STRUCTURE OF COLLECTIVE POLITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS AS A METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEM OF RESEARCH
The article deals with the methodological problems of the research of the phenomenon of collective political consciousness. The author gives a review of the basic traditions and approaches exploring political consciousness and contradictions related to them. The paper considers the concepts “political consciousness” and “public opinion”. The author also analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of realistic-sociological approach to the study of collective consciousness. The article examines N. Elias’s approach and R. Brubaker’s “category of group”. The category “consciousness” is explored.