POPULISM AS A COMMUNICATIVE PHENOMENON: THE ESSENCE AND METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

Abstract

The article presents a communicative approach to the study of populism. It is based on the features of the populist style of political communication, as well as methods that can be used to assess the intensity of its use. According to the communicative approach, almost every political actor becomes a suspect in attempts to turn to populism. It is proved that the communicative approach does not contradict other approaches to the study of populism, such as the ideological one, but complements them. The author provides clear signs of style that make it possible to identify populism in political communication using the communicative approach: secrecy, negative attitude to the actions and decisions of the state elite, opposition of ‘people’ and ‘elite’, as well as appeal to the will of the people. The only thing left to do is to determine which keywords to associate with each of these features. The methods that make it possible to measure the intensity of the use of populist style in political communication based on the above features are also considered. These methods include classical content analysis, computer content analysis and holistic grading. Three subtypes of computer content analysis — nonautomated, semi-automated and automated — are distinguished with their features and scenarios of application.