The article focuses on elitist orientation as a personality trait. Consideration of elitism as a criterion of an elitist personality allows us to explore the essence of elitist orientation from the standpoint of educational value. Outstanding abilities and their acceptance by the masses as the best make a person elite in terms of an ideal image for the development of others. This approach allows us to consider a person’s desire for the best in the projection of elitist orientation as the natural essence of the individual. The article presents an approach to defining the essence of the elitist orientation of an individual from the standpoint of acmeological theory. In accordance with the established traditions in pedagogy, the structural model of personality is represented by value-motivational, cognitive and activity-behavioral components.
The essence of the value-motivational component of elitist orientation is revealed through the individual’s striving to realize the best, the good, the perfect, and the attainable as a result of self-transcendence. The criteria considered are the individual’s recognition of his or her imperfection in relation to the chosen elitist ideal, the desire for self-improvement, and emotional and volitional readiness to achieve goals. It is proposed to study the individual’s knowledge of the essence of elitism, as a cognitive component of elitist orientation, according to the spectrum of selected elitist ideals, according to the share of pseudo-elite in the list of personalities of role models and idols. The activity-behavioral component of elitist orientation is considered in the projection of the individual’s realization of goals, which represent a subjective representation of the properties of the elitist ideal. Overcoming the crisis of disappointment in the elitist ideal serves as an indicator of the development of the individual in understanding the essence of elitism and characterizes the stability of the elitist orientation. The necessity of considering the phenomenon of elitist orientation of the individual as a whole in connection with the identified components is emphasized.
The article argues that elitist orientation is not only a “privilege” of the elitist individual. The author proposes to expand the scientific search for the essence of elitism, considering the desire for the best as a natural need of any individual.
The proposed assumptions and approaches to identifying the structure and defining the essence of the elitist orientation of the individual can help advance in understanding the patterns of the elitization of the individual as a process of a person’s ascent from good to better, and from better to perfect.
| 
