Selection of Middle Class (According to the Empirical Data From TNS)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29038/2306-3971-2016-01-37-45Keywords:
measurement, subjective identification criteria of middle class, intersection of sets, selection by condition, the structure of middle classAbstract
In order to selection of the “middle class” based on the intersection of sets (each set is a specific criteria for the identification of the middle class (the number of sets depends on the number of criteria), and elements of the set are only those that satisfy the specified condition), the authors empirically set the validity of use of the following identification criteria: income, financial conditions, professional status (occupations). According to the empirical data from TNS, identified critical values for each criterion made it possible to distinguish those who have a chance to get into the middle class and who do not. In particular, by the criterion of income there is 35,6 % the inhabitants of towns / cities with chance to belong to the middle-class, by occupations – 37,0 %, by financial conditions – 60,7 %. The intersection of respective sets showed 11,9 % of those who belong to the middle class among the population 16+ in towns and cities of Ukraine (with populations over 50 thousand.). The comparisons of socio-demographic structures those who are belonged to the middle class (11.9 %) and who are not (88,1 %) demonstrate statistically significant differences in age, education, settlement structures, and also - in the sphere of industrial activity. «Middle layer» is more appreciable among people with high education and in major cities of Ukraine; its representatives are engaged mainly in the economy (trade, services, manufacturing), education, science and culture. The authors also consider that the volume of the first age group («16–34» – 4,4 %, «35–54» – 6,5 %, «55–65» – 1,0 %) is low because among the youngest group are most of those who have not yet realized their chances by the determined criteria (income, financial conditions, occupation). In particular, 8,2 % of students don’t have an opportunity to belong to the middle class (they didn’t get into the set of «occupation»).
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