Simonchuk, E. (2003). The Middle Class: People and Status [In Russian]. Kiev: Institute of Sociology, NAS of Ukraine.
Симончук, Е. (2003). Средний класс: люди и статусы. Киев: Институт социологии НАН Украины.
Abstract
The first part of the monograph reconstructs a theoretical tradition of understanding the middle class and its modern image in the post-industrial society, describes the theoretical and methodological approaches to distinguishing the middle class in the post-Soviet countries. The Ukrainian realia of middle class are analyzed on the basis of the survey data and in-depth interviews. Described are its social composition, scale, consumption patterns, life style peculiarities of its various strata, political and economic attitudes, class-specific beliefs, and specific features of self-consciousness. Revealed are the distinctions of the Ukrainian middle class model in comparison with the Western analogues along with similarity in the trends of its formation in Ukraine and Russia. The second part of the book contains a collection of interviews with the representatives of different middle class strata. The respondent’s original views on problems, social well-being, moods, and life strategies provide us with knowledge of own value. This book is for experts in social structure issues and a wide range of readers reflecting on the social arrangement of today’s Ukraine.