Human potential of Russia's rural areas: assessment and interpretation

The paper proves that the market transformations of the 1990s resulted in a crisis that affected all aspects of life of rural residents. Despite the measures taken to support the village, its problems still linger; and they include a reduction in the rural population and its outflow to the cities, and the condition of social infrastructure that is worse in comparison with that in the cities. All this reduces the opportunities for reproduction and development of human potential in Russian villages. The diversity of theoretical approaches to the definition of human potential, the lack of unified views on its structural components and methodological approaches to its analysis lead to the necessity to develop a comprehensive methodology for assessing human potential in rural areas; such a methodology should combine not only quantitative analysis based on statistical data, but also qualitative analysis that would involve the use of sociological research findings. In our paper, we present domestic studies on this problem and group them according to three scientific schools, determine their specific features and their positive and negative aspects...