The essence of the concept ‘reputation of the power’ (the results of the sociological research)

The new stage of the Russian statehood development in the direction of the stable democracy dictates the need for transition from the virtual political space to the real. The key element of this transition seems to be the formation not only of the positive image but also the reputation of the Russian power. There is a variety of approaches to the study of the image and reputation features of various political subjects in the scientific literature due to the multifaceted and complex character of these phenomena - an object of different sciences. However, the scientific research dictates the need for a precise and accurate interpretation of the notions of reputation and power with reference to the social reality. The author proposes a way to reveal key differences between the concepts ‘image’ and ‘reputation’ based on the analysis of a number of research approaches and the results of the sociological research of the regional power reputation in the Smolensk region. The articles systematizes the basic approaches to studying the image and reputation (in particular, of the power), specifies the empirical indicators of these concepts, indicates the author’s interpretation of these concepts and their regional dimension (‘reputation of the regional power’) through the eyes of the main subject of its assessment - the population of the Smolensk region.

power, information, image, image of the power, reputation, reputation of the regional power, reputation management