The Transformation of Political Elites in Russia

• Published in: Sociological research Vol. 37; no. 4; pp. 65 - 81
• Main Author: Kukolev, Igor' V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Armonk, NY Routledge 01.07.1998; M.E. Sharpe
• ISSN: 1061-0154; 2328-5184
• DOI: 10.2753/SOR1061-0154370465

Political elites have not just emerged in Russia. However, the historical idea of the messianic mission of the Russian nation, society's traditional division in Russian consciousness between "the people" and "power" (officialdom), and the ideological prohibitions and restrictions of the Soviet system-as we approach the end of the twentieth century, all these have been transformed into a distinctive understanding of the role and significance of the top groups in society. In the Soviet period the main postulates of elite theories (actively being developed in the West, while in Russia a social experiment was under way)-specifically, the denial of historical progress, the denial of the effectiveness of popular self-government, and the view that inequality was the basis of real life-stood in gross contradiction to the official ideological doctrine of the USSR. Under conditions of the bitter opposition of the two social systems (within one integral world), interest in the direct study of elite groups was delayed for several decades. Only a few researchers (such as A. Galkin [1]) developed this topic by using the example of "external elites" (studying elite groups in foreign countries). The philosophers Iu. Davydov, G. Ashin, and P. Gurevich [2-4] also presented criticisms of elite theories in the Soviet period.