CARNIVAL POLITICAL CULTURE: A SYSTEMATIC ANALYSIS OF THE MAIN CATEGORIES
The political culture of modern ruling elites can be defined in one word, which is at the same time their common diagnosis - “carnival”. Much has been written about the carnival, but the fact that such a political carnival is known mainly from journalism and memoirs. The carnival penetrates politics as political elites begin to get involved in gaming practices, adhere to double standards tactics and adopt conspiracy theories. If previously carnival political culture was an exception, now it is increasingly becoming a general rule. We can find in the media and in the scientific literature increasing criticism and accusations of politicians of involvement in the carnival political culture. Meanwhile a clear understanding of what the categories of carnival political culture are in the scientific literature has not yet developed. Each researcher interprets this phenomenon in his own way, investing in the categories in which it is described, his personal ideas and understandings. The main participants and initiators of the political carnival are often representatives of elite groups. Therefore, carnival political culture can be considered as a kind of elite culture, when the elites or counter-elites lack their traditional means, and they start using carnival technologies. This work provides a systematic analysis of the main categories of carnival political culture, and the carnival political culture itself is interpreted as an alternative subjective reality opposed to political cultures of objective political reality.