Sub semnul paradoxului. Aspecte ale reprezentării sociale a puterii în context românesc

The purpose of this research was two‑fold: to trace the characteristics of the Romanian historical context and to see the way in which these characteristics are possibly mirrored in the social representation of power. 287 subjects were multi‑methodologically investigated: through the method of psychologically induced association, that of semi‑structured interview, and the semantic differential measurement technique. It was proven that the money‑authority‑monopoly triad formed the central nucleus of power. The methodological complementarity proved to be efficient. The specific data processing revealed at least one paradox for each research instrument used. This paper illustratively analyzes five of these paradoxes: of valency, of expectancy, the behavioral one, the chromatic one and even of the gender attributed to power in its social representation. The conclusion that resulted from this analysis is reflected by the title of the paper itself.