Present Russia in a sociological mirror (about Zinaida Golenkov's studies related to social structure of contemporary Russia)

In many aspects, sociological thought in present Russia is a mirror of the condition and key social processes occurring in that large country. They are basically the same as the processes which have already been under way in the majority of other societies in the region of former real-socialism. Therefore the results acquired by the sociological thought in Russia specially those from empirical researches, are significant for the scientific and broader social public in other countries, too. In that sense, the findings obtained by Zinaida Golenkova in the research about the changes of the social structure in present Russia are representative and very indicative. Her researches concentrate on the social stratification. She concludes that the government, income and ownership are the main factors in social stratification, thus revealing the main factors in the creation and reproduction of social inequalities - which are very deep in present Russia - then the basis of the formation of a new social structure in that country and the division into losers and winners in the ownership-structural changes. The key relation is the relation between these changes and "deetatization". The middle class in Russia is underdeveloped, more than a half of the specialists with the high and secondary education is poor. In spite of the widespread poverty, there are no larger social protests, disturbances and strikes in Russia. This could be explained by the tradition of forbearance political aparthy, struggle for survival, as well as by the additional income of one part of the unemployed population. Material-status inequalities and life perspectives intersect with ethnic inequalities and with the destiny of numerous migrants of Russian and non-Russian origin.