Symbolic capital as a resource of promotion of provincial cities: An analysis of place branding strategies of ural urban destinations

The article analyzes the concept of the symbolic capital of a territory and substantiates the importance of its identification and its use for the promotion of three provincial cities in Russia: Shadrinsk, Chebarkul, and Chelyabinsk. Based on the approach of symbolic interactionism and the use of semiotic analysis, the authors of the article propose to group the resources of the symbolic capital of a territory in three ways. They use signs or symbols, images of the territory, and archetypes. The capital of a provincial city can be perceived symbolically both by external (investors and tourists) and internal (local residents) audiences. They serve as a means of shaping the image and reputation of the place. Both P. Bourdieu’s concept of symbolic capital and V. Radaev’s classification for different types of capital allow us to give examples of conversion from the cultural resources of a territory into symbolic capital. The analysis of the communication resonance of a particular mega event (the meteorite fall on the territory of the Southern Urals in 2013) and the study of cultural heritage of the provincial Russian city of Shadrinsk make it possible to identify the actual directions for converting the intangible resources of cities into their symbolic capital.