Social Representations of Political Parties on the Example of Moscow Youth

Low electoral activity in Russia has evolved into a specific pattern, scholars call law nihilism , among younger generation, which is based on total rejection of any institution of power, including elections. Current study tries to apply new methodological approach to measurement social representations, which have the key role in constructing parties’ image and have impact on electoral behavior. Using J. Kelly’s method of repertory grids helps to reveal the actual attributes that construct social representations of political parties. Data collection was conducted at two stages: first, collection of 30 structured interviews to reveal the constructs – basic unit of social representation, second, collection of 100 structured interviews to reveal social representations of political parties. The objective is this study is to examine whether the J. Kelly’s method is appropriate to measurement of such a latent variable as social representation of political party. The findings have shown that method of repertory grids is much efficient in comparison to other decomposition methods and proposes relevant reflection of social structure.