The article analyzes changes in social opportunities and group reconfiguration of the rural population of Ukraine during the 1990s and 2000s. The problem of human adaptation to the new social environment becomes extremely acute and a common concern in conditions of major socio-political and economic upheavals. Changes in the social sphere were a direct consequence of economic and political transformations, being characterized by such trends as a decrease in the standard of living, the destruction and decline of the state social security system. In such conditions, rural population faced the need to develop new life strategies and mechanisms as well as adaptations to new circumstances.

The nature of changes in social relations in the countryside and the social structure of the rural population depended on changes in the nature of the traditional rural stratum, the emergence of new social divisions within the population, the formation of new groups, demographic and migration challenges.

The article examines the role of the subsidiary plot in the life of the rural population, noting that in addition to the production function, it also performed a number of important spiritual and social functions. The author confirms important social role of the acquisition of land ownership by the rural population and outlines changes in the ranks of land users and landowners. The study shows specifics of the formation of new social groups in the countryside, their participation in old and new organizational forms of production.

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