Structures of Society : Imperial Russia's "People of Various Ranks"

Elise Kimerling Wirtschafter

ISBN 10: 0875801900 / ISBN 13: 9780875801902

Editore: Cornell University Press Nov 1994, 1994

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Neuware - A category of persons best defined by what they were not, the raznochintsy--people of various ranks or people of diverse origins--inhabited the shifting social territory between nobles and serfs in preindustrial Russia. Neither merchants nor clergy nor military servicemen, they may have been by occupation administrative clerks, teachers, artists, retired soldiers, or street vendors. In official society, they were outsiders. In this first major study of the raznochintsy, Wirtschafter draws on a rich array of archival, legal, administrative, and public sources to show how this important but elusive category functioned in Russian society from the time of Peter the Great to the late nineteenth century. Challenging the traditional image of a rigidly hierarchical social structure, her conclusions indicate that there was much more mobility within imperial Russian society than historians have previously thought. Developing a representational interpretation, Wirtschafter examines the raznochintsy as a legal, social, and cultural category. Focusing on the usages, meanings, and dynamic evolution of the category, she analyzes the origins of the raznochintsy as well as larger theoretical issues of social categorization and delimitation. Her depiction of a society where social boundaries were porous and social definitions fundamentally indeterminate provides a new perspective on some of the most stubbornly problematic themes in imperial Russian history.

Codice articolo 9780875801902

Dati bibliografici

• Titolo: Structures of Society : Imperial Russia's "People of Various Ranks"
• Editore: Cornell University Press Nov 1994
• Data di pubblicazione: 1994
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0875801900
• ISBN 13: 9780875801902
• Rilegatura: Buch
• Condizione: Neu
• Dimensioni: 236 L x 160 A x 22 P (millimetri) 236 millimetri di larghezza per 160 millimetri di altezza per 22 millimetri di profondità
• Peso: 494 grammi

Descrizione articolo

Riassunto

A category of persons best defined by what they were not, the raznochintsy—"people of various ranks" or "people of diverse origins"—inhabited the shifting social territory between nobles and serfs in preindustrial Russia. Neither merchants nor clergy nor military servicemen, they may have been by occupation administrative clerks, teachers, artists, retired soldiers, or street vendors. In official society, they were outsiders.

In this first major study of the raznochintsy, Wirtschafter draws on a rich array of archival, legal, administrative, and public sources to show how this important but elusive category functioned in Russian society from the time of Peter the Great to the late nineteenth century. Challenging the traditional image of a rigidly hierarchical social structure, her conclusions indicate that there was much more mobility within imperial Russian society than historians have previously thought.

Developing a representational interpretation, Wirtschafter examines the raznochintsy as a legal, social, and cultural category. Focusing on the usages, meanings, and dynamic evolution of the category, she analyzes the origins of the raznochintsy as well as larger theoretical issues of social categorization and delimitation. Her depiction of a society where social boundaries were porous and social definitions fundamentally indeterminate provides a new perspective on some of the most stubbornly problematic themes in imperial Russian history.

Informazioni sugli autori

Elise Kimerling Wirtschafter is Professor of History at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona. The recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship in 1998, she is the author of numerous articles and several books, including Social Identity in Imperial Russia and most recently The Play of  Ideas in Russian Enlightenment Theater..

Elise Kimerling Wirtschafter is Professor of History at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona. The recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship in 1998, she is the author of numerous articles and several books, including Social Identity in Imperial Russia and most recently The Play of Ideas in Russian Enlightenment Theater..