Everyday people’s patriotism in Russia: Possibilities and limitations of sociological study and typologization

Abstract

The article is a review of the book by K. Clment Patriotism from Below. How Is It Possible That People Are So Poor in the Rich Country? (Moscow: NLO, 2021. 232 p.). The book is based on the results of the research project aimed at the detailed description of different types of everyday Russian patriotism with the help of the qualitative approach (in fact, case studies and semi-formalized interviews were conducted, although the book presents them as ethnographic research and in-depth interviews). The book identifies and describes the following types of the grassroot Russian patriotism which does not always coincide with the state patriotic discourse (patriotism from above): non-state and state everyday patriotism, non-patriotism, detached patriotism, and local patriotism. The review identifies both the undoubted merits of the book and its conceptual, methodological and analytical limitations which can become a starting point for further sociological studies of discursive practices and behavioral patterns of Russians, especially of those living in the Russian hinterland (depressed peripheral regions of the country).