Latov Y.V., Tikhonova N.E. A new society, a new resource, a new social class? (60th anniversary of the human capital theory). Terra Economicus. 2021. Vol. 19(2). P. 6–27.

Текст статьи/выпуска на сайте журнала URL: https://te.sfedu.ru/evjur/data/2021/19_2.pdf (дата обращения 11.11.2021)

Abstract

A striking contradiction exists between the post-industrial discourse, which is widespread in today’s Russia, and lack of studies on social groups that are of crucial significance for the post-industrial society. Given the existing groups of professionals, the most relevant for this study is the one described by Rosstat as “highly qualified specialists”. This social group is beyond the traditional classification which implies polarization between the workers employed and capitalists as the feature of the previous socio-economic formation. Social significance of this group increases due to the ownership on human capital – the key resource for the “knowledge economy”. Literature review reveals two main relevant domains: the sociology of professions, and sources on the social and professional structure of the modern society. The latter, being far less represented by contemporary Russian sociology, is organically linked to the post-industrial discourse. Its framework allows to interpret the human capital of domestic professionals in the context of post-Soviet Russia undergoing the process of transition to a post-industrial society. The weakness of this approach is due to the relatively small size of the class of professionals in Russia, on the one hand, as well as its heterogeneity, on the other hand. Human capital, i.e. knowledge, skills and competencies are the key elements that professionals use as an economic asset. This criterion allows to differentiate this social group as one of the proto-classes of the future post-industrial society.