The rulers of Scythia left kurgans instead of palaces. We know 17 Scythian kings and 14 of them are associated with the steppes of the Northern Pontic area. The period of active kurgans’ building in the steppe began by the time of the Ariapeith dynasty. About 6 or 7 kings can be related with it. At the same time the number of kurgans, that could be looked at as “candidates” for the Scythian ruler’s tombs, reaches six dozens. We can identify centers of regional structures using these kurgans as bearing points of the spatial structure of Scythia. The political centre of Scythia (5 – 3 c. BC) was located near the rifts of the lower Dnieper river. The importance of this area is emphasized by 4 most famous kurgans, probably tombs of the supreme kings. There are also 3 barrows of the second level, two or three times smaller than the royal ones and 10 graves of the third level, which are dozen times smaller than the giant tombs of the kings. The remaining 40 – 45 barrows could be divided in 11 or 12 local groups apparently marking regional centers of the Herodotus`s and Post-Herodotus`s Scythia.
The discussion about elites is part of a cumbersome and long debate. In the context of a globalized world, the task becomes even more complex to understand. It is because national borders no longer define or, at least, do not define completely, all the loyalties and actions of powerful groups. Meanwhile, the transnational space opens new fields of activity and, along with, gives them new opportunities. In first place, this paper aims to understand the very meaning of a power elite: its significance and its possible implications for some selected economic and historical processes. Secondly, since the elites are largely defined by their social environment, the present paper seeks to understand the particularity of the American case. Finally, we try to explain how this ruling class influenced the consolidation of the United States as the leading world power, participating in the creation of a specific international system, based on institutions and the global regulation.
The purpose of this paper was to specify what is the share of narrowly understood micro-ideology in the political thought of Law and Justice. Embarking on the analysis of the above-stated problem, we first and foremost fixed particular methodological assumption. As a point of departure for our analysis we adopted the conception of the ideological morphology by Michael Freeden. In line with it, we assumed that ideologies are not fully distinct entities but they interact with one another. They are also partly overlapping and thus they share some contiguous points. In accordance with the concept of populism, as worked out within our framework, we focused our attention on the problematics of elites and the people. As conceived of by Law and Justice, elites did not discharge their duties, alienating themselves from the society and caring mainly about their own socio-economic interest. Furthermore, the critique of elites was mainly related to their non-democratic genesis and artificially created putative “super-expertise”.Eventually, we proved that populism may be regarded as one of the phenomena characterizing the political thought of Law and Justice.
The status and role of the elite in society primarily depends on the specific political context. Therefore also on the dramatic times, including the ability to “demonstrate” the culture creating elite. Limiting the sovereignty of a people and repressive policies in relation to its citizens provide a unique opportunity for the intelligentsia to fulfil its vocation. After 1945 in countries belonging to the “Eastern Bloc” art people have been given a special status, making them the formation of a great influence. The year 1956 ended the “romance” of elites with power, and those who owed their recognized position to supporting the communist ideology became its greatest opponents. Paradoxically, the beginning of the end of elites came with the advent of democracy. The modern world is geared mainly towards entertainment and it cannot afford too much elitism because the role of the elites falls on the so-called celebrities.
The author has introduced an anti-reformatory concept of Jaroslav Borzita of M artinice, which he applied on his estates and whose partial processes he tried to enforce throughout the kingdom. The nobleman’s practices bore many traces of explicit violence. In his study, the author seeks to illustrate the gradual development and refinement of the concept, introduction of new anti-reformatory elements, but also responses of his contemporaries whom he provoked with his opinions. The author also attempts to reconstruct an argumentation through which Jaroslav Borzita of Martinice tried to legitimize his cause.
The article examines the influence of the social status of university graduates in the Czech Republic on their situation in post-mass higher education. More specifically, it tests the validity of hypotheses concerning the impact of family background, income level, reselection of the field of study, and the extent of saturation of prestigious fields (medicine, law) with individuals from elite backgrounds by applying the socio-economic status (SES) concept and the theory of maximally maintained inequality. The hypotheses are tested on the Graduate 2018 survey dataset. The research results confirm the persistent importance of parents' education on graduates' SES. The income security of graduates affects their life satisfaction to a certain degree but has no effect on the reselection of their field of study. The results also show the above-average saturation of medical and legal disciplines by graduates with elite status.
The paper offers a synthetic overview of the historical and social sciences writings on 19th and 20th century Romanian elites. Following the original local sociological constructs developed during the interwar period, the early socialist regime stopped almost all research on the topic for the next two decades. The interest rose again slowly in the 1970s and 1980s, when preliminary investigations highlighted some of the future research subjects: intellectuals, economic, and political elites. After 1989, historians were the first to enter the field, opening workshops on the previously mentioned categories, and more recently on ecclesiastical, military, and administrative elites. Social and political scientists followed shortly, focusing mainly – but not exclusively – on the socialist and post-socialist elites. Despite the flourishing period of the last two decades, and the generally positive trend, the historical research on elites in Romania produced mainly empirical studies. The methodological and theoretical framework was left unapproached, partly due to a lack of tradition, partly because of the low level of collaboration between historians and social scientists.
The third Vladimir’s Putin presidential term (2012-2018) was a significant period for the Russian Federation political security. Social protests, the annexation of Crimea, conflicts in eastern Ukraine and Syria, as well as economic sanctions and the deepening Russian isolationism - these are just some of the problems that Russian authorities had to face to ensure political stability. The aim of this article was to examine the changes and conflicts that occurred within President Putin’s inner circle between 2012 and 2018. The research was conducted according to content analysis method. It revealed that in 2012-2018 the attempts to weaken the decision-making power elite as a whole failed.
The I National Congress of Delegates of Independent Self-Governing Trade Union “Solidarity [NSZZ “Solidarnos´c´”] meeting in Gdan´sk in September and Ocober, 1981 is considered the crowning achievement of the “Solidarity’s” organizational and ideological development. No serious and comprehensive monography has yet been written, historical or sociological. The lack of a complete text of the eighteen days of talks was one of the reasons. A shorthand report of the first tour which has been made available recently makes it possible to make some preliminary analyses of the Congress’ topics and dynamics, behaviour of the delegates and mechanisms of their decision-making. It also permits to describe their “union-like” way of thinking as well as understanding and practicing democracy. The author of the article recalls the basic statistics of the community of delegates-a sui generis trade union elite. He moreover poses questions regarding the scale of the secret services’ [SB] controlling the course of the Congress. The author favours the assumption that it was surprisingly negligible.
In this article, the author presents a claim that, in parallel to the end of mass parties, it is possible to observe the progressing decline of elites within political parties. This phenomenon manifests itself on the following three levels: 1) a theoretical level-less and less attention is paid to elites in the theory of political parties as their place is being taken over by other approaches, in particular leadership theory; 2) a terminological level-the notion of elites is being removed from analyses devoted to political parties and supplanted by other terms such us “leaders.” They are sometimes considered as the synonyms of the word “elite”; 3) a factual level-there are strong reasons to presume that the decline in the importance of elites within political parties is an objective phenomenon related to the general revaluations taking place in contemporary political parties. Such revaluations cause changes in the distribution of power within political parties-party leaders and narrow groups of decision makers gain in importance at the expense of elites.
The article defines the term „security elites“ (security sector elites) and presents three possible approaches towards its perception. The first defines security elites as people who use their authority and position to provide general security. The second approach perceives them as persons whose authority and position provide security in a particular realm of the society. The third approach describes elites as people providing security in a particular field using their positon and authority they gained through specific training (so-called elite groups).
This paper focuses on a copper-alloy goad discovered in 2017 in Lubniewice in Lubuskie Voivodeship, Poland. An interdisciplinary analysis has shown that the goad was originally part ofa lavishly decorated copper-alloy spur representing a type known from high-status West Slavic graves (e.g. Lutomiersk, Ciepłe) and settlement sites. Because objects of this kind are made of costly material, and because expert skills were required to produce them, it is argued that they were commissioned by a very specific group of people who used them as “material markers” of their distinct cultural and religious identity. It is not unlikely that the owners of such spurs were members of the elite retinue of the Piasts who played important roles on and off the battlefield.
Two issues regarding the social status of Archaic Greek (and other Aegean) mercenaries are discussed. The historiographical issue consists in exploring the reasons why the image of a limited participation restricted to the elites has until recently prevailed. The influence of social anthropology, which contributed to the development of a series of conceptual automatisms, is seen as the main cause for the emergence of the elitist thesis. The historical and anthropological issue consists in a summary re‑evaluation of the most appropriate and persuasive sources that provide clues for the broader social participation in mercenary activities.
This paper considers the impact of shared imaginaries of mobility among so-called elite, mobile professionals - early-career expatriates living in Nepal for a period of one to three years. Based on 18 months of fieldwork among expatriates in Kathmandu, I explore the ways in which these actors construct, navigate and narrativise the boundaries between themselves and the many tourists who visit Nepal each year. While in some transnational contexts, these guests may seek to align themselves with other guests such as tourists and foreign residents as a means of asserting and expressing shared commonalities of transnationality and mobility, expatriates in Kathmandu are keen to highlight perceived distance between themselves and other guests as much as they are the perceived proximities between themselves and native Nepalis. In focusing on this former interaction, I show that tourist imaginaries become important means for expatriates to negotiate difference as they learn their new local identities in a context of spatial and temporal transience. Though the academic literatures of migration and tourism have developed more or less in isolation from one another, these two spheres of mobility are in fact very much interrelated. I suggest that anthropological research into the self-conceptions of mobile professionals take into consideration other non-local groups with whom they share local spaces, since these actors can be used instrumentally as a means of strengthening both group and individual identities. If anthropology engages effectively with the interactions between hosts and guests in colonial spaces, I argue that just as much can be gleaned by looking at engagements between guests and other guests. Through a consideration of these border zones of encounter, anthropologists can illustrate ethnographically how individual expatriate identities are negotiated within communities of elite, mobile professionals.
O. Almgren in his 1897 published study on nordeuropean forms of brooches characterized known specimens from the region and classified them in seven groups. His group VI matches brooches with inverted foot as well as their derivative forms with full catch-plate. They are main forms of the late Roman and early Migrations periods Shape and form of those brooches breaks with the early Roman Period’s stilistical traditions, showind differences in construction, because catch-plate is being made by bending the foot downwards, its and is then wrapped around the bow. This key for the studies on late antiquity group of brooches is one of the less published forms of the Barbaricum. O. Almgren himself have had treated them unfairy, whereas later studies didn’t gave precise arrangements. However the homogenity of this goup of artefacts; especially type 158 characteristic for the Przeworsk Culture, have been emphasized. Therefore new classificaton of brooches of the Almgren’s VI Group with taking into consideration all of the deriverative forms and variations was an absolute necessity. It was also essential due to the significance for the chronology of early and late Roman Period. The min assumption of the paper was to work out the one piece brooches of the type 158. The method used for the division is based upon the system proposed by O. Almgren. It is still up to date, however some detailed assumptins are necessery. It is due to the fact that some of O. Almgren’s forms have been described unaccuratelly, therefore determination of arefacts according to his division in chefly uneasy. It is also imprtant to ephasize the fact that since the firt publication of Almgren’s study, the have been noted enormous growth in number of known specimens, some of them are therefore not preciselly represented in typology of the swedish scholar. Main characteristics of brooches taken under consieration by division of sub-types and variants are construction of the specific specimen, shape of the bow as well as its decoration. Such characteristics as form of ornamentation and stilistic criterion i.e. proportions of the appropriate parts of the brooch were also considered. In the process a clusters of broches with some variants within have been archieved. Main part of the paper is the classification of O. Almgren’s type 158 brooches. The study is based upon 799 specimens. The final effect of this analise is the stilistic division of variants with main goal in tighening the chronology of characterized clustes of artefacts.
GenghisKhan is highly valued among peoples ofCentralAsia, a radical departure fromRussia, and other nations across Europe, where he is regarded as the embodiment of savagery, barbarism, destruction and ruthlessness. Yet, another image exists among the Buryats, who accept theirMongolian origin and find support for their ethnos in it. The article concerns the functioning of Genghis Khan’s image in popular culture and the everyday lives of Buryats living in the ethnic Buryatia.We are, therefore, interested in how the nation’s elite succeeds in constructing a vision of the past, its golden age, to guarantee cultural and political entity in the modern time.
In many cultures eating meat was considered for a very long time a privilege of people enjoying higher economic and social status. Nowadays situation slowly changes: those who are rich and fortunate tend to resign from eating meat. This rejection can be treated as an important element of a lifestyle, but it can be also considered a type of fashion. In both cases, if higher social classes tend to reject meat and animal products, this tendency may gain a status of “exclusive lifestyles.” Following Thorstein Velben’s theory of circulation of consumption patterns, one can make an attempt to explain growing popularity of vegetarian and vegan diets. The assumption is that once they are turned into elements of an attractive lifestyle, mass consumers follow the example. The article analyzes growing tendencies to reject meat consumption in Poland and in Western culture.
PL
Biologiczne przesłanki wskazują na to, że dieta ludzka, powinna być zbliżona do szympansiej. Jako gatunek,homo sapiens sapiens, nie jest stricte mięsożerny. Społeczno-kulturowe uwarunkowania doprowadziły do sytuacji powszechnego spożywania mięsa. Na spożywanie mięsa w niektórych częściach globu wpływa też swoisty klimat, który utrudnia lub wręcz uniemożliwia pozyskiwanie produktów roślinnych (choćby w Mongolii, Kirgistanie, regionach polarnych). Człowiek nie tylko je mięso, ale nadaje mu też silne kulturowe naznaczenia (spożywanie mięsa białego- powszechnie przypisuje się kobietom, podczas kiedy mężczyźni „powinni” spożywać mięso czerwone). Obok takich utartych przekazów, zakorzenionych mocno w kulturze zachodniej, pojawia się jednak nowy silny i dynamiczny trend, jakim jest odrzucenie produktów odzwierzęcych. Liczba osób nie jedzących mięsa wzrasta. Czy jest to zatem powrót do natury człowieczej czy też odstępstwo od niej? Niektórzy autorzy uważają, że diety bezmięsne stanowią przywilej klas społeczno-ekonomicznych ulokowanych w wyższych sferach społecznych. Czy jest możliwe niejedzenie mięsa przez całe społeczności, szczególnie jeśli diety bezmięsne zostaną uznane za atrakcyjną formę konsumpcji?
Celem tego artykułu jest przedstawienie oraz analiza wyobrażeń młodych polskich elit intelektualnych na temat państwa. W artykule omówiono historyczny kontekst relacji między inteligencją a państwem, ze zwróceniem uwagi na związane z tym ambiwalencje. Autor stawia tezę, że młode elity inteligenckie są przekonane o półperyferyjnym położeniu Polski, zarazem ich przedstawiciele artykułują potrzebę istnienia aktywnego, inkluzywnego państwa, którego – ich zdaniem – nie udało się zbudować po 1989 roku. Chociaż zauważalny kierunek myślenia podkreślający znaczenie państwa ma ponadpokoleniowy charakter, to wyraźnie zaznacza się wśród młodszych generacji. Praca ma charakter empiryczny. Podstawę analizy stanowi kilkadziesiąt wywiadów pogłębionych z przedstawicielami młodych inteligenckich elit. Nawiązuje ona do historyczno-socjologicznych refleksji nad świadomością polskiej inteligencji.
EN
The main aim of the article is to present and analyze the ideas of young Polish intellectual elites about the state. The article discusses the historical context of the relationship between intelligentsia and the state. I also pay attention to the related ambivalences. I argue that young intellectual elites are convinced of the semi-peripheral position of Poland. Simultaneously, their representatives speak for an active, inclusive state that, in their opinion, had not been built after 1989. Although the noticeable way of thinking that emphasizes the importance of the state is shared across generations, it is markedly present among younger generations. The basis of the presented analysis is several dozen in-depth interviews with representatives of young intellectual elites. The article contributes to historical and sociological studies on the consciousness of Polish intelligentsia.
Krzysztof Grzymułtowski was one of the most influential politicians of 16th-century Poland not only due to his social background but also his school education. The aims of this article are to present the role of school education he obtained at the Lubrański Academy in his public activity as a politician and examine the effects of education in one of the most prominent secondary schools of that period. The text refers to published studies of the school curriculum, which were confronted with Grzymułtowski’s publications from the school period, written under the supervision of his educators, and from the time of his later public activity. The conducted analysis showed that his school education had a clear impact on his later activities, especially in terms of rhetorical skills, legal and state-related knowledge and cognitive competencies acquired through philosophical studies.
Na Kaukazie Północnym od dawna ustaliły się dwie warstwy życia społecznokulturowego: zewnętrzna i wewnętrzna. Warstwa zewnętrzna formalnie wprowadza społeczeństwa w państwowy system ideologiczny i gospodarczy, podczas gdy wewnętrzna (obejmująca m.in. tukhumy i tejpy), istniejąc niezależnie od pierwszej jest realnym źródłem duchowej i etnicznej identyfikacji narodów kaukaskich. Zmieniona pod wpływem władzy radzieckiej tradycyjna struktura społeczeństw górskich obecnie doprowadza do nepotyzmu i korupcji w nominacjach na stanowiska w administracji, zwłaszcza niższego szczebla. Struktura wewnętrzna społeczeństw Kaukazu Północnego różni się od siebie, a w każdej republice istnieje etniczna specyfika. Związki klanowe często mają wpływ nie tylko na tworzenie się elit w republikach, ale są podłożem nieustannej rywalizacji o władzę i wpływy. Obowiązują niepisane umowy między najbardziej wpływowymi klanami, mającymi oparcie we własnych społecznościach. Jest ona najbardziej wyraźna w republikach wieloetnicznych: Dagestanie, Kabardyno-Bałkarii i Karaczajo-Czerkiesji.
EN
In the North Caucasus there has been established two layers of socio-cultural life. The first layer is external, it formally introduces the society in the state ideological and economic system. The other – the internal one – embraces traditional structures like tukhums, teyps, wirds etc.,is stable over the centuries and exists independently from the first layer. It is the real source of spiritual and ethnic identification of Caucasian peoples. The structure of traditional mountain societies, which has been disturbed under the Soviet influence, today often leads to nepotism and corruption in the administration, especially on the lower levels. There is a hierarchy of candidates, which is based on the relationships within “tukhums” and “teyps”. Also there is the opportunity to “purchase” certain electoral activities (signatures of support, votes during the election process). The internal structure of North Caucasus societies differs from each other, in every republic there are their own ethnic peculiarities, clan relationships often have an impact not only on the formation of elites in the republics, but also on the continuous rivalries between ethnic clans for power and economic influences. Important are the unwritten agreements between the most influential clans, which have support from their own communities (mostly in the regions from which they came). It is mostly explicit in multi-ethnic republics like Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia.
JavaScript is turned off in your web browser. Turn it on to take full advantage of this site, then refresh the page.