Bylye Gody. 2014.  33 (3) ― 410 ― UDC 908 The Role of Merchants in the Life of the Russian Society: Oral Tradition Case Study 1 Svetlana I. Grahova 2 Almaz R. Gapsalamov 1 Elabuga Institute of Kazan Federal University, Russian Federation 423600, Republic Tatatrstan, Yelabuga city, street Kazan, 89 E-mail: SG2223@yandex.ru 2 Elabuga Institute of Kazan Federal University, Russian Federation 423600, Republic Tatatrstan, Yelabuga city, street Kazan, 89 E-mail: gapsalamov@yandex.ru Abstract. The paper considers modern oral stories about the merchants, existing in Elabuzhsky District of the Republic of Tatarstan, determines their genre features, offers thematic classification, detects style peculiarities. These stories are valued due to the significant potential in the historic reconstruction of the personalities and events of this region. They also contain the general trend of the domestic literature, which is to overcome the one-sided view of the past, perceive and estimate everything from the positions of truth, welfare and beauty. Keywords: folk genre; oral stories; classification; typology; action situation; oral story composition. Введение. И       ,   , ,    .   . С   ХХ ,    1990 –  2000- ,     ,   ,  . В    ,          , ,  , ,      . К ,          ,     ,    .     , ,      ,     . В           В  (Р ),     ,     -    XIX –  ХХ . И ,         Е  Е  Р Т,       . П           . Материалы и методы. О           . М     ,     . А        ,        ,  ,   . Обсуждение. П ,      ,       ,        ,        Р     XIX –  ХХ . В            ,   . Ч    . Н ,     Р      1897 .,          ,       . В    Р   125,6 .  [1]. К 1913 .           159,2 .  ( 1917 . – 163,0 . ) [2, . 7]  174, 1 .  (   Ф – 170,903 . ,   П – 161,708 . ) [3, . 12]. О     (Social class, as in a class society, is a set of concepts in the social sciences and political theory centered on models of social stratification in which people are grouped into a set of hierarchical social categories, the most common being the upper, middle, and lower classes [4]). З    . В  100%  18%     [2, .7]. В      , 