Socio-philosophical foundations of theatricalization of the political sphere

Abstract

Public policy is always focused on finding the most effective ways to communicate with the broad masses (society, population, electorate). Historical experience shows that one of such methods is the introduction of theatrical elements into the communication process. The purpose of this study is to identify and comprehend the social and philosophical foundations of the theatricalization of the political sphere. The concept of theatricality of sociocommunicative manifestations of culture was chosen as a methodological research strategy (based on methods of sociocultural analysis). This approach made is possible to find out that the combination of the elements of the game, performance, ritual, carnival, masquerade in political “spectacles” helps to: attract the attention of opponents; demonstrations of solidarity with the protest movement; the formation of the image of the politician in accordance with the role that he plays in the political “theater”; creating additional channels of communication policy with the “public”. One of these channels is costume jewelry and accessories, which are not only an addition to the image of a politician, but also an important dramatic element. By allowing the replacement of a direct message with a sign-symbolic form, jewelry helps to impart a gaming, theatrical format to the communication process. On the one hand, it helps to expand the audience, but, on the other hand, it introduces an element of interpretation into the process of information transfer. This circumstance is used by the mass media, strengthening its role in the political “theater”. It has also been established that to a certain extent theatricality has always been inherent in politics. But the theatrical component does not always prevail in it: the desire for theatricality increases with the division of the political sphere into public and “hidden”. Strengthening theatrical manifestations in the modern political sphere indicates that this is the trend that is developing in social relations. This, in turn, determines the emergence of new technologies and communication formats in the system “power – society”.