The social bottom is a special class (category) of citizens, which consists of people who appear to be overboard of modern civilization. He is also called the underclass - the lowest layer of society, consisting of homeless people, vagabonds, street children, drug addicts and alcoholics, as well as prostitutes, in general, all those who lead obscene, by the standards of an ordinary person, lifestyle. Those who find themselves on the social bottom are called marginalized, paupers, homeless people, etc. This category of society can contribute to the growth of crime.
Poverty research
Homeless people and tramps sometimes become the object of scientific research. So, according to one of them, not only low-skilled workers, but also those who in the past had good qualifications, find themselves on the social bottom. They make up about a quarter of the lower strata of society. Among them, the share of the former intelligentsia is quite substantial - from 10 to 15 percent.
According to one of the experts in sociology, E. N. Zaborov, the world community should pay more attention to the problems of employment. Otherwise, in the future 4/5 of the total number of residents may be left without a livelihood, while the remaining 20% will become even richer. Such a stratification, unfortunately, is very relevant for modern Russia. As a result of these processes, most of the citizens of our country may be at the bottom.
The consequence will be the disappearance of the middle class, as well as the likely occurrence of conflict situations due to social inequality.
Social bottom in literature
The stratification of the poor and rich has become the main theme of some works and feature films. The long-term consequences of all these processes are colorfully described in Herbert Wells' Time Machine. In this novel, the poor and deprived of housing and affluence people gradually went underground, making way for a rich elite on the surface of the earth. Over time, even the biology of these people has changed. Representatives of the lower class from the dungeon turned into almost colorless small creatures with twilight vision, and those who lived in paradise on the surface became defenseless and naive creatures with a harmonious but fragile body.
In cinematography
In the film “The Destroyer” with Sylvester Stallone in the main role, the future is described, where descendants of the exfoliated lower class lived in underground catacombs, eating rats, and rich representatives of the elite lived on the surface of the earth. The hatred that existed between them formed the basis of this feature film.
The bottom of social life in its current form is vividly illustrated in the film "Home Alone-2." To see him "in all its glory" happened to the main character of this film - a boy named Kevin. Episodes showing the life of homeless people and vagabonds are found in many American films.
Poverty in the Russian Federation
The social bottom in Russia is quite well expressed. According to the academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences T. I. Zaslavskaya, in our country there are 4 layers of society: upper, middle, basic and lower. The scientist singles out the so-called desocialized social bottom as a separate category. Its main feature is complete alienation from the main social institutions and, on the contrary, involvement in criminal or partially criminalized groups. All this leads to the loss of ability to ordinary civilized life and desocialization. In her opinion, representatives of the bottom in Russia are people who engage in illegal criminal activity and engage in banditry, theft, illegal underground trafficking, maintenance of brothels, as well as homeless people, drug addicts, tramps, alcoholics and prostitutes.
According to I. M. Ilyinsky, in 2007 there were 14 million people at the bottom. Of these, 4 million are homeless and the same number are street children, 3 are beggars and 3 are prostitutes.
According to Academician Inozemtsev, up to 15% of the total population fall into the category of lower strata. At the same time, incomes bordering between poverty and poverty still have the same amount. However, they do not fall out of the general canons of life and remain within the framework of a civilized society. But with the worsening socio-economic situation in the country, this second group can easily merge with the first, which will lead to a dangerous transformation of society and increased tension in the country.
According to sociologist N. D. Vavilina, the social bottom consists of homeless people, homeless people, former prisoners, beggars, alcoholics and drug addicts, street children, refugees and prostitutes.
Why do people go to the bottom?
In addition to those who become marginalized by “calling” (the so-called professional homeless people), many fall out of civilized life due to a combination of circumstances, a lack of clear life goals and a life strategy, addiction to alcohol and / or drugs, and sometimes because of suppleness in plan to defend their own rights and interests. Children can also become homeless for a variety of reasons.
Personal tragedies, dissatisfaction with society, widespread unemployment and social stratification can push people to the bottom of the social bottom of a person. Many limit themselves to being drunk and / or mired in depression, but some go even further, thus falling out of modern life's bustle.
The cruelty of modern life
Today's life is inherently no less cruel than it was several centuries ago. Only the form of this cruelty has changed, but the struggle for survival and a place under the sun, unfortunately, have not disappeared, they still play a leading role. Previously, such qualities as strength and endurance came to the forefront, but now it’s intelligence, ingenuity, stress resistance, ability to join the team, etc. Not everyone is able to cope with all these stresses, and chronic stress has become problem No. 1 in 21 century. Social injustice and social inequality, including the massive spread of nepotism in modern Russia, leave a lesser chance of meeting the needs of most citizens of our country. At the same time, the so-called elite, on the contrary, enjoys privileges and an additional amount of public and material goods.
The signs of stratification are clearly visible by comparing the standard of living in the Russian capital and in the regions.
Loss of work can also cause a change in lifestyle in a negative direction.
Varieties of representatives of the bottom
Depending on the circumstances in which a particular person found himself, and his personal characteristics, there are several types of marginalized social bottom:
- People without a specific residence (homeless). Their appearance is often associated with housing deprivation due to divorce, fraud or lack of livelihoods. Also the reason may be serving a prison term. Homeless can be those who are mired in debt and unable to pay them. In the USA, there are also homeless vagabonds who choose this lifestyle intentionally. People with no fixed abode prefer landfills and other dirty places away from the hectic city bustle. However, they can be located in crowded areas (stations, underpasses). Often homeless people have secondary or higher education.
- Beggars who earn by asking alms from passers-by. They can be found at train stations and other crowded places. They can both have their own housing, and be deprived of it. In the second case, there is no clear line between the beggar and the homeless.
- Street children. They were left without housing due to the loss of their parents or on their own initiative (usually against the background of a conflict with their parents). In the future, street children can become homeless.
- Street prostitutes who do not work officially and receive their income from random clients. They can be found on the streets, especially in hot places. Among them, even children come across. A quarter of street prostitutes have no place of residence, that is, they are homeless. The minimum age is 14 years. Often they are associated with criminal activity, drug addiction, alcoholism. These factors are often also the reasons for these people to slide into the lower classes.
How do the inhabitants of the bottom live?
Two-thirds of people who are at the bottom of social society are men. The most common age of homeless people and beggars is 45 years, prostitutes - 28 years, street children - 10 years. The smallest street children are 6 years old and the poor are 12 years old. Most of those who have recently been at the bottom experience a sense of despair and hopelessness, and those who have already gotten used to such a life feel hopeless calm.
More optimistic street children.
Homeless people choose landfills, cellars, train stations, heating mains and a sewage system as their place of residence. Homeless and homeless people are distinguished by maximum unsettled life. In addition to begging money from passers-by, beggars can collect metal, glass containers, products and things in landfills; use temporary part-time jobs. They consume poor quality food and often in insufficient quantities. Many do not use drugs at all. Homeless and homeless, as a rule, do not use the services of doctors. Among prostitutes, approximately one third of the total number go to medical facilities.
What does statistics say?
Almost 50% of the representatives of the social bottom do not see any way out of their situation, and 36% admit one. Most of them rely on social assistance and the opportunity to find jobs in low-skilled jobs, medical and material assistance, and the opening of free food points. However, the attitude of ordinary people to the representatives of the social bottom is mostly negative.
Being at the outskirts of society is typical for 10% of the urban population. According to statistics, there are about the same number of beggars as homeless people, slightly fewer street children and much fewer street prostitutes. Street children are 10 percent of the total number of children. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, homeless children in Russia are from 100 to 350 thousand people.
Danger of representatives
People on the social bottom are not always peaceful. Difficult living conditions and a sense of despair or a criminal past make its representatives quite dangerous for society. They can be armed, including with firearms, and prone to violence. Many can be affected by intoxicants. Among prostitutes there are many criminalized individuals. Homeless people and beggars are less likely to be associated with crime and there are fewer dangerous people among them.
Those who are on the brink of bottom
The process of stratification of society in our country is clearly expressed. On the one hand, the incomes of many already poor Russians are falling. On the other hand, those who are well established in today's life are becoming even richer. Therefore, more and more people are approaching the brink of a social bottom. It is characteristic that if wealthy citizens look to the future more often with optimism (or neutral), then the representatives of the poor, on the contrary, with anxiety, fear, pessimism and despair. All this gives rise to apathy and depression and, thus, reduces the incentive for further struggle. That is, it predetermines an even greater rolling down. According to statistics, more than 80% of the poor experience a constant sense of anxiety. Many are worried about the risk of sudden dismissal, job loss and the inability to find a replacement for her, the risk of non-payment of salaries and a sharp increase in prices. And this is understandable, because all these factors can generally deprive a person of his livelihood.
Most often, the problem of the poor in Russia is seen by them as a risk of losing even more than dissatisfaction with their current situation, to which they are somehow accustomed to. Being, therefore, representatives of the bottom, they can at any moment be thrown to the present social bottom.
In the category of the bottom, you can find educated, qualified and unskilled people, as well as citizens without education. Most of them are not to blame for the situation, but turned out to be hostages of external circumstances in which they could not get along or did not even have such an opportunity. Most of them, without external support, are unable to radically change their position. For many of them, the only way to get out of a state of panic is to believe in God.
Conclusion
Thus, the main reason for the appearance of the lower social stratum is the unfavorable living conditions of people. Those who find themselves on the social bottom are called marginalized, paupers, homeless people, etc. According to forecasts, in the future there may be even more of them.