The Quality of Life of the Population as an Indicator of Social Development (on the Example of a Sociological Study in the Kulundinsky district of the Altai Territory)

Currently, socio-economic problems in the Russian Federation are greatly aggravated. The level of social tension in various spheres of society is constantly growing, which is determined by the foreign and domestic policy of both the Russian Federation and other countries in relation to the Russian Federation ^[3]. The economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the aggravation of social tension due to the active foreign policy of our country in the Western direction – all this significantly affects the quality of life of the population ^[7]. O.A. Komarenko focuses on a complex of socio-economic problems, since the phenomenon of quality of life itself is complex, which includes both of these components in addition, it is investigated in two ways, both by economic and sociological methods.

The issue of quality of life research should be treated with particular seriousness, especially in depressed regions, which are recognized by the Altai Territory, since the level of wages, investment attractiveness, as well as life expectancy are not at the highest level ^[16]. Hence, there is a real need for permanent monitoring of the quality of life of the population in order to obtain an objective picture. This will allow not only to adjust the socio-economic policy of the state towards its citizens in a certain way, at least at the regional level, but also to prevent possible social explosions ^[5]. In this vein, rural areas deserve special attention, since objectively the standard of living in rural areas is much lower than in the city, there is a constant outflow of population, which requires a certain sociological assessment, clarification of the causes and consequences of such a process in rural areas.

It is worth noting the high level of development of this problem: domestic sociologists I.V. Bestuzhev–Lada, V.V. Drobysheva actively engaged in the development of a methodological basis for the study of the quality of life. As for foreign scientists, K. Merat, D. Kobba and others contributed to the development of the methodological apparatus. At the same time, the works of N. S. Malikov and S. A. Bazhenov deserve special attention, since they identified certain points that should be guided in the study of the quality of life. The works of E.N. Zakharova, G.V. Astratova and N.P. Korzhavina deserve special attention, because as part of their research they determined that the quality of life, unlike the standard of living, depends on objective and subjective factors equally, that is, not only the state of affairs "on paper" is important, but and the individual's assessment of his own socio-economic situation at the present time. The works of V.V. Ananishnev made it possible to consider the quality of life with the help of the happiness index as a sociological indicator, of course, that we are talking about the subjective component of the quality of life. E.V. Nekhoda considered the main difficulties of studying the quality of life in Russia, as well as the resolution of contradictions between objective and subjective indicators of quality of life, defining the subjective indicator of quality of life as more valuable. Despite the fairly good theoretical and methodological elaboration of this problem, there are no local studies of the quality of life in depressed regions with a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods in modern sociological knowledge, which allows for a more in-depth study of the quality of life in rural areas, which will be the novelty of this work. The subject area of this work is limited to the quality of life of the population of the Kulundinsky district of the Altai Territory.

The theoretical and methodological basis of this article is ethnomethodology, symbolic interactionism, as well as the theory of M.Yu. Juror about the main indicators of the quality of life of the population. These concepts can be applied in this work. Thus, the subjective component of the perception of the quality of life is based on social interactions and sustainable social practices of people, that is, all indicators of the quality of life of the population are somehow manifested in the daily life of individuals.

In modern sociological knowledge, there are two main approaches to the study of the quality of life: the point method and the indicator method. Guided by the first (point) approach, the HDI (Human development index) is formed based on international research practice, which gives a real opportunity to compare the quality of life of the population by region ^[8]. This approach is quite viable, since it allows you to form certain ratings of regions on the quality of life, as well as classify these very regions, and most importantly, determine a certain average value that will be considered the norm in a given period of time. It should be emphasized that this norm can change an unlimited number of times, since the quality of life indicator largely depends on the events that occur in the world ^[1].

The second approach first examines the standard of living, and then, with the help of quality of life indicators, the actual quality of life of people is evaluated. This approach is widely used by Rosstat in its research ^[11]. It is clear that there are a number of other approaches, for example, psychological, objectivist-consumer, but in this case they are applicable to a lesser extent, and therefore are not described in this article.

The study of the issue of the quality of life of the population is a rather laborious and complex process due to the dualistic nature of the phenomenon of quality of life in general, and dualism manifests itself in several planes ^[9]. On the one hand, the quality of life is determined by both objective parameters (salary level, availability of a medical institution, working conditions) and subjective parameters (satisfaction with the quality of medical services, satisfaction with wages, and many other elements) ^[15]. On the other hand, on the objective side of the issue, there are direct indicators that currently exist: life expectancy, the number of educational institutions, as well as projected parameters, for example, an increase or decrease in income, economic transformations in the short and medium term, which will affect, among other things, the subjective parameter of quality of life in the short term perspective ^[18].

Within the framework of this article, the quality of life should be understood as a phenomenon of a socio-economic nature, which incorporates elements of the surrounding world, as well as subjective satisfaction with a number of systems of functioning of society, which can be qualitatively and quantitatively sociologically expressed and investigated. The next rather debatable and complex issue is those indicators that should be considered to identify the quality of life of the population of the district ^[6]. Based on the Swedish concept of quality of life, the Soviet system of research of national welfare and the work of M. Y. Juror, the indicators that are necessary for the study of this issue were formed ^[13]. In particular, the author highlighted the following indicators of quality of life: health, education, employment, recreation, the possibility of purchasing goods, physical environment and personal safety. As a result, more than 30 meaningful indicators of a political, economic, and social nature were formed to study the quality of life of the population of the Kulundinsky district of the Altai Territory.

We consider it appropriate to define the above-mentioned term "standard of living". There is a need to separate the concepts of quality and standard of living, since they are related, but not synonymous. Thus, the quality of life is a qualitatively assessed category within the concept of the living conditions of the population, and the concept of standard of living is a quantitatively assessed category ^[17]. In other words, the standard of living is determined by dry figures, and the quality of life is determined both by figures and by the subjective perception of the population's own situation. It is for this reason that the quality of life is most appropriate within the framework of sociological research and sociological methods, while the standard of living should be investigated by economic methods ^[14].

Kulundinsky district does not differ in statistical data from other depressed regions of the Altai Territory. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of Altai Krai^[1] for 2021, the payment of utilities for residents of urban areas averaged 3601 rubles, while residents of rural areas pay utilities in the amount of 2588 rubles.  The villagers spend much more on purchases of non-food products than the townspeople (7114 and 5651 rubles, respectively). However, for the purchase of food products, the amount of expenses of the urban population exceeds the costs of the rural population (5474 and 3796 rubles, respectively). Despite the difference in numbers, the quality of life of rural residents is still considered lower than that of urban residents. Let's consider this problem on the example of one of the rural areas of the Altai Territory.

The methodology of the study of the quality of life of the population consisted of several stages. First, an analysis of the demographic situation in the district was carried out, based on secondary data, the ecological situation of the Kulunda district was studied in detail, as well as all objective indicators, which were then compared with the standards of quality of life. The state of the economic basis of the district, as an objective indicator of the quality of life, was studied through the pace of economic development of the district, the level of employment, the level of wages, etc. ^[10]. The social sphere of the life activity of the district, as a component of the quality of life, was considered through the state of the education system, health care of the district, the possibility of receiving social protection services, as well as the TSN (employment center). This category includes municipal transport, as well as intercity transport, including its real accessibility. The level of education of the population, the availability of places of cultural recreation determine the content of the cultural component of the quality of life of the population of the district.

The second stage of the study of the quality of life of the population of the Kulunda district consisted in identifying subjective assessments by the population of all the above parameters, that is, satisfaction with transport, wages, working conditions, etc. The importance of the second stage lies in the fact that features, significant components that cannot be determined by secondary data available in the public domain have been identified ^[4].

At the final stage of the work, the results of objective data and subjective assessments were compared and the real level of quality of life of the population was determined, which is an adaptive stage, since objective indicators are at a low level, and subjective parameters indicate the presence of social optimism and a high level of satisfaction with municipal transport, the level of education provided in the district and living conditions including his own position in society.

To collect empirical data, two methods were used – a mass questionnaire in face-to-face format and an expert survey in the form of an in-depth interview. The combination of quantitative and qualitative methods allows you to collect the greatest amount of information, identify certain patterns and features. The use of an expert survey is explained by the need to obtain information about the state of the main elements of the economy and infrastructure of the district, as well as to identify global problems that are inherent in the Kulundinsky district. 16 experts were interviewed, who gave comprehensive information about the state of the area. Heads of organizations, the head of the district, large entrepreneurs of the district, as well as leading specialists of enterprises of the Kulundinsky district acted as experts. As for the survey, 225 people were interviewed, who were included in the sample on the basis of a quota sample, thus, 153 residents of the village of Kulunda, as a district center, 72 residents of the settlements of the district were interviewed. The form of the expert survey contained 16 questions on five semantic blocks, and the questionnaire contained 35 questions that were compiled on the basis of the conducted expert survey.

To form an accurate picture, we structured a study where we examined the main components of the quality of life of the population: the economic condition of the district, social indicators and the infrastructure of the district.

Analyzing the availability and quality of utilities for residents of the district, it should be noted that not all utilities are common in the Kulunda district. Of course, almost all apartments are provided with central water supply, namely 97% of apartments, a small percentage of apartments that are not provided with central water supply are houses of the old foundation, where the possibility of providing central water supply was not provided, hence the fact that 6% of apartments still have stove heating or electric heating. The ability to connect central heating in private houses is difficult for the population to access, since most houses in principle cannot be connected to central heating due to the actual remoteness of the boiler room. Moreover, the payments of a private house for central heating are almost twice as large as those of residents of apartment buildings, hence the connection of central heating is not cost-effective for residents of private houses. 89% of people living in private homes are heated by a stove, because this is the simplest and most affordable way possible. Thus, residents of the Kulundinsky district do not use electric heating, because the cost of such heating is higher than the average salary, 70% of apartments in the Kulundinsky district are provided with cold water from the central water supply, while only 30% of private houses are provided. The supply of centralized hot water is a significant problem of the district, since the capacity of boiler stations is simply not enough to heat such an amount of water. Residents of 5-storey buildings of the railway district are provided with hot water, which is only a third of all apartments located on the territory of the Kulundinsky district. Less than one tenth of homes have hot water from the central water supply due to the high cost of connection and high utility bills. Hence, water heaters are installed in 70% of private houses to solve the problem with the constant availability of hot water, in 62% of cases a similar measure solves the problems of apartment buildings. The absolute majority of pipes and communications were laid in Soviet times, practically not repaired and falling into disrepair until 2015. Since 2015, the planned reconstruction and replacement of water pipes began, but most of them were never put into operation, since the connection to the central water supply was carried out for substantial personal funds, which the villagers did not have. Moreover, on some streets of Victory – the Northern part of Kulunda and the railway part of Kulunda, there is simply no water supply and appropriate communications. Therefore, the majority of private houses, namely 69%, are provided with personal water supply (constant pressure stations). Moreover, every third owner of the central water supply has a personal water supply. To this day, there are a significant number of private houses that are not provided with running water, people are forced to go for water to the nearest pumps, which are getting smaller every year. As for San. If there is a node in the house, then absolutely all residents of apartment buildings are provided with it, which cannot be said about private houses in the Kulundinsky district. For about a seventh of the population living in private homes, the presence of San. the node in the house is a real problem, which is explained by the impossibility of installing a high-quality personal water supply system or simply by the financial difficulties of the population. 63% of houses are provided with amenities on the street, while 15% of private houses have only outdoor amenities and stove heating, their living area currently has no other amenities. In general, we can say that most people living in the Kulunda district have the necessary set of communal amenities in their living space, which makes it relatively comfortable to live in the district. At the same time, there are a number of problems of accessibility of amenities and provision of the population with these amenities, which need to be solved centrally at the present time.

Analyzing the distribution of respondents' answers to the question "How much time to work (along with the road) You spend every day", it can be concluded that most of the population of the district works an 8-hour working day, it takes some time to get to and from work, which is a fairly good indicator, since a person has time for household chores and worries, one tenth of the respondents spend less than 8 hours at work, which is speaks about a sufficient amount of free personal time to solve personal affairs. The same number of respondents and 11% spend 10-12 hours on work, as well as 12 hours or more, this is subject to a 2/2 shift schedule. Considering the amount of time that the population of the Kulunda district spends at work, we can talk about fairly high rates compared to other districts and regions.

Municipal transport of the Kulundinsky district does not meet the needs of residents today. It is possible to get to the center of Kulunda of the separated districts only by taxi or by private transport. Until the mid-noughties, there were three municipal routes of the Kulundinsky district. The problem is that in 2010 one of the routes ceased to exist. However, today the need for municipal transport is constantly growing, and two functioning routes are no longer enough. In addition, buses are old, break down regularly, and there is a large turnover of personnel among bus drivers due to low wages and uneven work schedules. Therefore, buses often do not go on the line, thereby the actual transportation of passengers is not carried out. In addition, if the bus runs, then only in the morning and in the evening, very rarely in the middle of the day. Therefore, 57% of respondents definitely negatively assessed the work of municipal transport. 33% of respondents have a negative rather than a positive opinion, 80% of respondents generally negatively assess the work of municipal transport in the Kulundinsky district. Currently, municipal transport is not engaged in transportation to the nearest villages and villages, which makes it difficult for residents of the nearest villages to get to Kulunda. 10% of respondents rated the work of municipal transport as positive, while they themselves use it quite rarely, probably hence this assessment. Despite the low price of passenger transportation by taxi, not all residents of the district can afford to use it, so it is necessary to solve the problem of municipal transport in the district. Experts assess the work of municipal transport in the Kulundinsky district unambiguously poorly. "This is an urgent problem for the district, a social aspect that needs to be addressed." The problem is complicated by a small passenger traffic, the activities of carriers are unprofitable. "The district has purchased 4 buses, they have been taken into municipal ownership and will be transferred to the carrier in the near future." Despite the formal existence of two municipal routes, in reality they often do not go to the line for a number of reasons: weather conditions, equipment breakdowns, as it is very old. "There is no transport connection between the villages: people are forced to take a taxi to the district center for significant sums." Objectively, the lack of municipal transport at a workable level leads to the gradual extinction of villages on the territory of the Kulundinsky district and a decrease in the quality of life of the population of the Kulundinsky district, since many people need about 1 hour to get to work on foot, and have to choose a private taxi in the form of a taxi. This is especially a problem for pensioners, since low incomes do not allow them to use private transportation ^[57].

Education is an important part of the infrastructure of the district, consider the attitude of residents to this aspect. The absolute majority of Kulundins (79%) one way or another, they consider secondary special education to be available for themselves/their children. 60 km from the village of Kulunda is the town of Yarovoye, where schools are located, 50 km from the city of Slavgorod, 40 km from the Keys and other nearby settlements where you can get secondary special education on a budget basis. Most of the school graduates enroll in vocational education programs because transport and financial accessibility are the main criteria for choosing an educational institution. Even children from extremely low-income families receive secondary special education in one of the working professions. With higher education, the situation is more complicated, since large universities are located at a distance of over 400 km from Kulunda and, for many, are simply inaccessible. For 54% of respondents, one way or another, higher education is inaccessible. The poverty of the population, transport remoteness affects. Among the respondents who noted that higher education is definitely affordable: 97% of respondents have higher education themselves. Those who do not have a higher education consider it inaccessible both for themselves and for their children.

Medical care in the area meets all the necessary legal requirements. There are two hospitals in the district center of Kulunda, namely the CRH – central district hospital and the Nodal Railway Polyclinic. As for the villages, in large villages of the Kulundinsky district, for example, in Konstantinovka and the like, paramedic-obstetric stations are organized, in smaller villages, villages medical stations that work properly. And only in dying villages have medical organizations been optimized, where it is simply unprofitable to keep them because of hundreds of people. It should be noted that the provision of medical equipment by organizations is at the proper level.

Another problem of the Kulunda district is considered to be a road interchange, so 68% of respondents believe that the roads are in poor condition. In comparison with other districts, Kulundinsky district is characterized by poor road quality. Roads in the district center are made much better than in the districts: the central streets are repaired, repaired every year, and in general, it is possible to drive there, and as for the northern part of Kulunda, the streets of the periphery of the district center, somewhere the condition of asphalt is bad, and somewhere there is no asphalt, there is only a dirt road, which is also quite strong broken. The bypass roads around the district center are in normal condition, the pit repair maintains the condition of the asphalt.

The issue with migration from the Kulunda district is as follows. The absolute majority of respondents – 75% of respondents do not plan to leave Kulundinsky district. It is interesting that people with high and middle income do not plan to leave, because there is already a certain social, economic base for effective life, adaptability in this territory, so many Kulundin residents are not going to move. At the same time, a quarter of respondents (25%) plan to move from Kulunda district. Having analyzed the statistics of previous years, the migration outflow of the population was quite significant. People, as a rule, left for the regional capital and the Krasnodar Territory, in the second case, to change the climate and improve the standard of living. As a rule, people with low incomes show a desire to move, because even in rural areas, provided they have their own land with low incomes, it is difficult to live. And yet, most do not leave the area due to the presence of a certain stability, which attracts the population.

In general, the quality of life of the population of Kulunda district, based on the results of the study, is at a satisfactory level. The population of the Kulunda district lives extremely diverse from the poor, mainly in villages and remote villages, and to the well-to-do segments of the population (mainly in the district center).

The positive aspects that positively affect the quality of life of the population of the Kulundinsky district are the fact that the absolute majority of residents of the district are owners of residential premises, and these residential premises are mostly in good and satisfactory condition. There is no reason to believe that this indicator will worsen, given that the majority of residents live in private homes – the maintenance of the condition of the residential building lies entirely with the owner of the residential premises. Now we can observe the trend of gradual improvement of the facades of houses and interior decoration. As for apartment buildings, a timely overhaul will extend the service life of these houses for many years to come. In general, the population is satisfied with working conditions, and on average 9 hours are spent on time to work together with the road, which is a good indicator: the population has personal time for necessary rural work, including the repair of residential premises.

It should be noted that there are no problems with places in schools and kindergartens in the district, educational institutions provide high-quality education in rural areas On the territory of the Kulundinsky district there are a sufficient number of FAPs, medical centers, and in the district center there are 2 hospitals: the Central district Hospital and the nodal railway polyclinic.

In recent years, almost all residents of the district have Internet access to both private and apartment buildings. Remote villages and villages are also provided with wired Internet, which allows schoolchildren and teachers to interact during the pandemic, as well as perform operations familiar to all people on the Internet. Recreational facilities are quite well developed in the area: there is a cinema, museums, a large number of catering establishments, district-level events are held: everything possible is being done to ensure the leisure of the population, as far as possible, by the district Administration. A high level of public order, the availability of all necessary food and non-food stores, certainly make the life of Kulundin residents better.

Despite a number of difficulties faced by the population of the Kulunda district, the majority of respondents do not want to leave their native land, they live comfortably in the district in one way or another, and social optimism in the short term only strengthens the subjective feeling of happiness as an integral component of the quality of life.

On the other hand, the population of the district is faced with the lack of municipal transport both inside the district center and outside it (to villages and villages. For Kulundins, higher education is rather inaccessible, the Kulundins place the main emphasis in the education of their children on secondary vocational educational institutions. Despite the presence of hospitals and FAPs, the quality of medical care leaves much to be desired, there is a certain set of problems that need to be urgently addressed. Special attention should be paid to the condition of the roadway in the district, as well as the absence of sidewalks in the district center, except for the central street.

Thus, we conducted a sociological study of the quality of life of the population of Kulunda district. As the results show, according to objective indicators, the quality of life of the population is at an average level, and according to subjective indicators, at a high level, which gives reason to form an overall assessment of the quality of life of the population of the Kulunda district above average. The hypothesis of determining the assessment of the quality of life is largely confirmed by subjective indicators, because despite a number of difficulties, the population as a whole assesses their own quality of life as good and very good in most cases, moreover, over the past year, a significant part of the population began to live objectively worse. Special attention should be paid to the self-assessment of the quality of life by the population of the Kulunda district, which requires further study and has a certain value both for sociological science and for the stability of society as a whole.

^[1] https://akstat.gks.ru/folder/33275