The 2011–2012 Winter Confrontation: Two Tactics of Mobilization and Self-Representation

Abstract

On the eve of presidential elections in Russia during the winter of 2011/2012, there were mass activities both against and for Vladimir Putin. The article discusses two rallies with opposite political stances, and analyzes differences in mobilization systems, social composition, and specifi cities of self-representation and behavior of their participants. Drawing on Bourdieu’s structural approach, the author examines the makeup of the groups that supported Putin and that acted against him.