The new social inequality. From middle class society to bipolar society

The article analyzes the social transformations that have taken place in societies at the turn of the XXI century. These transformations are largely due to formation of radical inequality which is known now both in practice and theory as “1% economy”.
The article demonstrates that adequate understanding of this new type of social inequality is possible only under the condition of change in methodological approach. Contstructivist approach should be given up in favour of structuralist approach. The structuralist approach makes it possible to view the new social inequality as an objective social process as the social structure of a new type of society. This social structure and social order determine social chances and life conditions of individuals.
New radical social inequality gives rise to a new type of contemporary society. The bipolar society replaces the mass middle class society of the second half of the XX century. The bipolar society may be graphically presented as a pyramid with a truncated top and a broad social bottom.
The article shows the processes and mechanisms that are forming this broad social bottom. This makes it possible to conceptualize the new social lower class as an axial central component in the structure of contemporary bipolar societies. In this function it has replaced the middle class.

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