Журнал политических исследований, 2020, № 1

ISSN 2587-6295 
 
ЖУРНАЛ ПОЛИТИЧЕСКИХ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЙ 
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Главный редактор: 
Федорченко С.Н. – кандидат политических наук, доцент, 
Московский государственный областной университет, 
зам. декана факультета истории, политологии и права по 
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Ответственный редактор:  
Титова Е.Н. 
E-mail: titova_en@infra-m.ru 
 
Журнал включен в Перечень ВАК по следующим 
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методология 
политической 
науки 
(политические 
науки), 
23.00.02 – Политические институты, процессы и 
технологии (политические науки), 
23.00.04 – Политические проблемы международных 
отношений, глобального и регионального развития 
(политические науки) 
 
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© ИНФРА-М, 2020 
 
Опубликовано 25.03.2020. 
 
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СОДЕРЖАНИЕ

Политические институты, 

процессы и технологии 
 
Fedorchenko S.N., Fedorchenko L.V.,  
Karlyavina E.V. 
Applicability of Herbert Blumer's Symbolic 
Interactionism to Political Analysis of 
Internet Communications 

Мартынов М.Ю. 
Концептуальные проблемы современной 
российской символической политики в сохранении 
исторической памяти о Великой Отечественной 
войне.  
 
Белов С.И., Жидченко А.В. 
Образ фантомной угрозы для детей со стороны 
США в советском историческом кинематографе 
периода холодной войны 
  
Алексеев Р.А. 
Противодействие коррупции, как один из 
ключевых векторов государственной политики: 
мировой и российский опыт  
 
Теория политики, история и методология 
политической науки 
 
Матюхин А.В. 
М.М. Сперанский: у истоков российского 
либерализма  
  
Научная жизнь 
 
Федорченко С.Н. 
Элита и ее политический режим в условиях 
сетевых коммуникаций  
 

РЕДАКЦИОННАЯ КОЛЛЕГИЯ

Федорченко С.Н.  — канд. полит. наук, доцент, заместитель 
декана факультета истории, политологии и права по научной 
работе и международному сотрудничеству, доцент кафедры 
политологии 
и 
права, 
Московский 
государственный 

областной университет 
Абрамов А.А.  — канд. полит. наук, доцент, доцент кафедры 
политологии 
и 
права, 
Московский 
государственный 

областной университет  
Афанасьев В.В.  — д-р полит. наук, доцент, профессор 
отделения социологии традиционной культуры, Академия 
гуманитарных и общественных наук  
Багдасарян В.Э.  — д-р ист. наук, декан факультета истории, 
политологии 
и 
права, 
Московский 
государственный 

областной университет  
Безносов М.А. — канд. социол. наук, доктор философии в 
области 
политологии 
(Ph.D. 
in 
Political 
Science), 

преподаватель, 
Департамент 
политической 
науки, 

Университет Западной Джорджии, США 
Быков И.А.  — д-р полит. наук, доцент, доцент кафедры 
связей с общественностью в политике и государственном 
управлении, 
Санкт-Петербургский 
государственный 

университет  
Ветренко И.А.  — д-р полит. наук, профессор, профессор 
факультета 
социальных 
технологий, 
Северо-Западный 

институт управления РАНХиГС 
Володенков С.В.  — д-р полит. наук, доцент, профессор 
кафедры государственной политики факультета политологии, 
МГУ им. Ломоносова 
Грачев М.Н.  — д-р полит. наук, профессор, профессор 
кафедры 
теоретической 
и 
прикладной 
политологии 

факультета истории, политологии и права Историкоархивного 
института, 
ФГБОУ 
ВО 
«Российский 

государственный гуманитарный университет» 
Кирнос А.В.  — канд. полит. наук, доцент, начальник 
кафедры теории и истории государства и права, Воронежский 
институт Министерства внутренних дел РФ 
Кросстон Мэтью Д.  — д-р филос. наук, профессор 
факультета 
безопасности 
и 
глобальных 
исследований 

Американский Военный Университет, США 
Курылев К.П.  — д-р ист. наук, доцент, профессор кафедры 
теории и истории международных отношений, Российский 
университет дружбы народов 
Мартынов М.Ю.  — д-р полит. наук, доцент, главный 
научный 
сотрудник, 
заведующий 
Лабораторией 

социологических и правовых исследований, доцент кафедры 
политико-правовых дисциплин, БУ ВО «СурГУ ХМАО — 
Югра» 
Матюхин А.В.  — д-р полит. наук, доцент, зав. кафедрой 
философии 
и 
истории, 
Московский 
финансово
промышленный ун-т «Синергия»  
Орлов И.Б.  — д-р ист. наук, профессор, заместитель 
руководителя 
Департамента 
политики 
и 
управления, 

заместитель руководителя Научно-учебной лаборатории 
исследований 
в 
области 
бизнес-коммуникаций 

Национальный исследовательский университет "Высшая 
школа экономики" 
Саква Ричард  — доктор философии, профессор российской 
и 
европейской 
политики, 
Университет 
Кента, 

Великобритания 
Сельцер Д.Г.  — д-р полит. наук, профессор, заместитель 
ректора, профессор кафедры международных отношений и 
политологии, Тамбовский государственный университет им. 
Державина  
Тарасов И.Н. – д-р полит. наук, профессор, профессор, 
Балтийский Федеральный университет имени Иммануила 
Канта 
Ярулин И.Ф.  — д-р полит. наук, профессор, директор 
Института 
социально-политических 
технологий 
и 

коммуникаций, 
Тихоокеанский 
государственный 

университет 

Труды молодых ученых

 
Бардина К.В., Ильичев А.В.,  
Моисеенко К.С., Курылев К.П. 
Когнитивный анализ личности политика на 
примере М.Н. Саакашвили  
 
 

Applicability of Herbert Blumer's Symbolic 
Interactionism to Political Analysis of Internet 
Communications 
 
Применимость символического интеракционизма 
Герберта Блумера в политическом анализе 
интернет-коммуникаций 
 
UDC (УДК) 32.019.51  
 
 
DOI: 10.12737/2587-6295-2020-3-13 
Received: 10.02.2020  
Approved: 21.02.2020 
Published: 25.03.2020 
 
Fedorchenko S.N. 
Candidate of Political Science, Associate Professor, Professor, Department of Political Science 
and Law, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of History, Political Science and Law for Research and 
International Relations, Moscow State Regional University 
e-mail: sn.fedorchenko@mgou.ru  
 
Федорченко С.Н.  
Канд. полит. наук, доцент, профессор кафедры политологии и права; заместитель декана 
факультета истории, политологии и права по научной работе и международным 
отношениям Московского государственного областного университета 
e-mail: sn.fedorchenko@mgou.ru  
 
Fedorchenko L.V. 
Candidate of Political Science  
e-mail: kascandra@mail.ru 
 
Федорченко Л.В.  
Канд. полит. наук 
e-mail: kascandra@mail.ru 
 
Karlyavina E.V. 
Senior Lecturer, Department of International Relations and Geopolicy of Transport, Russian 
University of Transport MIIT 
e-mail: katerinakarlj@yandex.ru

Карлявина Е.В. 
Старший преподаватель кафедры международных отношений и геополитики транспорта 
Российского университета транспорта (МИИТ) 
e-mail: katerinakarlj@yandex.ru 
 
Abstract 
The aim of the article is to study the model of symbolic interactionism by the American sociologist 
Herbert Blumer and to identify the analytical elements that are most applicable to the political 
analysis of internet communications. The authors used the hermeneutic approach, including the 
identification of central premises in Blumer's model as well as an additional interpretation of such 
premises. Quantitative content analysis was used as an auxiliary methodological optics. The 
analysis demonstrated that the analytical tools of symbolic interactionism from the Chicago School 
(definitive and sensitizing concepts, exploration and inspection, etc.) can be effectively tailored 

and used for current research of internet communications in applied political science. The authors 
conclude that identifying the transaction process is the most important result of applying Blumer’s 
symbolic interactionism model to a study of social media communities by a political scientist. It 
is demonstrated that the conditions of social media require investigating the mechanism of 
behavior adaptation by each individual to the behavior of others. This gives an insight into the 
mechanism by which social life and the political regime are streamlined and stabilized. 
Keywords: Herbert Blumer, symbolic interactionism, internet, social media, political analysis, 
internet communications, political regime, digitalization. 
 
Аннотация 
Целью статьи является выявление аналитических элементов модели символического 
интеракционизма американского социолога Герберта Блумера, наиболее применимых для 
политического 
исследования 
интернет-коммуникаций. 
Авторы 
использовали 

герменевтический метод, который включал выявление центральных тезисов модели 
Блумера, а также дополнительную их интерпретацию. В качестве вспомогательной 
методологической оптики послужил количественный контент-анализ. Результаты анализа 
показали, что аналитический инструментарий Чикагской школы символического 
интеракционизма (дефинитивное и сенсибилизирующее понятие, разведка и инспекция и 
др.) можно хорошо адаптировать для современного исследования сетевых интернеткоммуникаций в прикладной политологии. Делается вывод, что выявление процесса 
транзакции – это самое важное, что дает модель символического интеракционизма Блумера 
при исследовании политологом сообществ социальных сетей. Показано, что в условиях 
социальных сетей необходимо изучать механизм приспособления линий поведения 
каждого индивида к линиям поведения других индивидов. Это даст понимание основы 
механизма упорядочивания и стабилизации социальной жизни и политического режима. 
Ключевые 
слова: 
Герберт 
Блумер, 
символический 
интеракционизм, 
Интернет, 
социальные сети, политический анализ, интернет-коммуникации, политический режим, 
цифровизация. 
 

Introduction 

The American sociologist Herbert Blumer has published a number of scientific papers that are 

still awaiting reinterpretation by the academic political science community. The premise that the 
construction of social reality is an ongoing process is of fundamental importance. This 
actualization of the social interaction mechanism makes the modern political scientist pay close 
attention to Blumer's model for understanding the processes taking place on the internet. Blumer’s 
symbolic interactionism model is based on three main points: 

a) All people act in relation to objects based on their existing meanings; 
b) The meanings of objects are formed based on the social interaction between people; 
c) The meanings are used and transformed during the interpretation process [3]. 
On the one hand, these three premises were proposed by American scientists before the spread 

of internet social media platforms and were intended to study real social processes. On the other 
hand, the development of social media promotes their use for analyzing virtual reality and its 
specific internet communications. Sociologists use several key terms that must be clarified. For 
example, if "definition" for Blumer is a collective process of instructing another individual on how 
to act and respond, then "interpretation" is a personal process of interpreting instructions from 
other individuals [2]. According to Blumer, common definitive and interpretative templates form 
a "transaction" mechanism for adapting the behavior of each individual to the behavior of others. 

Unfortunately, modern political scientists and sociologists often fail to notice the obvious 

usefulness of Blumer's theoretical and methodological model for studying virtual reality 
phenomena. Thus, the aim of the article is to consider Blumer's symbolic interactionism model 
and to identify the analytical elements that are most applicable to the political analysis of internet 
communications.  

Scientific literature review 

The legacy of the American sociologist Herbert Blumer has been viewed as controversial by 

researchers. The reason is clear since the American sociologist in many respects reworked the 
earlier ideas of George Mead and was also part of the Chicago School of symbolic interactionism 
founded by him, whose representatives paid more attention to new and creative interaction aspects. 
Meanwhile, the Iowa School of symbolic interactionism (Manford Kuhn and Carl Couch, 
University of Iowa) focused on exploring the coherence between interactions. The Iowa School 
used cybernetic and positivist principles, preferring to study small groups in the laboratory to 
define the behavior patterns of actors and create a clear terminological apparatus for understanding 
social phenomena. Unlike Herbert Blumer, Manford Kuhn relied on quantitative methods. The 
Indiana School of symbolic interactionism (Sheldon Stryker, University of Indiana) began 
studying the most stable symbolic templates that construct and reproduce social structures [4]. 
Stryker accepted that the premises of symbolic interactionism can be verified using both 
quantitative and qualitative scientific methods.  

Robert Prus believes that the Chicago School is the most consistent successor to the scientific 

traditions of symbolic interactionism. Its main features are as follows: pragmatism as a focus on 
active interactions and the procedural mechanism of social communities, production of terms, and 
ethnographic study of the everyday experience of social groups [8]. An analysis of ethnopolitical 
processes and phenomena in popular communities on the largest social media platforms is 
becoming acutely relevant for law enforcement agencies. They could be helped by political 
scientists working on interdisciplinary projects. Meanwhile, the ideas of the Indiana School can 
be considered as a certain compromise between the Chicago and Iowa schools; they are quite 
interesting in terms of studying the legitimacy and stability of political regimes in the modern 
digital era. 

David A. Snow considers Blumer's three main methodological principles underdeveloped and 

nonspecific since his focus on the problem of interpretation does not apply to researching a range 
of social phenomena. Based on his experience in analyzing social movements, Snow suggests 
using the following four principles to develop a theoretical framework of symbolic interactionism 
instead of the three principles by Blumer: symbolization, interactive determination, human agency, 
and emergence [9]. But Snow also clarifies that his approach does not contradict Blumer's basic 
ideas. According to R. J. Maratea and David Keys, Blumer’s symbolic interactionism was an 
innovative approach to social research and went far beyond the temporal and spacial limitations 
that the French scientist Gustave LeBon, who studied the psychology of the masses, previously 
had discovered [5]. Blumer managed to shift the focus of social sciences from structural to 
interactive and behavioral explanations for social phenomena.  

Some authors note that Bloomer criticized the mechanistic aspects of the social sciences that 

treat causative explanations and the use of variables as dogma. Indeed, Blumer even criticized the 
scientific research technique adopted by the academic community: hyperbolization of procedural 
descriptions, the existing operationalization method, the dominance of quantitative methods, and 
the ever-present variables [3]. R. Azarian believes that the main drawback of Blumer’s symbolic 
interactionism model is a lack of concretization of the defining actions by social relations 
participants. The transactions described by Blumer—that is, practices that people use to coordinate 
their actions with other members of society, lack clarity. The American sociologist also does not 
explain the social forces that unite people in any activity and compel them to coordinate their 
behavior. There is virtually no discussion of the mechanism used by individuals to define and 
approve the meanings of various objects [1]. The ambiguity leads to difficulties in trying to 
integrate the theoretical concepts of symbolic interactionism with empirical experience. 
Meanwhile, Azarian emphasizes that, despite its shortcomings, Blumer's symbolic interactionism 
is a sound theoretical model with significant potential for an objective analysis of subtle 
mechanisms of modern political power. Moreover, Roberto Venturini notes that Blumer gradually 
improved and refined his views in his later works [10], coming back from epistemological 

premises to recognizing the need for procedures in scientific research. Indeed, in his main scientific 
work called Symbolic Interactionism. Perspective and Method, Blumer criticized the use of 
detailed procedures for conducting scientific research, but it is not always noted that he proposed 
his own procedures in the same book ("exploration" and "inspection"). This compels us to 
reconsider the significance of symbolic interactionism and try to adapt its theoretical and 
methodological toolset for modern political analysis. This is especially important in the context of 
digitalization when people interact in communities on social media. 

Methods 

First, the hermeneutic approach was used to adapt Blumer's symbolic interactionism models to 

the political analysis of modern internet communications. According to the German scientist W. 
J. Patzelt, the hermeneutic approach is one of the most important methods in modern academic 
political science. The hermeneutic approach is used to understand a scientist’s assertion, 
reconceptualize a research model, and adapt its premises and analytical elements to the present 
day [7]. Patzelt believes that the hermeneutic approach is best used in two stages: 1) it is important 
to obtain a preliminary meaning by defining the “central utterance” (the scientist's main premise); 
2) additional interpretation of the identified premise and new information will be required to refine 
the gained knowledge. Both stages of the analytical procedure are repeated until a political scientist 
is able to gain a deep understanding of the controversial premise(s). Patzelt compares the two 
stages of the hermeneutic approach with Archimedes' "movement of the screw" that gradually 
draws closer to the essence of the considered problem. It is notable that Patzelt advises using 
several hermeneutic approach techniques to solve complex problems:  

a) Let it pass (the theory's unclear elements, premises, and terms are temporarily set aside until 

more information is obtained for their full understanding);  

b) Filling in (it is accepted that obscure theoretical elements, the author's terms and ideas may 

also contain temporarily inaccessible meaning for the modern scientist);  

c) Unless (due to the lack of a better explanation for a theoretical premise or element, scientists 

use the operational explanation that is currently proposed);  

d) Retrospective and prospective interpretation (the old meanings of the theoretical elements, 

terms, and premises are rethought and reinterpreted if new data appear);  

e) Constructing interpretative templates (based on analyzing consistent patterns after 

performing hermeneutic procedures);  

f) Interpretation of exceptions and deviations.  
The Twitter community of the US President Donald Trump was chosen at the next stage to test 

the applicability of Blumer’s symbolic interactionism model to the political analysis of internet 
communications. Additional methodological optics of quantitative content analysis were 
employed for this purpose:  

а) The statistical web resource socialblade.com was used to check the relationship between the 

growth in the number of posts (tweets) and increase in the number of the subscribers;  

b) The statistical web resource tweetstats.com helped identify the most frequently used Twitter 

community hashtags (hashtags (#) make it easier to search for information by keywords and are 
also hyperlinks and political messages). This resource also provided information on Trump's 
community reactions to other accounts. Thus, the content analysis units were the number of 
subscribers, tweets, and hashtags in Trump's community. 

Results 

The hermeneutic analysis made it possible to: a) identify the central meaning of Blumer's 

symbolic interactionism model elements; b) tailor the identified elements to the political analysis 
of modern internet communications. All results were summarized in a table for convenience. 

 
Table 
Adapting Herbert Blumer's model to the political analysis of internet communications 
 

Model
elements

Meaning of the elements 
Adaptation

Definitive concept
The type of scientific term that clearly 
defines a political phenomenon and 
allows one to analyze its static features 
(power, state, subject of management, 
object 
of 
management, 
network 

community, echo chamber, political 
agenda, political discourse, artificial 
intelligence, hashtags, etc.).

It enables an analysis of 
the 
same 
political 

phenomena in real and 
virtual realms, comparing 
their 
features 
and 

identifying 
common 

patterns from the political 
science viewpoint.

Sensitizing concept
A type of scientific term that does not 
clearly explain a poorly studied political 
phenomenon but only outlines areas for 
future detailed study (meme, archetype, 
fakes, digitalization, digital sovereignty, 
digital detox, etc.). 

It helps analyze poorly 
investigated 
political 

phenomena in real and 
virtual realms with the 
aim of detailing and 
transforming them into a 
more specific definitive 
concept.

Exploration
A flexible research procedure that allows 
a scientist to switch from one search 
direction to another until the most 
comprehensive explanation of social life 
is obtained.  

Exploration should be 
used to analyze new 
analytical communication 
elements such as social 
media, the internet of 
things, 
artificial 

intelligence, 
hologram, 

cloud 
computing, 

multiplayer 
computer 

games, chatbots, machine 
vision, and spam bots.

Inspection
An intensive procedure for studying the 
empirical aspects of analytical elements 
and the empirical content of the 
relationships between these elements. It 
involves an in-depth analysis of political 
phenomena identified by the exploration 
procedure 
using 
various 
scientific 

methods. 

For example, the political 
discourse in social media 
communities 
can 
be 

studied using quantitative 
content 
analysis 
and 

additional 
SWOT 

analysis 
of 

communication effects.

Meanings
Meanings are social products created 
during social interaction. Meanings can 
be assigned to political symbols, coats of 
arms (of countries, ministries and cities), 
archetypes, 
memes, 
metaphors, 

stereotypes, consistent behavior patterns, 
political 
party 
brands, 
political 

It will also be useful to 
study the specifics of 
representations and the 
processes of distorting 
initial 
meanings 
in 

internet communications. 

Model
elements

Meaning of the elements 
Adaptation

statements, messages, image, slogans, 
phrases and entire speeches of political 
leaders, etc.

Interpretation
Interpretation is a personal process of 
interpreting the instructions of other 
individuals, including the meanings of 
their words or actions. It is guided by 
stimuli, prompts, and definitions of 
meanings coming mainly from reference 
groups. This intermediate process occurs 
between the communication and its aftereffect. 

Different interpretations 
of the same political 
meanings can be studied 
in a comparative analysis 
of various social media 
communities. 

Definition
This 
is 
a 
collective 
process 
of 

communicating to another individual 
instructions on how to act and respond. 
Socialization becomes the cultivation of 
an ability to successfully take on other 
individuals' roles. Social control turns 
into self-control as a result. 

The dominant political 
definition schemes can be 
studied on the example of 
the echo chamber effect 
in 
social 
media 

communities. 

Transaction
Transaction involves adapting the actions 
and behavior of each individual to the 
actions and behavior of others as the basis 
for ordering and stabilizing group life. A 
transaction is actually a dual process of 
interpretation 
and 
definition. 
The 

established group life templates are based 
on the continuity of interpretative and 
definitive schemes. 

Continuity as an integral 
part of a transaction can 
be analyzed in terms of 
established 
political 

values in social media 
communities. 

Network
A 
network 
is 
the 
linking 
and 

interdependence of various actions by 
different individuals that possess a set of 
meanings and interpretations and create 
institutions. Even when faced with totally 
novel situations, individuals develop 
forms of joint action based on continuity 
with 
previous 
collective 
interaction 

patterns and set of meanings.  

Such an approach to the 
network 
helps 

comprehend 
its 

mechanism and prospects 
for the institutionalization 
of 
organized 
network 

structures 
and 

communities 
that 
are 

based 
primarily 
on 

"strong" 
rather 
than 

"weak" ties.

Communication 
process

It 
includes 
the 
following: 

interdependence 
of 
forms 
of 

communication; 
changeability 
and 

variability 
of 
presentations 
in 

communication methods; changeability 
and variability of people's sensitivity to 
communication methods; interpretation 
process; immersion in the world of 
moving events. 

This explanation is wellcorrelated with modern 
changes 
in 
social 

media—algorithmic news 
feeds take into account 
the internet user's reaction 
(their likes, comments, 
reposts, views of specific 
websites, etc.).

Functional groups
Social organizations with leaders and 
interests endowed with various powers 

This leads to rethinking 
the 
phenomenon 
of 

Model
elements

Meaning of the elements 
Adaptation

and seeking to use communication 
channels to influence key individuals 
making political decisions.  

influence 
groups 
in 

internet communications. 
An example is the role of 
social media bots in 
shaping 
the 
political 

agenda in the virtual 
environment.

Public opinion
Diversified 
interaction 
between 

functional groups occupying different 
strategic positions and individuals rather 
than between separate individuals.  

Such 
a 
perspective 

provides 
a 
key 
to 

understanding 
the 

mechanism that shapes 
the political agenda and 
its impact in internet 
communications.

The quantitative content analysis conducted using the socialblade.com website revealed a 

relationship between the expanding number of tweets in Trump's virtual community and increase 
in his subscribers (see figures 1, 2). 
 

 
Figure 1. Increase in Trump's community followers (M stands for million of followers) 
 
 

 

Figure 2. Increase in the number of tweets in Trump's community (K stands for thousand tweets) 

Figure 3. Trump's community reaction to other accounts and his retweets  

Figure 4. Popular hashtags in Trump's community 

The quantitative content analysis using the tweetstats.com website (figure 3) revealed that 

Trump's community interacts the most with the community of former US president Barack Obama 
(the interaction includes contacts between the two accounts and the reaction of the members of 
virtual communities forming around these accounts). There is also a reaction to the tweets of the 
Republican politician Mitt Romney and the writer and producer Danny Zucker. Retweets include 
tweets from their own community as well as from those of NBC, White House, and Trump's 
relatives and supporters. The most commonly used hashtags in Trump's community (see figure 4) 
are: #makeamericagreatagain, #trump2016, #celebapprentice, #maga, #1. 

Discussion and Conclusions 

So, let us try to interpret the results. The hermeneutic approach helped us clarify the main 

analytical elements of Blumer’s symbolic interactionism that are useful for the political science 
study of internet communications: definitive concept, sensitizing concept, exploration, inspection, 
meanings, interpretation, definition, transaction, network, communication process, functional 
groups, public opinion. Of course, there are other elements, but the elements listed above can be 
considered the most well-developed by the American sociologist. How can a modern political 
scientist use these elements of Blumer's model? 

First, during the first stage (exploration) of the study based on the Blumer model, a political 

scientist can clarify the operational terms that they will have to deal with, for example, when 
analyzing political discourse on social media. Grouping the terms into "definitive" and 
"sensitizing" is a very useful approach. In many respects, the internet remains an innovative sphere 
for academic political science; thus, certain generally accepted definitions may not suffice for its 
interpretation and conceptualization. Meanwhile, the introduction of sensitizing concepts does not 
violate Occam’s razor while broadening the researcher's horizons by providing them with the 
advantages of an interdisciplinary principle. An example of such a sensitizing concept is the meme. 
Richard Dawkins considers the meme to be a kind of replicator—that is, a reproducing and 
disseminating element of cultural information; however, such an interpretation is not always 
suitable for creating a procedure and conducting empirical research as it is insufficiently studied. 
Nevertheless, the conditions of virtual reality enable identifying more specific internet memes as 
a type of dual-layer viral network messages containing semiotically different opinions on current 
news and issues. Such internet memes are usually packaged in vivid images. A similar sensitizing 
and largely operational concept is proposed by S. A. Shomova. The quantitative content analysis 
using socialblade.com that identified a relationship between the expanding number of tweets in 
Trump's virtual community and increasing number of followers is an example of the research 
exploration procedure proposed by Blumer.  

Inspection as the next research stage may also include a series of empirical measurements of 

internet memes. At the conclusion of this stage one may proceed to creating a more permanent 
definitive concept. The quantitative content analysis through tweetstats.com that characterized the 
interaction between Trump's community and other communities and accounts as well as hashtags 
can also be viewed as an example of the second research stage using Blumer's model (inspection). 
It is noteworthy that the meaning of two research stages (exploration and inspection) proposed by 
Blumer coincides with the two hermeneutic approach stages according to the German scientist W. 
J. Patzelt. 

Identifying the dual "transaction" process is the most important outcome of applying Blumer’s 

symbolic interactionism toolset to studying social media communities in political science. If, for 
instance, certain network communities are considered as echo chambers, they can illustrate the 
mechanisms of the two transaction components (interpretation and definition). It is extremely 
important to understand how the behavior of each individual is tailored to the behavior of others 
as the basis of ordering and stabilizing social life and the political regime. This is a key issue for 
modern political power in the context of widespread internet social media, traditional state 
sovereignty crisis, and declining public trust in traditional political institutions. The majority of 
technologically advanced political regimes in various countries are interested in maintaining their 
legitimacy and stability; therefore, they will use increasingly flexible and inconspicuous 
manipulative technologies to control mass consciousness. The key goal of such technologies is the 
political regime's control over the most important meanings of such concepts as justice, freedom, 
equality, value, civil society, politics, effectiveness, democracy, etc. It is strategically important 
for any political regime to control how such concepts are defined and interpreted. 

Blumer's illustration of the network phenomenon can be considered a real breakthrough. His 

hypothesis helps us evaluate the prospects for the institutionalization of modern network 
communications which members of the public are taking an increasingly active part in and which 
are increasingly controlled by large corporations and political regimes. Blumer's concepts of 

interdependence, interweaving, and variability of communications as well as mutual changeability 
and variability of people's sensitivity to communication media are especially useful for internet 
analysis since modern social media actually use algorithmic news feeds that take into account the 
internet user's reaction. An analysis of innovative communication methods would be very useful 
for researchers. For instance, if holographic chat emerges and becomes affordable, it will to an 
extent revolutionize interaction between people. Currently, holograms are used only by political 
leaders to maintain their positive image. Symbolic interactionism can also be used in future studies 
of human interaction with artificial intelligence through social media platforms. Artificial 
intelligence could be the future digital community development that will overtake the entire human 
sociopolitical existence through compatible API algorithms, network communities, egovernments, services, multiplayer games, holograms, the internet of things, machine vision, cloud 
computing, drones, and Big Data methodological optics. Academic political science needs to pay 
more attention to these phenomena to assist people in raising media literacy, resisting 
fakes/manipulations, and preventing a destructive transformation of democratic regimes into 
authoritarian and totalitarian ones in the conditions of digitalization. Political science in a digital 
society reflects the political regime's effectiveness. 

Blumer's concept of functional groups and their role in structuring public opinion has great 

potential in the study of social media and communities by political science, despite being 
underappreciated by researchers. Blumer is sometimes criticized for not analyzing the subjects of 
political governance within his model, but the functional group concept could not be more suitable 
for studying the role and place of modern political elites in network communications. Blumer's 
model will likely benefit if supplemented with conceptual analysis of power by V. G. Ledyayev 
[6] who studied the technologies of the subject of management toward the object of management 
in detail. Functional groups fit well into the model of organized networks with strong ties that 
according to the hypothesis by Dutch theoretician Geert Lovink are capable of displacing modern 
networks with weak ties used by corporations like Facebook to profit from people. Of course, such 
a civil collaboration is a priori opposed by the political elite. However, the elite itself is changing 
with the advent of a network society, trying to stay current and simulate openness for anyone. 
Other scientist besides Manuel Castells and John Urry have written about network elites. For 
instance, Geert Lovink believes that transformation of the elite involves delegation of its authority 
to community administrators, while most users are faced with a lack of time due to the constant 
need to be online. Nevertheless, no scientist has yet proposed a detailed description of this new 
elite in a digital society. Symbolic interactionism can provide an impetus for solving this problem 
and will contribute to the transition of democracy to a new level of interaction between society 
and the state. 

Acknowledgеments 

In conclusion, the authors would like to thank Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor of the 

Lomonosov Moscow State University S.V. Volodenkov. Conversations with him on the problems 
of modern social media inspired us to write this article.  

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