Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1: A Short Story of Enrichment
Chapter 2: Becoming Bourgeois
Chapter 3: Quests for Legitimacy and Superiority
Chapter 4: Family History
Chapter 5: Rich Russians' Philanthropy
Chapter 6: A Man's World
Chapter 7: The Inheritors' Coming of Age
Chapter 8: Rich Russians and the West
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index

About the Author

Elisabeth Schimpfössl is Lecturer in Sociology and Policy at Aston University. Her research focuses on elites and social inequality as well as questions around post-Socialist media and self-censorship.

Reviews

"The book is a substantial contribution to a burgeoning academic field. The focus on such a riveting topic as the lives of nouveau-riche Russian elites almost guarantees the attention of a wider public to what was initially intended as research for a PhD...This examination of how the Russian super-rich are reinventing themselves as a legitimate elite avoids political slogans and sociological clichés; instead, it clarifies how distinctions are imagined
and how they develop into social divisions. The book contributes to studies of elites that go beyond the immediate regional context." -- Oksana Morgunova, RUDN, Moscow, Russian Federation, Europe-Asia Studies
"Schimpfössl's study is quite unique and remarkable." -- Jukka Gronow, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology
"Schimpfössl's study is quite unique and remarkable." -- Jukka Gronow, EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF CULTURAL AND POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY
"This amazing book is a stunning combination of serious sociological analysis combined with the astonishing stories of the lives of super-rich Russians, as told to the author in 80 interviews with members of this top one-tenth of one percent. In the process of learning how the novye russkie (newly rich) Russians of the 1990s became proper members of the Russian and British social upper classes, we also learn about rising social inequality in general from an
entirely new angle." - G. William Domhoff, author of Who Rules America? The Triumph of the Corporate Rich
"Elisabeth Schimpfössl is a gifted observer and a sharp analyst. Rich Russians, based on unique access to the country's financial inner circle, dispels the myths around the Russian plutocracy and explores how today's rich emerged, often from the Soviet nomenklatura, to espouse global neo-liberalist values without wholly sacrificing the communitarian past. A compelling and cogent guide to today's Russia."- Catriona Kelly, Professor of Russian, University of
Oxford
"This unique inside-look at the history and soul of fabulously rich Russians and their quest to trade vulgarity for Russian respectability has it all: robber barons, the wild East, and their fortunes. A must-read to understand the new Russian bourgeoisie." - Derk Sauer, Founder of The Moscow Times and Vedomosti
"Rich Russians is a superb and fascinating study of the new Russian rich that combines elegant writing, compelling narrative, a cast of outrageously colorful characters and scholarly analysis of the social and culture development of the superwealthy potentates known as the Oligarchs that places them in Russian society and power structures. The result is both highly entertaining and essential reading for understanding the Russia of today in the age of
Trump and Putin."- Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Catherine the Great and Potemkin, Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar, and The Romanovs
"This book offers an original and nuanced look at the Russian bourgeoisie in the contemporary moment. Schimpfössl uses her impressive access to millionaires and billionaires to explore their family origins, their lifestyles, and the narratives they draw upon to legitimate their privilege, as well as how their practices have changed since the cutthroat period of the 1990s. Rich Russians makes a valuable contribution to the growing field of research on
global elites and cultures of wealth."-Rachel Sherman, author of Uneasy Street: The Anxieties of Affluence
"[A]n engrossing and fresh account of how the Russian elite sees itself." - Max Seddon, Financial Times
"Her book is a valuable and intriguing analysis of the emergence of a class that will shape Russia for centuries." -Oliver Bullough, The Guardian
"Schimpfössl's book benefits from the long parade of interviews she has conducted with nearly 100 of these millionaires and billionaires, their families, and their associates, which put a human face on her analysis." - Robert Legvold, Foreign Affairs