Social portrayal of the elite as a method of studying electoral behavior at the turn of the 20th century

• Main Author: Oleg A. Kazhanov
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Russian Academy of Sciences, Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology 2016-09-01
• Series: Социологический журнал
• Online Access: http://jour.fnisc.ru/upload/journals/1/articles/4589/submission/proof/4589-61-9359-1-10-20170329.pdf

This article deals with the history of empirical sociological research in pre-revolutionaryRussia. Analyzed is the use of a social “portrayal” method in the study of the political elite in order to identify the peculiarities of Russian electorate's behavior at municipal and national political elections at the turn of the 20th century. Considered are works by Russian publicists such as N. Borodin, A. Smirnov and G. Shreider, who adhered to the following methodological principle: social characteristics of the elite contain important information on the electoral choice of the population, determining who and how, according to the electorate, is fit to represent their interests in government structures.The article also demonstrates how the authors used the emerging national electoral statistics to identify social groups within the parliamentary block, studying certain qualities of those elected such as age, education, property, status, position in the power hierarchy, etc. Comparing the obtained results made it possible to draw conclusions as to the voters' motives and attitudes, as well as to the peculiarities of the social representation of elites. Based upon the conducted analysis, it is concluded that Russian empirical sociology of elites has deep historical roots.