Inside Russia's Wealthy Elite — Elisabeth Schimpfössl

This episode of The IR thinker explores the world of Russia’s high society, from philanthropy and the “genetic” dimensions of wealth to gender roles, generational divides and the everyday lives of the rich. The discussion follows Dr Elisabeth Schimpfössl’s research journey, examining how she gained access to affluent interviewees, why politics and business were set aside, how she handled accusations of being “pro Kremlin,” and what her findings reveal about oligarchs and the broader Russian elite.Elisabeth SchimpfösslDr Elisabeth Schimpfössl is the author of the acclaimed book Rich Russians: From Oligarchs to Bourgeoisie, published by Oxford University Press in 2018. The book received the 2019 Women’s Forum Book Prize from the British Association of Slavonic and East European Studies and has been reviewed in outlets such as The Guardian, The Financial Times, Foreign Affairs and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.Content00:00 - Introduction01:36 - Research Inspiration: Russian High Society05:27 - Engaging with Russia’s Affluent Individuals08:41 - Unveiling the Reasons for Participating in Interviews11:10 - Why Sidestep Politics and Business?14:07 - The Duration of Interviews14:17 - Interview Methodology: In-person or Online?15:02 - Choice of Language: Russian or English?15:42 - Crafting the Opening Question17:55 - Any Encounters with the ‘Thieves in Law’?18:41 - Surprising Responses and Reactions24:00 - Emotional Response during Interviews26:37 - Analysing the Collected Data30:27 - Confronting ‘Pro-Kremlin’ Label Accusations35:15 - The ‘Genetic’ Factor in Russian Wealth36:53 - Philanthropy’s Role in Russian High Society40:58 - Women in the Realm of Russian Wealth42:01 - Offspring of Affluence and Society46:56 - The Wealthy Russian Generation Divide49:40 - Perception of Oligarchs: Before and After53:25 - Western Academia and the Oligarch Understanding56:25 - Elisabeth’s Gains: Research Insights and Russian Elite UnderstandingFollow & Further ResourcesSubstack: https://theirthinker.substack.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ir-thinker/X: https://x.com/irthinker_Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theirthinker/Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theirthinker.bsky.socialFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/irthinkerfb Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.