By Elvira Khafizullina, Uludağ University, Insight Turkey, 10 March 2021
Articles
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
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
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.
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.
Новый класс: чем интересна книга «Богатые русские: от олигархов к буржуазии»
Book review: Rich Russians
The rise of Russia’s oligarchs — and their bid for legitimacy
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 BourgeoisieRich 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.
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
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.
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.
Новая буржуазия считает себя наследниками интеллигенции
15 Август, 2018 года. Существуют исследования, которые показывают, что культурные нормы в обществе в первую очередь определяет элита.
Австралийский [sic] социолог рассказала про «божью волю», давшую богатство российским олигархам
Австралийский социолог Элизабет Шимпфессль рассказала в опубликованном в Британии исследовании «Богатые русские: от олигархов к буржуазии» о том, как российские миллиардеры объясняют свое богатство, как собираются передавать по наследству и кому чувствуют себя обязанными. Интервью с исследователем вышло в Republic. 10/08/2018
«Миллионерам России надоело все, от бизнеса до путешествий. Они не знают, чем себя занять»
11.07.2018«Они не хотят оставлять деньги детям, сочетают «нищенский шик» с золотыми телефонами и разыскивают корни в рядах советской интеллигенции». О чем еще рассказало исследование «мира богатых русских»?
Reporting on Russian television
Most talk about censorship on Russian television misses the point. When it comes to reporting, loyalty takes precedence.
Since the onset of the Ukraine conflict, Russia’s main television channels have puzzled the world with their ability to convince viewers of stories which are diametrically opposed to those shown in the west. This situation is usually associated with propaganda, government control and censorship. If not censorship, then it must be at least self-censorship that muffles any voice critical of Putin’s activities in eastern Ukraine or new ideas of how to deal with gays in the country. But what if those who produce television news and programmes are happy just to go along with everything? Continue reading