From the proletariat to the precariat (about the emergence of a new class)

Authors

  • Zhan T. Toshchenko Russian State University for the Humanities, 6 Miusskaya Avenue, Moscow 125993, Russia; Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 24/35 Krzhizhanovskogo Street, 5 building, Moscow 117218, Russia

Keywords:

society, social and class structure, precariat, class, protoclass, proletariat, labour, labour market, employment, alienation

Abstract

The article is devoted the emergence of a new social class – precariat (from the Latin – precarium) is justified, which still has many features of the protoclass, as it is formed from disparate social groups. It is stated that in Russia, as in many other countries, the social strata have significantly increased, which represent non-standard specific types of employment – temporary, incomplete, partial, seasonal, episodic, fragmented and others. In the same sphere there are also such social communities and groups as migrants, people of free professions (freelancers), part of young people entering into life. An analysis of their social situation allows us to state that all these social communities and social groups, in spite of differences, have common characteristics – instability, and lack of security of their social status. But, as in its time, the proletariat was not a single whole, so the precariat is at the stage of its gradual formation. The reasons for the emergence of the precariat, its structure, its main characteristics are explained. Identify the main features of this protoclass, compared with other social groups, the first sprouts of transformation from the «class in itself» to the «class for oneself» are revealed.

Author Biography

  • Zhan T. Toshchenko, Russian State University for the Humanities, 6 Miusskaya Avenue, Moscow 125993, Russia; Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 24/35 Krzhizhanovskogo Street, 5 building, Moscow 117218, Russia

    corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, doctor of science (philosophy), full professor; head of the department of theory and history of sociology, faculty of sociology, Russian State University for the Humanities; principal researcher, Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences; chief editor of the journal «Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya»

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Published

2019-03-11

Issue

No. 3 (2017): Journal of the Belarusian State University. Sociology

Section

From the Working Table of a Sociologist

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How to Cite

[1]
Toshchenko, Z.T. 2019. From the proletariat to the precariat (about the emergence of a new class). Journal of the Belarusian State University. Sociology. 3 (Mar. 2019), 95–101.