THE CONTEMPORARY SCIENTIFIC DISCOURSE OF POLITICAL ELITOLOGY: DIRECTIONS OF METHODICAL TRANSFORMATION

The development of the separation of subdisciplinary and interdisciplinary research directions that clarify the content and status of modern political elites is studied. Attention is paid to the issue of optimizing the research process of forming national elites in the context of defending national interests and European integration. The features of the modern professional discourse regarding the state and transformations of political elites are identified, which has classical and innovative components. The conceptual shift in the discourse is substantiated, which changes our understanding of elitist governance and democracy in the 21st century. The significance of the professional discourse regarding the ratio of traditional and innovative elites is revealed, which raises issues of subject areas, including political practices of exercising power, the formation of political institutions, the representativeness of society, etc. The specifics of the modern scientific discourse on the transformation of elites are shown, which is based on innovative methodological foundations that make it possible to obtain valid scientific information from the digital public environment. It is revealed that media activity also provides a lot of data for assessing the development of political elites. It is proved that network analysis is one of the most important methodological innovations of modern elitology. It allows researchers to visualize the connections between elites in different social sectors. The significance of digital methods of analyzing statistical data and public information, which have changed the focus of assessing the functioning of elites, is analyzed. The significance of integrating behavioral and psychological structural foundations of elite formation is reflected. For modern Ukraine, the actualization of the problem of technocratic elites that influence the optimization of traditional political structures is substantiated.