Image of Motherland: Justification and Approbation of Diagnostic Tools

Abstract

The topic of patriotic consciousness and patriotic education today claims to the status of a nationwide idea, so the research interest in this issue is unusually high. The study of patriotic consciousness should begin with an analysis of the subject which the patriotic feelings of citizens are directed on. This subject is the motherland and its image in the minds of citizens. The article gives an overview of the data, which is used for the semantic deferential method «Image of Motherland» and the procedure of studying of the image of the Motherland based on this method. The sample was 165 respondents. Based on the results obtained, it is concluded that the use of this methodology is a tool, which lets us to determine social ideas about the image of the Motherland. It has been proved that the image of the Motherland in consciousness reflects the ideas about the country and the state in which the respondents were born and raised, it is not associated with a so-called “Small homeland”, but with a certain commonality of territory, nature and culture. There is reason to believe that the image of the Motherland in the human mind can be viewed as an image “for oneself” and an image “for others”: in the first case, the Motherland is perceived as big and strong, interesting for life and comfortable, simple and cultural; Motherland “for others” is bold and friendly, strong and kind.