Introduction

The chapter introduces the theme of the book and gives an overview of Russia’s social and economic development since the late 1990s. The period of prosperity in Russia during the first years of Putin’s presidency resulted in declining levels of poverty and rising well-being for most Russians. The hopes of the political and economic elites, together with most of the academic circles, about the growth of the middle class, assisted by many ambitious and large-scale programmes from the Russian Government, collided with the 2008 global economic crisis. After the crisis, the declining levels of well-being of the population, corruption, and persistent economic inequalities have put the social contract into question in Russia. It describes the history of surveys by Social Distinction in Modern Russia (1991, 1998, 2007, 2015) and the general social context in the times when the surveys were collected. The description of the contents of the book also include a presentation of the scope logic of class analysis, as a comprehensive analytical strategy, which emphasizes the importance of marking differences and syntheses between levels of class analysis.