Farm laborers as a social phenomenon of a contemporary Russian village

The article considers the results of a sociological study of rural population in the Republic of Buryatia carried out by the author in the summer of 2014. It shows how the consequences of social changes of the late 20th - early 21st centuries led to deprivation of rural population and a transformation of its social structure. The post-Soviet period witnessed a significant expansion of the lower class margins and an emergence of the social group of farm laborers in it. The main factors of the emergence of farm laborers phenomenon are the perennial unemployment of a part of villagers and prevalence of asocial and deviant forms of behavior.