2018 №3 (60) Article 9

O.I. Amurskaya

THE IMAGE OF A STATESMAN: SYNCHRONIC AND DIACHRONIC ANALYSIS. Р.Р. 79-90.

UDC 352/354(09)

The paper treats the issue of image formation and reputation characteristics influencing social perception of high-ranking officials through the prism of synchronic and diachronic approaches. The paper analyzes the image of A.A. Bezborodko, a high-rank official of Catherine II’s epoch. The paper investigates archival materials and memoirs of Russian people and foreigners to single out some characteristic features of social perception of the politician by his contemporaries. The author maintains that political image has always been important for statesmen and its role has even grown nowadays. It has historically been the case that the process of a statesman’s positive image formation has been always marred by people’s negative attitude to officials. People’s negative attitude to officials, which was so characteristic of the previous centuries, can be accounted for by historically conditioned challenges. A.A. Bezborodko’s luxurious way of life, his love of grand gestures and entertainments, which nowadays provoke corruption-related scandals, used to be a norm in Catherine II’s epoch. The authors of memoirs devoted to A.A. Bezborodko’s professional activities are unanimous in their appreciation of his professional qualities. Their attitude may probably account for a positive perception of the official by his contemporaries. It is typical of Russian mentality to mix personal and public aspects of a politician’s life. Therefore an image of a statesman is formed on the basis of individual and public achievements. In information society of the 21st century, the main technologies used to form a political image are mass media, social opinion, and PR. Performing their multiple functions (informative, analytical, entertaining, etc.), mass media ensure the formation of a positive or negative image of high-rank officials of Russia. It is essential that we should investigate historical background to understand objective and subjective prerequisites for the formation of people’s negative attitudes to political figures and to discover means to improve them.

a statesman’s image, reputation, officials, bureaucracy, Russian history of the late 18th century, cooperation with mass media.

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