ORIGINS OF FORMATION OF WESTERN EUROPEAN POLITICAL ELITE
The article is devoted to the consideration of the problems of the formation of the West European political elite, its socio-historical, cultural roots. This topic is relevant in connection with the understanding of the influence of the political elite on the socio-economic, political and cultural processes in different historical periods. The analysis of the socio-cultural environment, which forms the specifics and lifestyle of the political elite of the XVIII century, is carried out. It is emphasized that the social structure of society, preserved in the XVIII century. as a legacy of the Middle Ages, it was hierarchical and had common features in Western European states. The role of the aristocracy of the nobility in the dissemination and popularization of the ideas of the Enlightenment is noted.