Social Inequality as the Norm

The growth of social inequality in the world, its reproduction in a larger scale makes it important purpose on the level of individual consciousness and everyday ideas. The analysis of data in the international research project «EUREQUAL: Social Inequality and Why it Matters for the Economic and Democratic Development of Europe and its Citizens: Post-Communist Central and Eastern Europe in Comparative Perspective» demonstrated a closeness of the images about social inequality in post-Soviet European countries. Semantic unity of this phenomenon speaks rather about deep normative line, which was formed not under the influence of changes, but as a result of continu ous transformation processes in consciousness, which started long before crucial demolition of societal order in these countries. Focus-group discussions on social inequality and quality represented inequality as a norm, and equality as a deviation. Problematic field in the picture of respondents is formed around the configuration of social inequality in their societies.