This article addresses issues associated with analyzing the operation of a social group known as intellectuals (“intelligentsia”), which in this particular context is presented as a category of “specialists”. The word “intellectual” is commonly used in western literature, which implies a specialist of a creative trade. Examined are the main ways in which status characteristics are formed, strategic and orientation dynamics in various areas of life, the degree of involvement within the system of market relations, as well as the peculiarities attributed to labor migration mobility among this group. Without a doubt, it can be called a “reserve” of the middle-class, but it is not yet a true component of the latter. Attention is also paid to analyzing such concepts as social equality, freedom, unemployment. Emphasized is the fact that, within the new Russian reality, not only the social guidelines of those surveyed are transforming, but also their socio-psychological health. The processes examined occur in a certain social space, represented by the Buryatia republic, a region of the Russian Federation (in the Southern Federal District). Resorting to regional analysis is a significant step in the development of contemporary studies, for only such a basis can help us better understand the objective condition of both social structure in general, and separate social subjects, as well as their interpenetration and hierarchy.

intellectuals, specialist, social status, labour market, social adaptation, mobility, financial situation.

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