Backgrounds to and trends in the development of class consciousness in modern society: theory and practice

The research discusses the trends and factors in the development of class consciousness in modern Russian society. The category of class consciousness is specified. Contemporary sources of class consciousness are considered from a broader methodological perspective, focusing on the invariability of the hierarchical aspects of social consciousness. The empirical research helps determine the possible backgrounds to the development of class consciousness in today’s youth. The authors conclude that class consciousness of present-day groups has the cultural and ideological rather than the social and political sense. They reveal the divergence between class identity and class cosciousness among young people. Besides, the researchers identify that many young people follow the liberal postulates conducive to social atomization that is opposite to integration and group formation.