By Elvira Khafizullina, Uludağ University, Insight Turkey, 10 March 2021
Media
Buchrezension: Zu Gast bei Russlands Reichen
Navalny & co: brave journalists risking all to hold Vladimir Putin to account
By Elisabeth Schimpfössl and Ilya Yablokov, 28 January 2021. Continue reading
Society Matters podcast: The superiority complex of super-rich Russians
Society Matters podcast, episode 2, 25 January 2021. Interview conducted by Steve Dyson.
- Sociologist Elisabeth Schimpfössl discusses her work in new ‘Society matters’ podcast series
- She found that wealthy Russians believed themselves to be ‘the best of the best’
- Her research was tribute to historian father who died while trekking in the Himalayas
Capitalhist – Modern European History Podcast: episode on Rich Russians
American Journal of Sociology: review of Rich Russians
Elisabeth Schimpfössl’s Rich Russians: From Oligarchs to Bourgeoisie offers a fascinating insight into the lives, values, and identities of the Russian superrich. Filled with riveting details and curious observations, the book reads in one breath. The book’s relevance stems from its timeliness, given the surging interest in the West to learn more about Russian elites. The elegantly written book brilliantly portrays the complex souls of Russian oligarchs, exposing their inner contradictions, desires, and aspirations. Schimpfössl’s extensive sociological analysis of Russian elites challenges contemporary stereotypes, calling for conceptual rethinking and more empirically grounded theories.
By Kirill Kalinin. American Journal of Sociology Volume 125, Number 3. November 2019
Inequalities. Rich Russians and Wealth Creation
О чем мечтают олигархи ?
A podcast about Rich Russians: From Oligarchs to Bourgeoisie by Evgenya Likhovtseva (Trinity College Dublin) and and Ann Zamaraeva for their series Свободные Уши (aka Open Ears) [in Russian]
Academic review of Rich Russians by Ilya Matveev
““Rich Russians: from oligarchs to bourgeoisie”.” Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe
For her book, Elizabeth Schimpfössl conducted eighty interviews with members of the Russian upper class. One of the interviewees, an entrepreneur named Vladimir, mentioned that his childhood dream was to become Robin Hood. “This surprised me,” writes Schimpfössl. “‘Ah,’ I retorted, ‘that means you wanted to take money from the rich and give it to the poor?’ Vladimir stared at me and then started laughing out loud: ‘No, I wanted to go into the woods and shoot with a bow and arrow’” (69).
Why Vladimir Putin’s tax hike for the rich won’t bother Russia’s oligarchs
Just a couple of days before Russians began voting in a constitutional referendum in late June that is likely to pave the way for Vladimir Putin to stay on as president until 2036, the government announced a tax rise for well-off Russians. It was widely seen as a populist gesture. 1 July 2020.
The painful post-Soviet transition from communism to capitalism
In this fifth episode of Recovery, a series from The Anthill Podcast exploring key moments in history when parts of the world recovered from a major crisis or shock, we’re looking at what happened in the former Soviet Union in the 1990s during the transition from communism to capitalism. 1 July 2020.
Understanding Russia’s Multi-Millionaires
Family office consultant and regular Family Wealth Report commentator Joe Reilly talks to Elisabeth Schimpfössl, author of Rich Russians: From Oligarchs to Bourgeoisie which was published by Oxford University Press. June 8, 2020
Academic review by Marina Zaloznaya (Contemporary Sociology)
Elisabeth Schimpfössl’s Rich Russians: From Oligarchs to Bourgeoisie is a nuanced and thoughtful account of how Russia’s top 0.1 percent understands and justifies its extreme privilege. The book draws on a trove of rich qualitative data that includes biographic narrative interviews with eighty wealthy Russians, ethnographic observations, media coverage, and expert interviews.
Academic book review. By Oksana Morgunova & Renat T. Zinnurov (Europe-Asia Studies)
The book is a substantial contribution to a burgeoning academic field. The focus on such a riveting topic as the lives of nouveau-riche Russian elites almost guarantees the attention of a wider public to what was initially intended as research for a PhD (p. xi).
Academic book review. By Tomas Matza (Slavic Review)
As I was reading Schimpfössl’s book, Rich Russians: From Oligarchs to Bourgeoisie, I was reminded of the time in Russia when, due to favorable currency exchange rates, a graduate student like myself could afford to go to a fancy fitness club in St. Petersburg. I was there with my partner while doing fieldwork, and the fitness club was our antidote to the long winter. The club was called Letuchii Golandets (the Flying Dutchman) and was situated inside an immaculately refurbished ship floating on the Neva, with views of the Winter Palace from every treadmill.
Tomas Matza, University of Pittsburgh
Slavic Review, Volume 78 / Issue 3, Fall 2019, 800 – 805
Born This Way (Russia’s Alien Nations)
By Eliot Borenstein,1 August 2019
Billionaire, and to a lesser extent Brigada, point the way out of the New Russian paradigm and into something more respectable. Sasha Belyi needed to launder more than simply his money; he needed to clean up his backstory. Andrei Gumilev, essentially a superhero, embodies the culture’s wish-fulfillment fantasy regarding its superrich: neither he nor his past need laundering, because he has always been deserving of wealth, and his road to riches, rather than strewn with corpses, is paved by his efforts on behalf of the country he calls home. Gone are the New Russian’s corruption, boorishness, and selfishness; in Andrei L’vovich’s own words, what we have instead is an aristocracy.
Die Nagelprobe
Eine falsche Oligarchin brachte Österreichs Vizekanzler zu Fall.
Aber wie muss man heute eigentlich aussehen, um als superreiche Russin durchzugehen? Von Silke Wichert. 25. Mai 2019
Academic book review. By Jukka Grow
Jukka Gronow (2019): Rich Russians. From oligarchs to bourgeoisie, European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology, DOI: 10.1080/23254823.2019.1587872
Rich Russians. From oligarchs to bourgeoisie, by Elisabeth Schimpfössl,Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2018, 234 pp., £25.99.
Adam Smith 9th International Summit: interview with Elisabeth Schimpfossl
Drawing on interviews with 80 members of the Russian elite, Elisabeth Schimpfössl argues that these oligarchs have progressed to become a fully-fledged bourgeoisie class, exhibiting their own tastes and values, much like their French equivalents described by Pierre Bourdieu in his seminal 1979 work “Distinction”. (FT, 2019)
Новый класс: чем интересна книга «Богатые русские: от олигархов к буржуазии»
Book review: Rich Russians
Ansichten mit Elisabeth Schimpfössl
Gast in den Ansichten ist die Soziologin und Russland-Kennerin Elisabeth Schimpfössl. Sie ist in Rankweil aufgewachsen, hat zunächst Russisch studiert, ein großes Interesse für Geschichte und lebt seit einigen Jahren in London.
The rise of Russia’s oligarchs — and their bid for legitimacy
Кто такие «богатые русские» и за что они презирают Запад?
Интервью автора книги Rich Russians: from Oligarchs to Bourgeoisie Элизабет Шимпфесль. Юлия Минеева, Глава службы информации, 21 января 2019
Academic book review. By Susanne Wengle
Auf der Rückbank der Limousine
Wie tickt die russische Oligarchie? Die österreichische Soziologin Elisabeth Schimpfössl hat dazu geforscht und ist den Superreichen dabei ganz nah gekommen. VON SIMONE BRUNNER, WOZ Nr. 46 15. November 2018
Oligarkeista on tullut Venäjän uusi porvaristo – mutta venäläisten enemmistö pitää yksityistä omaisuutta varastamalla saatuna
Liam Halligan podcast: Lend Me Your Ear
Liam Halligan’s November 2018 “Lend Me Your Ear” with Elisabeth Schimpfossl – author of the fascinating book “Rich Russians: from Oligarchs to Bourgeoise” – an eye-catching study of the new Russian business elite that’s emerged since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Russische Oligarchen: Von der Côte d’Azur bis zum Kreml
Der Falter, Rezension von Simone Brunner, 14.11.2018
Die österreichische Soziologin Elisabeth Schimpfössl hat untersucht, wie sich das Wertesystem russischer Oligarchen verändert hat.
ЗАПАД ВНОВЬ ЗАИНТЕРЕСОВАЛИ РУССКИЕ ОЛИГАРХИ
Книга исследует нравы и настроения самых состоятельных россиян
13.11.18 Кристина Москаленко
Auf der Rückbank der Limousine
Wie tickt die russische Oligarchie? Die österreichische Soziologin Elisabeth Schimpfössl hat dazu geforscht und ist den Superreichen dabei ganz nah gekommen. 15.11.2018. Von Simone Brunner
Foreign Affairs: Capsule Review
Rich Russians: From Oligarchs to BourgeoisieLaurie Taylor’s Thinking Allowed: Rich Russians – Millionaire tax flight
Laurie Taylor talks to Elisabeth Schimpfossl, Lecturer in Sociology at Aston University, about her study of the changing nature of the Russian elite, from oligarchs to bourgeoisie.
‘Rich Russians:’ Book review
Sean’s Russia Blog: Rich Russians
Rich Russians – Elizabeth Schimpfoessl
By Serge Desprat, 19th September 2018 (Prague). While I believe that it is right today to defend the Western liberal values, very much involving capitalism and free markets, also the big winners of the Cold War and the foundations for a New World in the 1990s, we should recognise that this very capitalism, if unchecked, may create aberrations that go against these very Western liberal values and may with time threaten their very existence.
BBC5 Up All Night
With Rhod Sharp, 19 September 2018
On Ian King Live (6 September 2018, 18.33)
Rich Russians: From Oligarchs to Bourgeoisie
5 September 2018, 10:20PM
Australian Broadcasting Company, Late Night Live with Phillip Adams. Producer: Stan Correy
Rich Russians: From Oligarchs to Bourgeoisie, by Elisabeth Schimpfössl
A fresh look at how Russia’s elite sees itself
Review by Max Seddon, 3 September 2018
Review on goodreads
Rich Russians by Elisabeth Schimpfössl review – where does all that money go?
A study, based on interviews, on how oligarchs are reinventing themselves as a cultural elite finds room to skewer their self-aggrandisement and patriotism. By Oliver Bullough, 31 August 2018
Rusko Ondřeje Soukupa: Konec vulgárních oligarchů
Ondřej Soukup, 29. 8. 2018. Můj známý se letos na jaře vrátil z obchodní cesty do Ruska rozčarovaný. V polovině 90. let často jezdil do Moskvy a teď nepočítal s radikální změnou.
Rusų turtuolius kalbinusi mokslininkė apie nemaloniausią pašnekovą: nebegalėjau tverti Skaitykite daugiau
2018 m. rugpjūčio 25 d. „Oxford University Press” leidykla išleido austrų mokslininkės Elisabeth Schimpfossl knygą „Turtingi rusai: nuo oligarchų iki buržuazijos“.
Russiske rigmandsstudier
Oligarkologi. Over ni år og 80 interviews med Ruslands rigeste mænd beskriver sociologen Elisabeth Schimpfössl en overklasse, som har byttet 1990ernes udskejelser ud med en forkærlighed for Pushkin, Putin og militærakademier til deres børn. Markus Bernsen, 24 August 2018
„Um sich zu legitimieren, muss man mehr tun als Geld ausgeben“
Die österreichische Elitenforscherin Elisabeth Schimpfössl untersucht die „Verbürgerlichung“ der russischen Oligarchen.
Die Reichsten in Russland: Irgendwie adelig
Von Boris Holzer, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, 12.08.2018
Reiche Russen sind eine recht spezielle soziale Gruppe. Der Adel wurde zwar im Sozialismus abgeschafft, aber die meisten Wohlhabenden waren schon damals privilegiert. Nun wurde erforscht, wie sie sich selbst wahrnehmen.
Who are the Russian new rich?
By Marina Maximova 18/08/2018
The rich and famous, their lives and their stories have always held certain allure. Rich Russians seem to attract even more attention. Their flamboyant lifestyles and questionable tastes have long become a standing joke in the West. However, as Elisabeth Schimpfössl demonstrates in her recent publication, their story is far more complex than the caricatures suggest.
Нищенский шик российских олигархов
В издательстве Oxford University Press вышла книга «Богатые русские: от олигархов к буржуазии» австрийского дипломата, доктора социологии Элизабет Шимпфесль
Богатый гей России: в Москве это даже модно! Русским миллиардерам нравится ЛГБТ
17 августа, 2018. В издательстве Oxford University Press вышла книга «Богатые русские: от олигархов к буржуазии» австрийского дипломата, доктора социологии Элизабет Шимпфесль. Интервьюируя 80 русских богачей и членов их семей, Шимпфесль интересовалась в том числе тем, что они думают о геях.