheme of structural relationships and his vision of the possible social strata in the social field of public employment.

The main criterion of modern stratification-related employment is theoretically proved to be the stratification according to the criterion of access to basic resources. The structure of the social hierarchy is defined as being represented by the representatives of the highest class, two groups of representatives of the upper middle class, three groups of middle-class, five groups of representatives of the lower middle class (underclass are United in the cluster), and five non-class groups. A theoretical basis is provided for individual behavioral strategies depending on the belonging to a particular group (stratum). The author specifies the direction of the global strategy of adaptation to objective changes in the labor market caused by modern social transformations focused on the maintenance of the existing social structure, as well as describes the possible directions of adaptation of individuals, which aims at preserving their existing positions in the social hierarchy.

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