Feofanov Alexander

The Reproduction of the Elite and the Gymnasium of the Imperial Academy of Sciences

Abstract

This article studies education as a social lift with career and educational paths of alumni of the Academic Gymnasium as an example; the aim of the study is to clarify to what extent they enriched the educated elite of the Russian Empire. The question of the reproduction of the elite of the Russian Empire of the 18th century is closely connected with the study of intergenerational social mobility. This problem is dealt with in the article on the example of changes in the social composition and career strategies of students of the Academic Gymnasium. In all, ca. 2000 people are known who entered the Gymnasium of the Academy of Sciences from 1726 to 1765. 424 of them were of noble origin, which is 21% of the total number of the students. The number children of generals (1‒5 grades in the Table of Ranks) and the highest nobility in the total number of noblemen was 72 people (17% of the established number of students of noble origin). The probability of joining the elite of the Russian Empire from the ordinary gentry was six times smaller than that of the children of members of the elite when it concerns the first five classes of the Table of Ranks, and seven times smaller in the fi rst three ranks. The chances of non-noble people to get into the elite were no more than a fraction of the percentage, and sometimes it was the activities in the fi eld of science and arts that opened up opportunities for career growth. The author of the article comes to the conclusion that for the poor and not particularly noble representatives of the gentry the Academic Gymnasium was the fi rst step in the way to obtain the highest ranks in the Russian Empire. The education obtained in the Gymnasium, the knowledge of languages and the acquisition of general culture undoubtedly served as an important if not the key factor in socialisation and came to be a prerequisite for a successful career.

Keywords

education, elite, generals, nobility, career advancement, social status, Gymnasium of the Imperial Academy of Sciences

References

1. Fedyukin, Igor, Gabdrakhmanov, Salavat (2016) “Cultural Capital in an Early Modern Elite School: The Noble Cadet Corps in St Petersburg, 1732–1762”. Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 2016, vol. 46, no. 4, pp. 485–516.
2. Kostina, Tatyana (2016) “Podgotovka elit Rossiiskoi Imperii v uchebnykh zavedeniiakh Akademii nauk (1726–1805)” [«Education of the Elites of the Russian Empire in the Educational Institutions of the Academy of Sciences”], in I. Tunkina (ed.) Aktual’noe proshloe: vzaimodeistvie i balans interesov Akademii nauk i rossiiskogo gosudarstva v XVIII — nachale XX v. [Topical Past: Interaction and Balance of Interests of the Academy of Sciences and the Russian State in the 18th — Early 20th Centuries], St Petersburg, vol. 1, pp. 207–302 (in Russian).
3. Kusber, Jan (2012) “Kakie znaniia nuzhny dvorianinu dlia zhizni? Provintsial’nye i stolichnye vospitatel’nye diskursy vtoroi poloviny XVIII i nachala XIX veka” [“What Kind of Education is Necessary for a Nobleman? Provincial and Metropolitan Educational Discourse of the Latter Half of the 18th — Early 19th Centuries], in Dvorianstvo, vlast’ i obshchestvo v provintsial’noi Rossii XVIII veka [Nobility, Authorities and Society in Provincial Russia of the 18th Century]. Moscow, pp. 269–291 (in Russian).
4. «Skaski» elizavetinskoi Rossii: Opros sanovnikov, sotrudnikov gosuchrezhdenii, pridvornykh pri dvore Elizavety Petrovny, 1754–1756 gg. [“Skaski” of Elizabethan Russia: Interrogating High Officials, Civil Officers, Courtiers in the Court of Elizaveta Petrovna, 1754‒1756], in Rossiiskii arkhiv: Istoriia Otechestva v svidetel’stvakh i dokumentakh XVIII—XX vv.: Al’manakh [Russian Archive: History of Motherland in Testimonies and Documents of the 18th — 20th Centuries: An Almanac], 2007, vol. 15, pp. 64‒168 (in Russian).
5. Stepanov, Vladimir P. (1999) “Koz’min”, in Slovar’ russkikh pisatelei XVIII veka [Lexicon of Russian Writers of the 18th Century], St Petersburg, vol. 2, p. 102 (in Russian).

Information about the author

Feofanov Alexander

Academic Degree: Candidate of Sciences* in History;
Place of work: St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University; 23b Novokuznetskaya st., Moscow 115184, Russian Federation; Associate Professor of the department of History of Russia;
ORCID: 0000-0001-7180-0927;
Email: aleksandr-feofanov@yandex.ru.

*According to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) 2011, the degree of Candidate of Sciences (Cand.Sc.) belongs to ISCED level 8 — "doctoral or equivalent", together with PhD, DPhil, D.Lit, D.Sc, LL.D, Doctorate or similar.