UNDERSTANDING, CONSTRUCTING AND DESCRIBING SOCIAL PATTERNS IN RUSSIA OF THE 17TH – 20TH CENTURIES: NEW APPROACHES IN THE COLLECTIVE MONOGRAPHY BY URAL SCHOLARS

Authors

  • Yu. N. Smirnov

Keywords:

modern historiography, new social history, the estate (soslovie) paradigm in Russian history, social classes

Abstract

The review is devoted to the issues raised in the new book by the collective of Yekaterinburg authors. The reviewer focuses on how they evaluate different approaches to studying the peculiarities of social stratifications. Their conclusion about the disadvantages of using the class and the estate (soslovie) as an explanatory concept for the social sciences of Russiais of great academic interest. The critical analysis of this paradigm leads the authors of the monograph to revise the “macro-sociological” patterns adopted in historical science, as well as to propose and promote original methodological schemes focused on specific research problems in studying the social stratification of Russia. The methods of social construction undertaken in the 17th – 20th centuries were inspired by needs and discourses of Russian elites. Different conceptual strategies were used by elite groups to form a social structure. Contrary to the opinion of many historians, these structural models do not present «objective» social reality, but nevertheless deserve the most thorough investigation. Moving from generalizations to specific historical cases, the authors of the new monograph describe some social patterns: such archaic group like the kholops, social groups of the "vechnootdannye" and the European specialists in the Ural factories, the corporation of the Imperial School of Law graduates, the party "nomenklatura" in the Soviet period, the "atomic" community of scientists and specialists working on the atomic project, etc.

References

Акторы российской имперской модернизации (XVIII – начало XX в.): региональное измерение / отв. ред. И.В. Побережников. Екатеринбург: Банк культурной информации, 2016. 316 с.

Артамонова Л.М. Взаимосвязь Просвещения и социальной эмансипации в представлениях Екатерины II и ее сотрудников: от «культурного шока» к модернизационным практикам // Quaestio Rossica. 2019. Т. 7, № 2. С. 525–538.

Артамонова Л.М. Политика в сфере народного просвещения в Поволжье (XVIII  первая половина ХIХ в.) // Российская история. 2013. № 2. С. 101113.

Границы и маркеры социальной стратификации России XVII–XX вв.: векторы ис-следования / под ред. Д. А. Редина. СПб.: Алетейя, 2018. 722 с.

Миронов Б.Н. Развитие гражданского общества в России в ХIХ – начале XX века // Общественные науки и современность. 2009. № 1. С. 110–126.

Миронов Б.Н. Российская империя: от традиции к модерну. 2-е изд., испр. СПб.: Дмитрий Буланин, 2018. Т. 3. 992 с.

Миронов Б.Н. Российская модернизация и революция. СПб.: Дмитрий Буланин, 2019. 528 с.

Роль эндогенных и экзогенных факторов в развитии российской цивилизации (XVIII – начало XX в.) / отв. ред. Е.В. Алексеева; РИО УрО РАН. Екатеринбург: Б.и., 2014. 248 с.

Самоорганизация российской общественности в последней трети XVIII – начале XX в. / отв. ред. А.С. Туманова. М.: РОСПЭН, 2011. 887 с.

Artamonova L.M. Modernization of «Collective Beliefs» and «Cultural Capital» in the Russian Empire: from Enlightened Absolutism to Civil Society // Былые годы: Рос. ист. журнал. 2016. № 411(3). С. 899907.

Redin D., Soboleva L. Dialogue: objectives, boundaries, forms // Quaestio Rossica. 2018. Т. 6, № 3. Р. 629640.

Smirnov Yu. N. The Modernization Concept as an Integrative Framework for the Methodology of Studying Topical Issues in Russian History // Былые годы: Рос. ист. журнал. 2016. № 411(3). С. 944–954.

References

Alekseeva, E.V. (2014), Rol’ endogennykh i ekzogennykh faktorov v razvitii rossiyskoy tsivilizatsii (XVIII  nachalo XX v.) [The role of endogenous and exogenous factors in the development of the Russian civilization (18th – early 19th century)], UrO RAN, Yekaterinburg, Russia, 248 p.

Artamonova, L.M. (2013), “The state policy towards the public education in the Volga Region in the 18th and the first half of the19th centuries”, Rossiyskaya istoriya, 2013, № 2, pp. 101–113.

Artamonova, L.M. (2016), “Modernization of “collective beliefs” and “cultural capital” in the Russian Empire: from enlightened absolutism to civil society”, Bylye Gody, vol. 41, issue 3, special issue SI, pp. 899–907.

Artamonova, L.M. (2019), “The Enlightenment and social emancipation under Catherine II: from “cultural shock” to modernisation practices”, Quaestio Rossica, vol. 7, № 2, рp. 525–538.

Mironov, B.N. (2009), “The development of civil society in Russia in the 19th – early 20th century”, Ob-shchestvennyye nauki i sovremennost', № 1, pp. 110-126.

Mironov, B.N. (2018), Rossiiskaya imperiya: ot traditsii k modernu [Russian Empire: from tradition to moderni-ty], 2-nd ed., vol. 3, Dmitry Bulanin, St. Petersburg, Russia, 992 p.

Mironov, B.N. (2019), Rossiyskaya modernizatsiya i revolyutsiy [Russian modernization and revolutions], Dmit-riy Bulanin, St. Petersburg, Russia, 528 p.

Poberezhnikov, I.V. (2016), Aktory rossiyskoy imperskoy modernizatsii (XVIII – nachalo XX v.): regional'noye izmereniye [Actors of Russian imperial modernization (18th - early 20th century): regional dimension], Bank kul’turnoy informatsii, Yekaterinburg, Russia, 316 p.

Redin, D.A. & Soboleva, L.S. (2018), “Dialogue: objectives, boundaries, forms”, Quaestio Rossica, vol. 6, № 3, pр. 629640.

Redin, D.A. (ed.) (2018), Granitsy i markery sotsialnoy stratifikatsii Rossii XVII–XX vv.: vektory issledovaniya [Boundaries and markers of social stratification in the 17th – 20th century Russia (Vectors of research)], Aleteya, St. Petersburg, Russia, 722 p.

Smirnov, Yu.N. (2016), “The modernization concept as an integrative framework for the methodology of study-ing topical issues in Russian history”, Bylye Gody, vol. 41–1, issue 3–1, pр. 944–954.

Tumanova, A.S. (2011), Samoorganizatsiya rossiyskoy obshchestvennosti v posledney treti XVIII – nachale XX v. [Self-organization of the Russian public in the last third of the 18th – early 20th century], ROSPEN, Mos-cow, Russia, 887 p.

Published

2020-12-26

How to Cite

Smirnov, Y. N. (2020). UNDERSTANDING, CONSTRUCTING AND DESCRIBING SOCIAL PATTERNS IN RUSSIA OF THE 17TH – 20TH CENTURIES: NEW APPROACHES IN THE COLLECTIVE MONOGRAPHY BY URAL SCHOLARS. PERM UNIVERSITY HERALD. History, 51(4), 163–172. Retrieved from https://press.psu.ru/index.php/history/article/view/3998