Russian Media: Targets, Strategies and Technologies for Influencing the Audience. Article One: System of Categories and Research Methodology
The article aims to study the specific features of the interaction of different social institutions with different audiences in different circumstances. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the categories and methodological prerequisites for such interaction. The object of the study was the communication of social institutions of different types: economic institutions, political and legal institutions, defense and public order institutions, institutions for social sphere, cultural, upbringing and educational institutions, communication institutions. The article shows that texts that participants of any social communication exchange are a set of actions. These actions, in turn, are elements of the activity of a certain social actor. This activity is carried out in accordance with a certain strategy. The strategy includes (a) targets: to achieve them, communicative actions are carried out; (b) means (resources): without using them, these actions cannot be performed; and (c) techniques (technologies) for performing the necessary actions. The functional-target analysis of institutional communication identified a set of goals, and the institutional communicator directs their efforts to achieve these goals. The study of the resources showed seven groups of tools that are used to achieve the goals. The analysis of the categories “technique”, “method”, “technology” clarified the differences between them. It was concluded that the criterion for distinguishing these categories is the degree of impersonality of the used schemes of activity. The category “technique” refers to an individualized algorithm of actions, which is based on the intuition and personal experience of a particular individual. This algorithm is transmitted from the expert to the disciple in interpersonal communication. The category “method” is used to denote a scientifically verified approach to transforming the object of activity. Mastering this approach presupposes the study of a special theory. The category “technology” denotes an algorithm of activity that has passed multiple practical and scientific tests, has been brought to perfection and set out in publicly available diagrams. This algorithm can be used by any actor to solve similar problems and achieve the desired results. It is proposed to classify the following types of technologies: production, economic, political, social, cultural, communication. The article analyzes social and communication technologies.