Social mobility of nobility of the first post-Petrine generation

• Main Author: Feofanov Aleksandr
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: St. Tikhon's Orthodox University 2015-08-01
• Series: Vestnik Pravoslavnogo Svâto-Tihonovskogo Gumanitarnogo Universiteta: Seriâ II. Istoriâ, Istoriâ Russkoj Pravoslavnoj Cerkvi
• Subjects: general officers; nobility; career advancement; social status
• Online Access: http://periodical.pstgu.ru/en/pdf/article/2986
• ISSN: 1991-6434; 2409-4811

In the present article important channels of recruiting political elite in the XVIII century is to be analysed on the basis of published sources and archives. The special attention is paid to such social elevator as education and mechanisms of the social mobility are to be researched. Proportion of people with «regular» education was low, but gradually increased. The groups were combined on the basis of proximity of two main criteria: the time of birth and time of entry into service. Those factors are to constitute generations. Generation means the community of people united in the sociocultural context, in this research we will concentrate on the initial conditions of socialization (social origin, education). A higher percentage of illiterate among greenhorns compared with literacy of the offi cer case is explained by the fact that not all from them became offi cers. Part of noblemen due to various diseases, being unfit for military service were to surrender office. Many who entered the service because of illiteracy and poverty could not get even the fi rst officer’s rank. For those who did not belong by birth to the serving elite a military education was a jumping-off place for a career. The literacy rate of nobles, despite the efforts of the regular state remained extremely low. Education was not to value for a significant part of the nobility, and the government had the power to force the representatives of the nobility to teach their offspring the minimum literacy and numeracy skills, as well as forcibly send greenhorns in the state educational institutions. More than a half of generals were children of a high-ranking top, the aristocracy, and were connected by related bonds with the reigning house, or received ranks due to «case». Representatives of the «noble proletariat», devoid of additional career opportunities in addition to immaculate service, were not always able to even hope to get chief offi cer ranks.