Middle Class: the Empirical Measurement of Intergenerational Social Mobility in Russia

Tatyana Maleva and Aleksandra Burdyak

Journal of the New Economic Association, 2016, vol. 32, issue 4, 62-85

Abstract: The article is devoted to the study of intergenerational mobility. We look at the economic and social status progress of young and middle working age people (18-44-year-olds) compared to that of their parents. Among educational, occupational and material-wellbeing characteristics the most significant advancement has occurred in the consumption possibilities (what goods they can afford to buy). At the same time equiprobable answers better / worse to the question on well-being comparison with parents are not supporting the idea of perceived progress in the standard of living. It is shown that educational and occupational intergenerational mobility of women is greater than that for men. Social strata are defined on the basis of wealth, education, occupational and social status. Different strata show various intensity of getting better than their parents. Growth opportunities of middle-class representatives has largely been limited by the highest socio-economic position of their parents. The paper concludes by integral intergenerational mobility index. The index is based on four indicators of respondents' educational, occupational, consumption status and material well-being changes compared to their parents. The integral index shows a small scale positive intergenerational mobility. By the age of 35-44 years, people are much better educated than their parents, they have wider opportunities in consumption, however, improvements in employment status are minimal. The protomiddle stratum shows negative occupational mobility. The shortage of good jobs is an obstacle to the education-to-job transformation for this social strata. Therefore labour market is the main barrier to the middle class growth in Russia. Classification-JEL: I31, J62

Keywords: intergenerational mobility; middle class; education; employment; social mobility; post-Soviet Russia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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