Медіаобраз політика як чинник консолідації електоральних груп

It reveals the role of a politician’s media image as a leading factor in the process of electorate consolidation. The main objectives of the research were to introduce and present the concept of consolidation by outlining the level of the problem’s elaboration in modern Western studies, defining its structure, identifying the factors involved in its formation, and revealing the role of politicians’ media images through an analytical study of their components, namely visual, psychological, and communicative. The study is based on approaches from modern scientific fields: evolutionary, psychological, sociological, anthropological, and political.
The author presents a conceptual model of the structure of consolidation, which consists of three components: (1) a cognitive component: unity of political value orientations (where political values are personally meaningful to group members), a common purpose, and a common understanding of ways to achieve consolidation; (2) a categorical component: political identity, a sense of unity with the group, attachment to it, and a sense of “us”; (3) an action–communicative component: readiness for dialogue and for finding consensual solutions regarding optimal ways of solving the tasks facing the group, as well as readiness to take joint action to achieve specific goals.
Levels and types of consolidation are identified, which makes it possible to study it both as a local (group) and as a social (including national) phenomenon. It is found that consolidation, as a characteristic of a group, gives it a better chance to defend its interests successfully and to transform the surrounding reality. Consolidation is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon, the formation and strengthening of which require appropriate social conditions and specific factors. Seven basic factors are described: the economic factor, social trust, a sense of public duty, self-efficacy, past experience of participating in collective political actions, the information space, and the image of a typical representative of the opposition group.
One of the leading factors in the formation of political (in particular, electoral) group consolidation is the image of a politician. Parasocial relationships provide the basis for building consolidation around the media image; the article briefly describes their basic features. A number of studies are analysed to define the components of a politician’s media image: visual, psychological, and communicative. The question of political image and its constituents is addressed. Eight elements of an effective media image of a politician capable of consolidating the electorate are identified: external attractiveness and sociability; “commonality” (being like other citizens); a symbolic or archetypal basis of the image; alignment with the role of “public servant”; active use of media (both traditional and new) to form parasocial interaction with the electorate; the ability to “hear” the actual demands of society and citizens and to rely on them in rhetoric; an appeal to shared values and the creation of an idea of political reality shared with the people; forming open, trusting, dialogical communication with both the electorate and opposition forces; and the actualisation of a sense of “us” and motivation to recognise the importance of collective actions aimed at solving a particular problem or achieving objectives.
The study is limited to the description of group consolidation, as the political sphere also includes levels of social and national consolidation, the content of which may contain new components or may not contain those included in the presented structure. Therefore, the type of consolidation presented in the article is not universal for all its varieties, and addressing this issue requires separate work planned for further research.
The results bring us closer to a better understanding of the mechanisms of political groups’ unification, which are becoming increasingly effective actors in the political arena. Note, however, that the study does not provide a comprehensive answer regarding the technologies of electoral-group consolidation, because the authors did not aim to examine the role of other factors and their effectiveness alongside the factor of politicians’ media images. Underdeveloped notions of consolidation create in societies the phenomenon of local forms of unity, which it is important to be able to work with and to understand the psychological foundations underlying their formation.
The value of this work is broader than effective interaction only with electoral groups. The results can be used to consolidate various political groups (including electoral ones)—both to organise a separate association of citizens around a politician and to reduce tensions in society and reconcile individual radical groups. The author’s model of consolidation is presented as a holistic, complex socio-psychological structure, which makes it possible to further expand the range of mechanisms for influencing the electorate and thus guide the processes of organising an electoral group around a political leader. The study of politicians’ media images is presented as a completed and detailed task relevant in the context of political transformations in 2019–2020, in particular taking into account new requirements of modern communication technologies in politics.