In:Voices of Supporters: Populist parties, social media and the 2019 European elections
Veronika Koller, Natalia Borza, Massimiliano Demata, Laura Filardo-Llamas, Anna W. Gustafsson, Susanne Kopf, Marlene Miglbauer, Valeria Reggi, Ljiljana Šarić, Charlotta Seiler Brylla and Maria Stopfner
[Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture 101] 2023
► pp. 162–186
Chapter 8Spain
“There is now an alternative. Thank you #EspañaViva”: Voters’ motivation and identity construction in the Spanish context
Published online: 1 September 2023
https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.101.c8
https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.101.c8
Abstract
This chapter explores how populist traits permeate
Vox’s supporters’ discursive construction of this
political party, of the nation, and of other political and social actors.
The analysis is based on a corpus of 400 tweets produced during the 2019
European and general elections. The qualitative analysis uses tools from
cognitive linguistics, mostly related to positioning and framing, and
multimodality. Findings show a nativist trait in the discursive blend
established between the political party, its supporters and the nation. The
construction of the Other is varied, comprising other political parties and
social groups. The existence of Vox is legitimised by
supporters as a means for maintaining a Spanish identity both within Spain
and Europe. The centrality of the nation is seen both in the textual and
visual mode of the tweets, where emojis abound.
Article outline
- Introduction
- Context
- Data and method
- Analysis
- Construction of the ingroup: Spain and the Spanish people
- The ingroup and the party: Legitimisation of existence
- The ingroup and the heartland: Construals of Spain
- The outgroup: Identification of “enemies”
- Conclusions
Acknowledgements Notes
