The article discusses the features of the study of elite layers in the writings of the sociologist populists. Special attention is drawn to a distinctive direction of populist sociology as a subjective sociology, represented primarily by P. L. Lavrov and N. K. Mikhailovsky. We give a general description of the sociological views of sociologistpopulist trends, the factors that determine the specificity of its formation in the Russian society and the base of «critically thinking individuals» theories P. L. Lavrov and «heroes» N. K.