Transformations of Social Structure in Armenia Towards the Western Modernization

The social structure refers to the number of very difficult affected and inertial subsystems of society. However, if the changes affect the social structure, hey usually are hard reversible.

Beginning from the 1990 the post-soviet societies experiencing deep transformations. The social structure of pre-reform societies was universal for all of them; it was historical triad of classes – the working class, peasantry and servants, including “layer” of intelligentsia. But this old model no longer exists. For the expired 25 years Armenian society has undergone fundamental reforms. First of all it is a change of the ownership. The state economy was changed to a multi-sector economy with a large variety of forms of ownership – state, private, municipal, rental, shareholders, mixed, etc. Transforming structure of the Armenian society today is multi-faceted. There are the new class of large and medium private owners (mostly in the field of service and maintenance) and a huge number of farmers. The level of social stratification and social differentiation is much increased, at the same time dramatically increased trends of deepening of social inequality.

For the Armenia the main characteristic of transformation model is a very small percentage of the middle class, and a sharp increase of marginal and social exclusions. The share of employed in agriculture increased three times. It is result of a full stop more than 40% of the country industry. In Armenia, once the leading and the most numerous (66%) working class, partially dissolved in the growing service sector, and partly joined the ranks of the small proprietors and entrepreneurs, but mostly joined the army of unemployed. The greater role played by the sharp decline in living standards, unemployment, impoverishment and migration.