ABSTRACT
The dynamic of change in the respondents' material circumstances during the year that had elapsed between the surveys contained contradictory features. In Moscow, the number of those who considered their own circumstances worse than others' rose from 31 per cent to 47 per cent during the year of observation. Inter-correlation and factor analysis showed that in Russia today there are property/income strata for whom way of life and social participation differ not just quantitatively, but also in terms of quality characteristics. Having constructed a welfare index which could vary from 1 to 10 depending on the number of property/income strata identified, people considered the issue of social morale and life attitudes among members of each stratum. Among the group of poor people, eating into savings was placed first, followed by self-sufficiency in food grown at the dacha, then receipt of help from others and additional earnings.
