Poverty in the structure of Russian society

The article analyses the population’s perception of poverty as well as the attitude to the lower strata of the social pyramid. A qualitative study has been conducted using the focus group survey method – 21 focus groups have been indentified, which includes three generations of the Russians. The hypothesis that the lower class in the view of modern society is a social group which unites marginalised and lumpenised layers of the population, has been not confirmed. There is a rejection of the existing differentiation of society; people from socially vulnerable groups and blue-collar jobs find it difficult to admit that in terms of income they are at the bottom of society and do not see the possibility for themselves to rise to a higher level. We have revealed that representatives of all three generations have accumulated social resentments against the state, which allowed honest workers to be on the verge of poverty. People associate socially underprotected groups with poverty, helplessness, and injustice of their situation. The unemployed are not only those who do not want to work, but also those who cannot find a decent job in their region of residence and are forced to be content with casual labour, becoming a precariat. The Russians refuse to perceive the lower class as the norm, corresponding to education and skill level of people with low incomes. Marginalisation occurs both on the basis of the culture of poverty, cyclically repeated patterns of behaviour from generation to generation, and on the basis of pauperism – poverty founded on state care through social programmes.