The social representations of the inhabitants of Latvia about the ideal image of a politician

Riga International School of Economics and Business Administration, Latvia

Abstract

The image concept is widely regarded, carefully developed and pragmatically used to obtain some particular benefit, including the social, the psychological as well as the material. Publications, advertisements and other offers can be found on the internet, distributing widely the services and campaigns of image creation. The aim of the research is to investigate the social representations of the inhabitants of Latvia about the ideal image of a politician. The following research questions were put forward: What are the social representations of the inhabitants of Latvia about the ideal image of a politician? What are the differences in social representations about the ideal image of a politician among the representatives of the social groups of the inhabitants of Latvia? The total of 1692 inhabitants of Latvia participated in the research. Research methods: Method of association analysis; Interview of focus groups. Conclusions: The social representations of the inhabitants of Latvia about the ideal image of a politician are, first, as an honest, second, a clever person, third, waiting particular actions and results from politicians, which means working for the benefit of the country, its inhabitants, no for the benefit of his own, fulfilling the promises made. It can be concluded that there exist statistically considerable differences in the choice of associations about an ideal politician (p<0.05) according to the groups of age, place of residence, education, employment and nationality.