Periods of Changes in Social Policy and Concepts of Social Justice in Russia

  • Elena N. Danilova Institute of Sociology, Russian Academy of Sciences endanilova@gmail.com
How to Cite
Danilova E.N. 2015. Periods of Changes in Social Policy and Concepts of Social Justice in Russia — Sociologicheskaja nauka i social’naja praktika. No. 2. P. 18-50.

Abstract

This article reviews periods of change social policy combined with the transformations of the discourse about social justice. Discussions on the content of social justice articulated depending on political and economic issues on the agenda. Particularly elevant this debate is in the run-up to and accompanied by large-scale social changes, because social justice is a part of an ideological project promoted by the new elites. Russian social policy was a difficult path and caused a lot of controversy and criticism from various quarters. Identifies several stages in the development of social policy since the Soviet era, restructuring and reforms in post-Soviet Russia. The article reviews the main emphasis of social policy and issues related to social inequality, as well as notions of social justice, which was on the agenda at each of the selected periods. In the Soviet Union social policy was based on distribution relations and its purpose controlled by egalitarian ideology, even if in practice it was difficult to implement due to the lack of necessary resources. In the beginning and the end of the existence of the Soviet Union the policy objectives and the discourse of social justice become vary significantly from the political and economic agenda. In the period of perestroika, when political changes were ahead of economic changes, there was an active reformulation of the ideological principles of social justice and social policy. In the years of reform there are several stages in the formation of social policy and congruent with their debate on its main emphasis and trends, depending on the external and internal context of the country.
Keywords:
social justice, social policy reforms, periodization

Author Biography

Elena N. Danilova, Institute of Sociology, Russian Academy of Sciences
Candidate of Sociology Sciences, Head of the Department

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Danilova, E. N. (2015) ’Periods of Changes in Social Policy and Concepts of Social Justice in Russia’, Sociologicheskaja nauka i social’naja praktika, (2), pp. 18-50. Available at: https://www.jour.fnisc.ru/index.php/socnp/article/view/3121 (Accessed: 15August2025).