Estimates of the middle class scale in the region

The objective to form the middle class is an acute problem in the period of social and economic modernization in Russia. Rapid growth of the middle class in the structure of society can speed up the solution of many social problems due to the high responsibility and civic awareness of its representatives. Therefore, research of the middle class scale is a priority in the studying of the social stratification of the population. In this paper the research of the middle class was based on the empirical estimates of the sociological survey of the population in the Vologda oblast which was conducted in 2010. During the work we gave a concept of “the middle class”, we represented a number of approaches which were notable for a set of criteria to estimate the middle class size. We determined an optimum set of criteria and estimated the middle class scale in the region in accordance with them and gave the social characteristics of its representatives.