One of the main features of the social class category is its awareness of itself as “a sense of common identity characteristic of members of a certain social class” (Abercrombie N., et al. Sociological Dictionary, 1997). At the same time, the social class is a long-term formation, unlike, for example, the consumer stratum. An important specificity of the concept is the transfer of belonging to the class of society by inheritance.
Research background
As A. Sh. Zhvitiashvili (“Interpretation of the concept of “class” in modern Western sociology”, 2005), the attention of science to the problem of classes, as well as class relations, was due to two factors:
- recognition of the limited nature of a similar theory in the writings of Karl Marx;
- active attention to the transformational processes in the Russian state and the countries of Eastern Europe.
At the same time, the question of the appropriateness of singling out the category of the middle class in our society remains open to this day, both in domestic and foreign sociological theory.
The problem of differentiating the concept of "social class" in Western sociology
Western social science includes several trends in the interpretation of the concept of class. First of all, it is the rejection of the dominant economic criterion in the analysis of the class-forming process. On the one hand, this step makes the concept under study more extensive. On the other hand, the characteristics of society from the socio-stratification point of view become less definite: the boundary between the concept of class and stratum becomes less distinguishable.
Signs of the middle class
From the point of view of the West German economist and statesman, the founder of the modern economic system in Germany, Ludwig Erhard, the middle class is people whose qualitative features are the following:
- self-respect;
- independence of opinion;
- the courage to make your own existence dependent on the effectiveness of your work;
- social sustainability;
- independence;
- strive to assert itself in a free civil society and the world.
In turn, Edgar Savisaar, who was the first Prime Minister of Estonia, singled out such features of the middle class as:
- stable and confident social position;
- relatively highstandard of living, education, and vocational training;
- high competitiveness in the labor market;
- clear awareness of events in society;
- political skepticism;
- sufficient independence in the analysis of information;
- high level of efficiency of self-realization in society;
- active impact on significant social processes;
- high level of civic responsibility;
- direction, in addition to yourself and your family, to the whole society as a whole.
Accordingly, in both classifications there is an emphasis not so much on the economic side of being a middle class as on the socio-political one.
Middle class and professional class
Comparing the set of features of the middle class identified by Erhard with those characteristics used by the American sociologist Talcott Parsons when defining the concept of a professional, one can note a certain coincidence. In his worldview, the Parsonian professional is a supporter of liberal democratic values, including professional duty and selfless service to his clients. The presence of professionalism, according to Parsons and Storer, implies responsibility for the storage, transfer and use of specialized knowledge, high autonomy in the field of attracting new members of the professional community, patronage from the environment, integrity, etc.
Thus, the concepts of the middle class and the professional are becoming closely linked in many sociologicalresearch.
Distinction between the "old" and "new" middle class
The semantic meaning of the concept of the middle class has a dynamic specificity that directly reflects the socio-economic characteristics of society in a certain period of time. Thus, in the modern interpretation, the middle class is a qualitatively new social phenomenon.
From the point of view of the American sociologist Charles Wright Mills, in contrast to the "new", "old" middle class were predominantly small entrepreneurs who profit from their property. In turn, the American middle class was made up of the rural bourgeoisie, and their land simultaneously acted as a means of production, a way of earning money, and also as an investment object. Thus, the independence of the entrepreneur, who independently set the boundaries of his own professional activity, was preserved. Labor and property were inseparable for the American middle class. In addition, the social status of this category of citizens also directly depended on the state of the property they owned.
Accordingly, the "old" middle class had a proprietary basis, as well as a clear definition of boundaries. Also, its representatives were characterized by independence from both high society and the state itself.
Functions of the middle class in society
The position of the middle class at the center of the social system thus ensures its relativestability and resilience. Thus, the middle class is a kind of mediator between the extreme poles of the stratification structure of society. At the same time, for the optimal implementation of the intermediary function, it is necessary that this layer of society has sufficient numbers.
On the other hand, as many domestic sociologists note, the conditions of mass participation are not enough to ensure the fulfillment of the function of a stabilizer and a source of development of the social system, which the middle class is oriented towards. This fulfillment is possible only if the representatives of the middle class meet certain political and economic characteristics: law-abiding, awareness of actions and the ability to defend their own interests, independence of opinion, etc.
Western tradition
Initially, in Western scientific thought, the middle class was identified with the people and the masses in general. For example, in the concept of Ortega y Gasset, the representative of the middle class is mediocrity in the field of knowledge and skills. In Hegel, it appears as a formless mass - without any specific goals and ideals.
There is a significant difference between domestic and foreign approaches to the category of the middle class in society. For example, the middle class in Europe, from the point of view of the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, in addition to economic capital, allocated as a dominant in Marxist theory, must rely on social, cultural and symbolic capital. Bourdieu considered one of the forms of symbolic capitalpolitical. The right of ownership was documented when it came to economic property. In the case of the cultural part of it, a diploma or an academic title was considered confirmation. Social property was confirmed by the title of nobility. Thus, a full-fledged characteristic of the middle class society was formed.
Another important point should also be noted. In the Western tradition, the middle strata of society are aware of the fact that private property is not just an object of appropriation, but is also accompanied by the need to perform a number of public functions. Otherwise, she will not be able to be inviolable, remaining open to encroachment from other people.
Debatable nature of the problem of the middle class in Russian society
The middle class in Russia represents a separate category for scientific controversy in sociological theory. For example, some Western sociologists deny the existence of this stratum of society during the functioning of the USSR and during the years of transition to the post-Soviet system (Zhvitiashvili, 2005). From the point of view of H. Balzer, in the Russian social stratification structure there is a middle stratum, but it differs from the classical understanding of the concept of "middle class" in society.
In turn, the Russian sociologist A. G. Levinson writes that the question of the presence of a middle class in Russia as an empirically verifiable object is not significant in itself. In this case, we are talking only about the name assigneda certain group of people, or about the interpretation of certain results. The question of the existence of a middle class in Russia should be decided not in the environment where applied or fundamental research of society is carried out, but in the environment of public and public institutions, as an example, within the framework of public opinion. At the same time, as the author notes, for many researchers involved in the discussion about the presence / absence of a middle class in Russian society, it is preferable to differentiate such concepts as “intelligentsia”, “specialist”, “middle link”, etc.
Characteristic of the middle class in the structure of modern Russian society
The classical understanding implies a focus not only on owners of property of a certain size, but also on carriers of basic social values - socio-political activity, opposition to social manipulation, personal dignity and independence, etc. Meanwhile, in the Russian state at the beginning of the 90- x years. reformers considered property relations in society exclusively from the economic side.
Even now there are remnants of this perception, when any “brother” of the “Solntsevo or Tambov mafia” is referred to as a “pillar of civil society” (Simonyan R. Kh. “The middle class: a social mirage or reality?”, 2009) - for example, on the basis of the presence of two cars in the family, etc.
In this regard, certain paradoxes arise in the domestic sociological theory, when the middle class in Russia includes inthemselves primarily private businessmen, and not engineers, doctors or teachers. The reason for this "skew" is the fact that representatives of private business have much higher incomes than the above-mentioned specialists.
Many researchers, noting the presence of a middle consumer stratum in Russian society, believe that in order to transform it into a full-fledged class, a number of conditions must be created:
- structural transformation of the economy;
- formation of a special ideological position;
- changes in the psychology of society;
- redefining behavior patterns, etc.
In any case, the process of forming a full-fledged middle class in Russian society requires a fairly long period of time.
Criminal past and present of the middle class in Russia
The primitive division into strata of society in terms of economic criteria as a distorted understanding of Marxist theory had a certain justification. There are quite a few representatives of the materially prosperous and super-rich population in Russian society. However, the question arises as to whether a high-ranking official or a major businessman who takes bribes can be classified as a citizen from the standpoint of the strict socio-political meaning of this word. Stops the fact that they are not free. These are no longer so much citizens as accomplices tied to the authorities (Simonyan, 2009).
The privatization system in Russia also had its ownnegative impact on the specifics of the formation of the concept of "middle social class". Instead of the so-called enrichment of the people, the largest state scam was carried out on the distribution of common material we alth between individual representatives of private business. This situation only strengthened the corruption of the state structure. As a result, the modern owner of capital least of all corresponds to the requirements of the classical representative of the group presented as the middle class. This carrier, as S. Dzarasov notes, is primarily a criminal, but not a rational type of consciousness.
The problem is that this category of people is able to capture other people's goods and at the same time is completely unable to create. It cannot be said that it was about the unconsciousness of the criminality of these actions. Middle-class people in this category, with a full understanding of the illegality of acquired property, relate to it - not as a well-deserved good, but as a welcome prey and personal privilege.
Accordingly, the modern Russian nomenklatura does not recognize any public functions for this property. It also rejects the very concept of the public good, in contrast to how it is interpreted by Western middle-class society. In this regard, the vast majority of the Russian population refuses to recognize the results of privatization in the early 1990s. Meanwhile, in order to respect the inviolability of property, it is necessary that it has a legitimate character. Only under this condition does private property become the economic basisfull-fledged civil society.
Thus, the criminal side of the existence of society not only does not contribute to the formation of the middle class, but also leads to the deformation of this very concept, on which the social characteristics of the class are based.
