Russian workers: financial behavior and settings

Abstract

The article is based on the evidence obtained in the all-Russian study conducted by the Institute of Sociology in 2014 and provides an analysis of the specifics of the actual behavior of the Russian workers and their settings regarding their financial income. The results are compared with the common settings and behavior and, in particular, with the settings shared by the skilled mental workers. It is shown that the “degree of safety” among workers is very small due to their relatively law income and consumer behavior setting caused by their habit of conspicuous consumption with its short horizon period. Highly skilled workers, workers with average and low qualifications as well as ordinary workers employed in trade and service industries are similar in terms of their actual financial behavior and dominant settings. However, their behavior differs from that of the middle class workers and non-working Russians.