The Middle Class As Factor of Stability of the Russian Society: Research Project

The middle class is a widely discussed issue in modern Russia. Economists, politicians and social scientists reflect on this problem writing books, articles, developing strategies on increasing the share of the middle class in the Russian society. However, according to official statistics, it remains quite low, approximately 20%. The aim of the research is to detect the problems of the Russian society, which prevent the middle class from quantitative and qualitative growth, and analyzes possible ways of diminishing those negative effects. Three main aspects of the problem of the middle class in Russia have been considered, namely income policy; market and consumer behavior; and the Russian mentality. The main obstacles defined are: prevalence of partly or fully illegal financial-labor relations; the big share of the black market and the vast number of counterfeit products; and specificity of the Russian mentality, which make people identify themselves with the middle class being in fact representatives of the lower class. To enable and maintain the development of the middle class in the Russian society, authors suggest several policy options and measures.