The Personalization of Politics

Artykuł recenzowany / peer-reviewed articleIt has to be pointed out that in the second half of the 20th century the public discourse was dominated mainly by two phenomena. Namely, to put that notion in short, the change of our culture from a word-centric into image-centric one. As well as the decrease of the importance of the worldview-ideological disputes. The aim of this article is to indicate the effects of these phenomena on the social life. The authors point out to the consequences of the decrease in the role of the intellectual motifs in favour of the growing importance of the emotions when making a political-based decision. Thus, the concentration of the voters’ attention on the personality of the politician, not on his or hers views, achievements or political program. Hence, one may observe the decrease in the role of the political party in the political life at the national level and the diminishment of the inner-party democracy and its direct effect, namely, widely seen growth of demagogy and populism