Rich Russians: From Oligarchs to Bourgeoisie.

• Author: Khafizullina, Elvira

By Elisabeth Schimpfossl

New York: Oxford University Press, 2018, 248 pages, $38.88 ISBN: 9780190677763

The collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) has become a critical junction for numerous different movements within Russia and out of it. Meanwhile, in the conditions of a rapid increase of social dissimilarity and poverty, individuals have emerged in this post-communistic country to form a new Russian upper class. In Rich Russians: From Oligarchs to Bourgeoisie, researcher, and sociologist Elisabeth Schimpfossl examines the accelerated process of 'bourgeoisification in Russia. In other words, the author relies on the factors that contribute to the formation of Russia's new social class as the bourgeoisie. The book is based on a social study conducted by Schimpfossl in order to research the role of the newly rich people of post-Soviet Russia. With this aim, the author interviewed more than 80 rich and influential individuals with different beliefs and political views.

Starting from the end of the 1980s, four main events triggered the appearance of rich people in Russia: perestroika, privatization, the presidency of Putin, and the booming petrol prices at the beginning of the 21st century. Perestroika and privatization are two closely following events that turned some people wealthy literally overnight. Rich Russians who had accumulated their wealth sometime earlier used the opportunity to increase their assets during privatization. Bankers' unregulated manipulations of the governmental assets in 1995 led to the next wave of newly made oligarchs. With the ensuing financial default in 1998 and Putins presidency the state managed to deal with the old oligarchs and regain some control over its assets. At the same time, new fast-rich individuals appeared; this time they were from the close circle of the President. If in the 1990s during Yeltsins Presidency the new-rich oligarchs were trying closely to engage in politics in order to boost their own interests and control their rivals, Putins period has brought changes by taking the oligarchs aside of political affairs. Thus, all those events happening in the Russian arena were a critical junction for those who sided with the right people at the right place to use the chance and, as a result, became very rich within a short period of time. Alongside these trends, the image of rich people within Russian society was changing rapidly: in the 1990s they were addressed as novye...