Life success values and their fulfillment for Russia’s working population

This article actualizes such an issue as members of modern Russia’s working population attaining success in life. The proposed approach is aimed towards searching for links between descriptions of success and their fulfillment in actual practices and evaluations of everyday life. Data from an all-Russian survey conducted by the Russian Academy of Sciences’ federal sociological science and research center in May of 2017, with 4000 Russians polled in total, was used as an informational basis for analysis. Six typological categories of workers were identified based on a factor analysis of value perceptions of success in life. The content of this article is primarily focused on revealing the link between these categories (factors) and workers’ socio-demographical characteristics, models for achieving success in the field of labor and family, in terms of material prosperity, fulfilling life goals and personal aspirations. The content of the links between the factors discovered and the models constructed reveals that only two factors among the six tested can be considered to bear actual substance in terms of success in life. People belonging to the “new conservative” category, who elevate such values as an interesting job, family, trustworthy friends, while denying such an egalitarian value as “living just as well as everyone else”, showcase modest success in work, material prosperity and fulfilling their goals in life. The category “self-sustained proprietors”, which is based on the correlation between values of independence and the importance of owning prestigious property while denying such a value as “going through life while staying honest”, is separated from other categories not only by a higher level of personal income together with prestigious attributes (such as a second home or a new car), but also by a higher degree of criticism when it comes to one’s accomplishments. The remaining factors were not substantiated. This article reveals that the combination of such values as family, an interesting job, trustworthy friends and a reluctance to “live just like everyone else”, embodied in the “new conservative” category, can be considered the most reliable and positive path both for an individual and for society in terms of achieving life success for Russia’s working population.

life success, values, work, family, material well-being, models of achievement, individual aspirations, factorial analysis, working population.

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