The Public as a Subject of Study of Social Sciences

The article analyzes the definitions of the public as a subject of social sciences. The purpose of the paper is to operationalize the concept of the public for its practical application in the system of functioning of political institutions. The basis of the methodology is an instrumental approach. The methods used are comparative, legal analysis, description and generalization of data, a questionnaire survey of residents of a metropolitan Russian city to assess the potential of public activity in solving local issues. Various theories of domestic and foreign researchers focus their attention on particular aspects of the public. Representatives of the managerial approach formally divide the public into several groups: public organized structures (NGOs, professional community, etc.), acting on a permanent and legal basis, and active citizens acting situationally within a specific project to discuss it (interested citizens, expert councils, etc.). Within the framework of political theory, the public always focuses on a problem and forms through getting interested in a particular challenge. From the point of view of the law, the public is not designated as a concept but indirectly finds its expression in the legally established forms of realization of the right to local selfgovernment. In PR, the public is labile, dynamic and unstable to manipulation. The key characteristics of the concept under consideration, which is widely used in the Russian and foreign communication space, but not formed into a single definition, are highlighted. The author concludes that the public is heterogenic, dualistic, centred on a particular problem. The empirical study revealed a low level of public participation in projects associated with creating a comfortable urban environment. On the contrary, the level of willingness to get involved in other city problems is high.