Vlast i Elity (Power and Elites)

Interview method in the study of elite groups: power and business

Alla E. Chirikova — 2025-11-11

This article is devoted to the methodological problem of using the interview method in sociological research of elite groups. The paper provides a brief historiographical overview of the works of foreign and domestic sociologists who studied elite groups through interviews in the 20th and 21st centuries, and outlines the author’s own methodological developments regarding the preparation of guides, access to respondents, and interview techniques with various elite representatives (officials and businessmen). The article summarizes the experience of more than 1,000 interviews conducted by the author in different years while studying Moscow, regional and local elites. The interviews conducted with closed elite groups have shown that obtaining reliable information from current government and business actors is far from a straightforward process. It requires a special technique to achieve accurate information. Communication with elite groups is often accompanied by conscious or unconscious distortions in describing everyday practices. On the one hand, these distortions are caused by the habit of elite groups to communicate with the media and demonstrate in this communication an exclusively positive picture of what is happening in government and business. On the other hand, they may be caused by an unwillingness to answer uncomfortable questions (for e xample, about informal practices of interaction within elite groups). In this article, the author describes techniques that allow interviewers to hold the attention of representatives of different elite groups, minimize stereotypical judgments and penetrate deeper into the everyday practices of managing regional and urban development, as well as business processes.

The political opportunity structure and sources of recruitment of the regional political elite in Russia

Alla S. Bystrova — 2025-11-11

The article analyzes the concept of political opportunity structure and assesses its explanatory potential in studies of political elite recruitment. It examines such components of the political opportunity structure as the size of legislatures, the evolution of regional electoral systems, the professionalization of legislative positions, the nature of the relationship between the federal center and regional authorities, as well as between the executive and representative authorities of the region. The object of the study is the political elites of ten Russian regions. Based on the analysis of the biographical database collected for the period 2005–2021, the authors examine the influence of the above factors on the recruitment pool of deputies of legislative bodies of the Federal subjects of Russia. In particular, it is shown that the relatively small number of regional legislatures contributes to the social closeness of the deputy corps, with members from privileged socio-professional groups dominating. The non-professional (amateur) nature of most deputy positions, as well as the plurality electoral system, favors the plutocratization of the political elite. In turn, governors’ control over representative power can be manifested in the recruitment of speakers and other leaders of legislatures from regional officials. The study takes into account the regional, cultural, and sociostructural contexts of recruitment to positions of power. Particular attention is paid to the specifics of career trajectories and the issue of gender imbalance in power structures. The analysis of empirical material allows not only to illustrate the theoretical provisions put forward, but also to test the practical applicability of the concept of political opportunity structure.

Regional ministers of culture: peculiarities of career trajectories and recruitment pools

Vladimir B. Golbraih — 2025-11-11

This article is devoted to the study of career trajectories of representatives of regional elites responsible for implementing cultural policy in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Using the method of structural and biographical analysis, the

biographies of 129 ministers held office in 2020 and 2024 were considered. The features of this group of regional bureaucracy were identified. The author mentions, that a significant portion of ministers graduated from specialized universities related to the cultural sphere and previously worked in the relevant field, and also held administrative positions at the local and regional levels. Consequently, as in relation to the regional administrative elite, one can talk about the bureaucratic professionalization of the heads of departments responsible for implementing cultural policy in the regions. At the same time, the part of the administrative elite under investigation is more open compared to the regional administrative elite as a whole. External recruitment is more typical for it. The study showed that a serious role in this recruitment process is belong to the groups occupying intermediate positions in the socio-professional structure (the sphere of culture, science and education). It can be assumed that people who came from various positions in cultural institutions are, to a greater extent, lobbyists for this industry. A significant portion of officials, after leaving the post of head of regional culture, get jobs in cultural and educational institutions. On the other hand, business structures, to a much lesser extent, if compared with the regional administrative elite as a whole, were a pool for recruitment for the positions of heads of departments for the management of regional culture.

Radical left political culture in politics and social movements of modern France

Natalia Yu. Lapina — 2025-11-11

“Political culture is one of the most popular and seductive concepts in political science, but it is also one of the most controversial and confusing,” write the authors of the article “Cause in Search of Its Effect or What Does Political Culture Explain?” [Elkins, Simeon 2016:21]. The conceptualization of the idea dates back to the 1960s, although attempts to explain the peculiarities of political behavior of peoples in different countries were made long before that. The author focuses on the peculiarities of one of the segments of the political culture of modern France — the left-wing radical political culture, which has deep historical roots and has been represented by such ideological and political movements as socialism, Maoism, Trotskyism, Guevarism, anarchism, and melanchonism at different times. The article shows how the shifts in social development in the 1960s and 1970s led to a growing interest in left-wing radical ideas and how these ideas evolved in the following decades. The article analyzes the role and place of representatives of the intellectual elite (A. Camus, J.-P. Sartre, J.-L. Godard, M. Foucault, P. Bourdieu, A. Touraine, and others) in the socio-political process, as well as their active participation in public life. The article explores how left-wing radical ideas infiltrate political discourse and influence public sentiment. It examines how the political and cultural debate in France has evolved in the context of political radicalization. The analysis of political history and the current stage in the development of the left-wing movement in France is supplemented by the author’s own empirical research.