Abstract:

Russia started to experience social transformation in the 1980s and in the next decade， new social stratification had obviously taken place there. This paper describes and analyses the gaps in social earnings as a result of the social stratification in Russia （gaps among individuals， government departments， industries， different regions in Russia）， as well as the “socially marginal group” and the “new poor class.” The “socially marginal group” refers to those who cannot ascertain their own social status or their class membership. The “new poor class” is the social class mainly composed of professors， engineers and doctors who used to live a comfortable life and enjoy a high social status in former USSR but are now experiencing hardships and have become poor. A new middle class of enterprisers has come into being in the course of the sociopolitical and economic transformation as the former social middle class represented by the intellect has dissolved， which has brought about a huge change in Russia's social class structure.

Key words: Russia, social transformation, social class, stratification