Social-class conditioning of the perception of social inequality in Ukraine

In recent decades, domestic sociology has been successfully developing class analysis, i.e. the study of modern Ukrainian society as a class society with the corresponding identification of the structure and composition of social classes and the various effects of class belonging to individuals. The next stage in the development of class analysis in Ukraine was the participation of Ukrainian researchers in the implementation of a representative study under the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) with the main survey module “Social Inequality” and the publication of its analytical results in the monograph “Dynamics of Perception of Social Inequality in Ukraine according to the International Program of Social Research 2009 and 2019” (2020). The analytical work presented in the article is a thorough examination and clarification of the results of the ISSP-2019 study, in particular, regarding the social-class conditioning of the perception of social inequality. A number of research hypotheses were tested: in particular, that social classes differ statistically significantly in terms of emotional perception of social inequality; there is a relationship between support for redistributive policies through changes in the tax burden for people with high incomes and social class; there are statistically significant differences between classes in choosing a dominant strategy for achieving life success; there is a connection between the recognition of the importance of using informal practices to achieve life success and the class position of the individual; there is a connection between the recognition of the importance of socio-ascriptive characteristics for achieving life success and the class position of the individual. It is confirmed that there is a weak connection between the class belonging of individuals and the specified irrelevant variables, as well as the presence of a number of significant differences between social classes regarding the perception of various aspects of social inequality in society, in particular, regarding the classes of the petty bourgeoisie and the working class.