On the issue of the functional theory of elites: losses and possibilities of a new approach

The article examines the prerequisites for reinterpreting the concept of "elite" at the turn of the XX–XXI centuries. The author analyzes the need to change the concept of the elite as a factor of social practice, investigates the prerequisites for a retreat from the traditions of interpreting the elite in the problem field of classical sociology. The thesis about the fruitfulness of the study of the elite in the discourse of such trends of its development as sociologization, rationalization, and subjectivation is outlined. The explanatory potential of the functional and functionalist concepts of the elites is compared