Pages: 143-165

Focusing on the Russian population, the author studies social life of Bessarabian urban population in 19th c. This subject has received little attention of the researchers so far. Meanwhile, it was a complex system of interactions between social, national and confessional groups of urban inhabitants, incorporating habits, cultural, ethical and moral traditions and social activities. Citizens were involved in different spheres of urban social life: administration, government and economy, closely connected with “benefits and needs” of the city, religious life, as well as social, everyday activities and holidays. Russians, like inhabitants of other ethnic groups belonging to some social strata, had unequal rights in the society and were involved in a number of social activities, which differed by the nature and content of common activities and by forms and extent of their participation.

Keywords: Russian Urban Inhabitants, Bessarabia