Political attitudes and political participation of Russian capital owners: what matters?

Abstract

This paper focuses on an analysis of the factors that contribute to differences in political attitudes and political participation of Russian capital owners. Such factors may include different size and type of capital, the degree of past political socialization, the respondents’ age and generational experiences, past/present well-being comparisons and education. The paper begins with a discussion of different theories that make hypotheses about the political behavior of capital owners. These hypotheses were tested in a small, exploratory study of Russian capital owners that I conducted in Russia in the late 1990s. The results of the study are then analyzed within two different but closely interrelated contexts: the wider historical context of social, political and economic changes of the first decade of post-Soviet transformation, and the micro-context of the respondents personal political, economic and social history. In the end, I return to the analyses of the original hypotheses and conclude with a discussion of which theory comes closest to predicting and explaining the results of the study.

Citation

Rogers, N. (2006), "Political attitudes and political participation of Russian capital owners: what matters?", Davis, D.E. (Ed.) Political Power and Social Theory (Political Power and Social Theory, Vol. 18), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 41-83. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0198-8719(06)18002-3