The social stratification structure of Russian society underwent significant
changes during the transition from socialism to capitalism. A number of theoretical
approaches were developed in the last fifteen years to describe the process of transition
and its impact on stratification structure in post-Socialist societies. This study attempts to
combine these theories and uncover the major determinants of stratification standing in
contemporary Russia as well as to analyze the consequences of stratification changes
using data from the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS) from 1998 to 2003.
The study finds that individual factors, such as human capital, play a greater tole
in mobility chances in Russia today, than they used to play in the socialist times, and their
importance is increasing with the development of the market economy. At the same time,
structural location factors, such as industry of employment and geographic location, that
had previously played an important role in the Socialist model of stratification, continue to be important determinants of an individual’s stratification position. Along with these
old structures of inequality, new structures emerged during the reforms, such as the
gender gap and the gap between the public and the private sectors, and the significance of