Lietuvos gyventojų socialiniai sluoksniai

Abstract

Straipsnyje pateikiama autorių parengta, remiantis šiuolaikinių socialinės stratifikacijos teorijų ir praktinio jų taikymo pažinimu, Lietuvos gyventojų susisluoksniavimo nustatymo metodologija. Remiantis šios metodologijos pritaikymo empiriniais duomenimis, analizuojama visuomenės socialinė struktūra, jos pokyčiai, socialinių sluoksnių ir posluoksnių charakteristikos. Ypač daug dėmesio skiriama viduriniosios klasės problemai.

Methodology for the stratification of the Lithuanian ppulation, as ddeveloped by the authors, of the study enabled identification of four social strata of the Lithuanian population (by net income): the lowest, interim middle and top strata, each of them being comprised of two substrata (by education of the head of a household). The interim stratum accounts for the major part of the Lithuanian population. Nearly half of the population fell under it in 2000 (48%). The top social stratum covers almost one tenth of the population (9%). The remaining population is more or less equally divided into the lowest and middle social strata (22% and 21% ,respectively). Over the two last years, a negative tred of social stratification could be identified in Lithuania: the number of the population falling under the lowest social stratum significantly increased. The publik social structure that has developed, or more precisely, is still in the process of development in Lithuania, is for the time being more similar to the Russian one than to the public structures existing in Western coutries. The middle class, as it is understood in the West, is only at the stage of formation in Lithuania. The major bootleneck of the middle social stratum in Lithuania is the lack of massiveness and prevalence in the society. This social stratum, and its 2nd subbstratum in particular ( covering 13% of the population), might only be considered the middle protoclass. Social demographic and occupational characteristics of the social strata show that the lowest, interim and middle social strata have many features enabling improvement of their social economic status. This, in particular, has to do with the two substrata of the said social strata. The interim 2nd substrata covering 19% of the population has the major potential to become the middle social strata.