The dissertation research is focused on a sociological approach to studying manipulation technologies in the field of politics. The creation of this paper is conditioned due to the fact that during communication with their audiences, political parties and their representatives, candidates for elected positions and other political subjects tend to use not only the “direct” factual elements of argumentation, but also the latent ones – manipulative, – while trying to achieve their goals (for example, to become elected or re-elected). However, usually, in an academic sense, manipulations are mostly considered “point-wise”, within the framework of interpersonal psychology, and are not viewed through the wider prism of socio-political dimension. At the same time, in politics, manipulations most often relate to the public opinion and behavior of audiences, which allows to consider them not as minor “techniques”, but rather as purposeful manipulation technologies.
At the same time, it should be emphasized that sociology has developed a structure for defining the field of politics itself and the processes that unfold within this field, yet there is no holistic view of the sociological interpretation of the concept of “manipulation technologies” along with their features in the scientific category of political communication. At the same time, in sociological literature (as opposed to psychology and political science), this whole category, and especially the concept of political manipulations and their types (such as, for example, character assassination), mostly appears to be a set of interpretations, while paradigms related to studying the categories of political communication and practices related thereto, remain rather undefined. Specific methodological approaches to the study and analysis of manipulations as a way of political communication are even more uncertain. This creates a scientific problem, that consists in overcoming the contradiction between the fragmentation of the existing (and rather often, purely “practically oriented”) explanation of the conditioning, essence and features of manipulative technologies (and character assassination in particular) usage in the field of politics, and the need to specify the theoretical principles and methods of sociological analysis of these technologies.
Therefore, the aim of the dissertation research is the sociological conceptualization of manipulation technologies in the field of politics. The object of this research is manipulation technologies as a means of communication. The subject of the research is the theoretical foundations and methods of studying manipulation technologies in the field of politics.
The results obtained during the writing of this dissertation allow to consider the scientific novelty of the following positions:
For the first time:
The identification of the set of specific substantiated “marker” characteristics, which are inherent to manipulation technologies in the field of politics (such as theatricality, interactivity, communicative multi-levelness, strategicness, hidden benefit purposefulness, contextuality, discursiveness, and symbolism), and allow to identify them among other socio-political phenomena, was justified;
The choice of the “dramaturgical approach” (E. Goffman) within the framework of symbolic interactionism as a specific sociological theory, the use of which allows to reflect the structure and the essence of manipulation technologies in the context of their sociological conceptualization most fully, was reasoned. It was revealed that, being a part of the paradigm of social definitions, this approach combines the individual and group levels of the described social phenomena, and pays close attention to interaction between people. Therefore, it was argued that the “dramaturgical approach” makes it possible to fully analyze the content of manipulations and divide them into components, taking into account their “marker” characteristics;
The expediency of introducing the concept of “character assassination” as a manipulation technology, defined as a deliberate and sustained effort of a strategic nature, that is aimed on damaging the reputation or undermining the credibility of an individual, group or organization, into the conceptual apparatus of Ukrainian sociology, was demonstrated.
Keywords: the field of politics, political communication, communication models, communication technologies, manipulations, manipulation technologies, character assassination, strategic action, social dramaturgy, public opinion, research methods.
