CURRENT CONCEPTS OF ACHIEVING POLITICAL WELL-BEING: TRANSFORMATION OF THE CONCEPT OF «SOFT POWER» IN MODERN SCIENTIFIC DISCOURSE

The relevance of the research is predetermined by the scientific popularity that the concept of «soft power» has recently acquired. The aim of this work is to examine the concept of «soft power» through the prism of such theoretical approaches as constructivism, structuralism and cultural theory. Methods: the axiological approach that allows evaluating socio-cultural phenomena, the constructivist approach that analyses «soft power» as a framework for cultural production of certain symbolic schemes that construct social reality. The article draws the following important conclusions: firstly, soft power strategies make it possible to use influence on the mental structures of mass consciousness without the visible use of direct and hard pressure. Secondly, politics at the present stage is an arena of competing symbolic and cultural universes that seek to impose their own iconic «realities» on different audiences. «Soft power» as a mechanism for applying these «cultural codes» plays a leading role in the political practices. The result of the research is the Gramsci's theory of «hegemony» compared with the concept of «soft power». The difference between them is that «soft power» is rather a tool for foreign policy influence, whereas «hegemony» is a mechanism for «internal» preservation of power by a ruling class. In the end we can conclude that «soft power» will remain the most important tool for applying power in the modern socio-cultural space.