ABSTRACT
The ongoing socio-economic transformations have affected all spheres of life in Russia. The institutionalisation of private property, the liberalisation and restructuring of the economy, and the development of a market economy entailed intensive social mobility, significant changes in the social structure, and the formation of new social groups and strata. This chapter addresses the impact of transition on the welfare and social position of the vast popular masses, and examines in particular the position of the most disadvantaged categories. It presents the findings of a survey of marginalised and socially excluded people, conducted in 1996 by a group of researchers from the Institute for Socio-Economic Studies of Population, Russian Academy of Sciences (ISESP RAS).
