On the concept of the category “social structure of the urban population” in the early Soviet period (on the example of the Kursk province)

Relevance . Strategic planning of the development of territories is impossible without taking into account the peculiarities of history, geographical location, specifics of the production and economic potential of the region as factors influencing the quantitative and qualitative indicators of the population. Under the influence of powerful destabilizing events of a military, political and economic nature, the experience of the first decade of Soviet power in managing urban communities is useful for determining the vector of transformation of state institutions, which requires determining the content of the category «social structure of the urban population» in the post-revolutionary period. The purpose – to reveal the content of the concept of the “social structure of the urban population” in the early Soviet period on the example of the Kursk province. Objectives: to correlate the sociological understanding, the established practice of interpretation by the Kursk Provincial Committee of the RCP(b)-VKP(b) and the approaches of Soviet and modern researchers to the concept of “social structure of the urban population”. Methodology . To achieve the set goals and objectives of the study, the author uses the principles of historicism, objectivity and consistency. The assessment of the sociological understanding of social composition required the application of an interdisciplinary approach. In addition, the methodological apparatus of the study includes historical-genetic, retrospective, historical-comparative methods. Results . The concept of the category “social structure of the urban population” was developed in the first postrevolutionary decade, taking into account the regional peculiarities of the development of the Kursk province, as well as the state of the historiography of the issue. Conclusion. The category “social structure of the urban population” is a complex concept, which, taking into account the events of the first decade of Soviet power, includes in its scope a set of groups of people united on the basis of the political and ideological development of the state and quantitative and qualitative signs of the vital activity of the population within a specific urban area, taking into account historical and economic factors.