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Масштабы и динамика социально-экономического неравенства в современной России
The main focus of this article is analyzing the peculiarities and dynamics of socio-economic inequality in modern Russia. Examined are the changes in Russian people’s attitudes towards this multilateral and painful social issue, which are dictated by shifts both in objective reality and the way it is perceived by the general population. Analysis is based on data from «Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey» (RLMS-HSE). It is revealed that uneven distribution of income and accumulated wealth in post-Soviet Russia has become ever so dramatic. Meanwhile, like in most other countries of the world, a huge and constantly increasing and accelerating concentration of capital in the hands of a slim segment of the richest people is evident. These processes decrease the eff ectiveness of previously accepted criteria and indexes of socio-economic inequality, which leads to the need for fi ner adjustment of said instruments. Those who suff ered the most from a series of economic crises and stagnation, occurring throughout the period between 2008 and 2016, are those who belong to quite prosperous segments of the population, those which form the backbone of the middle-class. A decrease in the amount of wealthy households during the last crisis was accompanied by an increase in the amount of poor families, which became one of the reasons for an increase in the population’s dissatisfaction with their material status. Dramatic socioeconomic inequality remains the most prominent factor which forms inequality of opportunity when it comes to various population groups’ access to education, health-care and other social resources. However, unlike the 1990’s, when negative attitudes towards private property and rich people were dominant in Russian society, today we see a more moderate tolerance level towards socio-economic inequality.