The role of the intellectual elite in the modernization of Ukrainian society

Abstract

The article presents and comprehends such concepts as the intelligentsia, intellectuals and the elite. The paper reveals the closeness and interdependence of these concepts and defines the limits of their application. It is determined that the representatives of these elite groups act as translators of higher cultural norms and values. And this is necessary for the further development and growth of the cultural level of Ukrainian society and its progress. It is determined that intellectual elites are an important element of public life and perform a number of functions: systematic implementation of innovations, criticism and selection of cultural achievements, preservation of tradition.
The article, in accordance with the research problem, analyzes domestic and foreign publications, which showed that most of the Ukrainian works are performed in terms of reception of foreign theories of elites that have already developed. Extrapolation of the methodology of the research field of the intellectual elite revealed its important but one-sided research orientation, as the object of study is blurred in its socioeconomic parameters, even in its static, non-historical state. The article shows that the phenomenon of intellectual elite is much more complex and multifaceted than the idea of political or economic elite, and therefore can not be fully disclosed in a single scientific discipline or a single scientific paradigm.
It is determined that in the aspect of modernization of society the main idea is the need to form a higher intellectual stratum, which would determine the social dynamics and would be the reference group on whose values society focused. These can be either bearers of traditions that strengthen and stabilize society, or, in other social situations, they are the most active, passionate elements of the population, which are innovative groups.