Young, educated and shopping. Clothing, consumption and difference among the educated young in Krasnodar, Russian Federation

Abstract

This paper deals with questions of social inequalities in the post-socialist Russian Federation and how young, educated people (university students or young graduates) position themselves within these inequalities. It also addresses how the social stratification of the contemporary Russian Federation affects their actions as consumers. The way they dress and shop for clothes can be seen in a relation to the way they position themselves in society – as intelligent, creative, modest and so on. Their images of other social groups such as ‘the rich’ or ‘the average’, and others, is something they have in mind when putting together their own outfits or choosing places to shop for clothes.