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

The article is a review of the book by K. Clément 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-902 everyday Russian patriotism with the help of the qualitative approach (in fact, case studies and semiformalized 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). © I.V. Trotsuk, 2021.