ABSTRACT
The modernisation of Russian society and the transition to a market economy have given a new edge and meaning to problems of social development and employment in the different regions of the Russian Federation. In terms of its range of employment, Moscow is one of the most varied regions in the country: the non-State, 'alternative' economy is developing more rapidly in Moscow than in the vast majority of other regions. A different situation has arisen in St. Petersburg. For much of the transition period since August 1991, St. Petersburg has been run by very active supporters of the Federal course of creating a self-organising market economy, headed by the city's Mayor, one of Russia's best-known democratic activists, Professor Anatoli Sobchak. The nature of the local sub-culture led to the creation and reproduction of the rural peasant-type, as opposed to the industrial, worker.
