Researchers looked for a middle class in Latvia, but never found it

Research was carried out on issues of social inequality, but mainly on the poorest part of society, including for the purpose of consultation for the Ombudsman of Latvia.

Research into changes in the middle class, which is the backbone of society, is hampered by a lack of funding. “It is not entirely clear what we generally mean by this concept – the middle class. In 2018, a study by SKDS was carried out, within which a comparison was made with the data of a study conducted 10 years ago. One of the conclusions was that we have a middle class has grown! However, an analysis of individual factors showed that nothing has changed significantly in 10 years,” says Liga Rasnača, associate professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Latvia.

She emphasizes that the feelings of people themselves and their perception of themselves in society are of great importance. This is not only a Latvian trend: the share of society that can identify itself as a representative of the middle class in a particular territory is decreasing. The reason for this is global changes that are changing the sources of material stability. “In the 2018 SKDS research on the middle class in Latvia, the criteria put forward by people that define the middle class in Latvia were taken as a basis. There is no general standard for identifying this group of society, since the levels of well-being of countries are essentially different: those who are in one country or in a particular territory he belongs to the middle class, in another country he may be mega-rich, and in some other country – poor. Of course, in the domestic study, income, real estate, education and other criteria were taken as the basis, but the content was less taken into account work, which, in my opinion, is a significant amount,” admits Rasnacha.

In her opinion, it is important to note that people are willing to do what they love, sacrificing their income level. To put it simply, the middle class is not ready to take any job just for the sake of good pay.

Answering the question why research into social inequality does not continue, Rasnacha noted the lack of funds for science, which is the main obstacle to quality scientific work.

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