Standard of living and social stratification in the cities of the Perm Kray

SOCIOLOGY

Abstract

The paper examines standards of living and social stratas of the mid-sized city of Lysva and small town Kudymkar. Variety of standards of living among minor towns depends on a range of factors including the town’s formal identification with type of settlement based on acknowledged number of inhabitants and resulting in town’s receiving subsidies and tranfers. Standard of living is assessed through average wages per month, subjective estimations of economic situation of households and of welfare protection. The effect of economic crisis is described. Social stratification is modeled using respondents’ assessments of their own localizations within the social space. Stratification is based on three criteria (education, income, and position power) to identify 5 social classes. Sociological analysis of the revealed discrepancies makes an input into our understanding of particularities of processes of transformations at the subregional level.