Modern Russian Intelligentsia: Search for Identity

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to determine the place of the intelligentsia in modern Russian society in the context of the range of positive and negative assessments that have developed among modern researchers. An analysis of the problem of the ontological status of the Russian intelligentsia is presented. The relationship between the concepts of "intelligentsia" and "intellectuals", "spiritual and moral elite" is considered. It is substantiated that the term "intelligentsia" characterizes the sociocultural specifics of the Russian intellectual class. The criteria and parameters of the sociocultural identity of the Russian intelligentsia are determined. The historical types of Russian intellectuals are compared. Particular attention is paid to the sociocultural transformations of the Soviet intelligentsia in the conditions of liberal market reforms at the turn of the millennium. A critical analysis of the main types of sociocultural portrait of the Russian intelligentsia described in modern Russian discourse is presented. It is concluded that, despite the ambiguity of the transformations of the intelligentsia in modern Russian society, the social role of the intelligentsia has increased significantly.