The author investigates the relationship of “wahhabism” as an element of political discourse and a mode of comprehension of socio-political reality, with that reality itself. Cognitivist models of describing socio-cultural crises are both applied and explained in the article. The subjects discussed and examined are in the first place the image of a “wahhabite” and the problems of religious identity, with, mainly, the material of Central Asia used. An outline history of “wahhabism” in the said region is presented. The concluding part of the work is devoted to analyzing the processes of the emergence of elites, counter-elites, competing groups, to the study of the modes of their integration, and to particular features of their interaction under the conditions of a socio-cultural crisis.