Cover not available

Article published In: Journal of Language and Politics
Vol. 23:6 (2024) ► pp.851–873

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required

Rickety democracies

Breaking down the structures of distrust and shame in Peruvian political phrases

ORCiD logo with link | Queensland University of Technology
Published online: 14 December 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.22065.oco
Abstract
This article addresses the narrative and discursive structures underlying popular Peruvian political phrases disseminated through social media, word-of-mouth communication and mainstream media between 2016 and 2022. One goal is to reveal how these constructions suggest patterns of interaction and societal weaknesses. Another goal is to propose a qualitative approach using a narrative semiotics perspective to analyze the structure of these types of objects of study. Four relevant interconnected structures were distinguished: (1) structures of generalized and (2) compartmentalized distrust and (3) structures of vertical and (4) horizontal shame. They all serve to understand how the generalization of distrust and the rise of horizontal shaming in Peru expose the incoherence between a publicized democratic image and a reality characterized by deep social fractures.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Political slogans
    • 1.2Distrust, guilt, and shame
  • 2.Materials and methods
    • 2.1Methods and objects of study
    • 2.2Theoretical models
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1(#)Queevayantodos and (#)CierrenelCongreso
    • 3.2(#)NoalFraude and (#)NoalGolpe
    • 3.3(#)VacanciaYA and (#)FueraCastillo
    • 3.4(#)NoaKeiko
    • 3.5Por memoria y dignidad and (#)Fujimorinuncamas
    • 3.6Toma tu taper versus (#)Cojudignos
  • 4.Discussion
  • References
References (28)
References
Ashima, Abhishek Soni and Arun Vanam Kumar. 2022. “Political Slogans and Its Impact on Society.” NeuroQuantology 201, no. 171: 1199–1206. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blanco, Desiderio and Raúl Bueno. 1989. Metodología del Análisis Semiótico. [Semiotic analysis methodology.] Lima: Fondo Editorial de la Universidad de Lima.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Courtés, Joseph. 1997. Análisis Semiótico del Discurso. Del Enunciado a la Enunciación. [Semiotic análisis of discurse. From the enunciate to the enunciation] Translated by Enrique Ballón. Barcelona: Gredos.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Denk, Thomas and Daniel, Silander. 2012. “Problems in paradise? Challenges to future democratization in democratic states.” International Political Science Review 33, no. 1: 25–40. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Direk, Zeynep. 2020. “Politics of Shame in Turkey: Public Shaming and Mourning.” Sophia 591: 39–56. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dromi, Shai M. and Gülay Türkmen. 2020. “What Does Trauma Have to Do with Politics? Cultural Trauma and the Displaced Founding Political Elites of Israel and Turkey.” The Sociological Quarterly 61, no. 1: 22–41. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fontanille, Jacques. 2016. Prácticas Semióticas. [Semiotic practices.] Translated by Desiderio Blanco. Lima: Fondo Editorial de la Universidad de Lima.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel. 1982. “The Subject and Power.” Critical Inquiry 81, no. 41: 777–795. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fuchs, Christian. 2012. “Social media, riots, and revolutions.” Capital & Class 361, no. 31: 383–391. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gorman, Brandon, Ijlal Naqvi and Charles Kurzman. 2019. “Who Doesn’t Want Democracy? A Multilevel Analysis of Elite and Mass Attitudes.” Sociological Perspectives 621, no. 31: 261–281. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hartig, Falk. 2018. “Political slogans as instruments of international government communication – the case of China.” The Journal of International Communication 241, no. 11: 115–137. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
INEI. 2020. Perú: Percepción Ciudadana sobre Gobernabilidad, Democracia y Confianza en las Instituciones. Octubre 2019 – marzo 2020. [Citizen perception about governability, democracy and trust in institutions. October 2019–2020.] Lima: INEI. [URL]
IPSOS. 2021. “Estudio de Opinión – IPSOS Perú, Febrero de 2021”. [Opinion study – IPSOS Peru, february 2021.] Opinion data. Accessed January 10, 2022. [URL]
Kruse, Stefan, Maria Ravilik and Christian Welzel. 2019. “Democracy Confused: When People Mistake the Absence of Democracy for Its Presence”. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 50, no. 3: 315–335. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Latinobarómetro. 2021. Informe Latinobarómetro. [Latinobarometer report.] Lima: INEI. Accessed January 10, 2022. [URL]
Lawler, Michael G. and Todd A. Salzman. 2016. “Conscience and Experience: Choosing the True and the Good”. Irish Theological Quarterly 81, no. 1. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lenard, Patti T. 2008. “Trust Your Compatriots, but Count Your Change: The Roles of Trust, Mistrust and Distrust in Democracy.” Political Studies 56, no. 2: 312–332. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lewis, Helen. B. 1971. “Shame and Guilt in Neurosis.” The Psychoanalytical Review 58, no. 3: 419–438.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Li, Lianjiang. 2021. “Distrust in Government and Preference for Regime Change in China.” Political Studies 69, no. 2: 326–343. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lu, Xing. 1999. “An Ideological/Cultural Analysis of Political Slogans in Communist China.” Discourse & Society 10, no. 4: 487–508. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Makovicky, Nicolette, Anne-Christine Trémon and Sheyla S. Zandonai. 2019. “Slogans. Circulations, contestations, and current engagements with neoliberal policies.” In Slogans Subjection, Subversion, and the Politics of Neoliberalism, edited by Nicolette Makovicky, Anne-Christine Trémon, Sheyla S. Zandonai, 1–23. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Markoff, John. 2019. “Overflowing Channels: How Democracy Didn’t Work as Planned (and Perhaps a Good Thing It Didn’t).” Sociological Theory 37, no. 2: 184–208. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
ONPE (n.d.). “Elecciones / Histórico de elecciones”. [Elections / Elections register.] Accessed January 10, 2022. [URL]
Quezada, Óscar. 1991. Semiótica Generativa. Bases Teóricas. [Generative semiotics. Theoretical bases.] Lima: Centro de Investigación en Comunicación Social de la Universidad de Lima – CICOSUL.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stacul, Jaro. 2018. “The Constructive Power of Slogans in Post-Socialist Poland.” Anthropologica, 601, no. 21: 494–506. [URL]
Statista (n.d.). “Social media usage in Peru – Statistics & Facts”. Statista. [URL]
Tilly, Charles. 2003. “Inequality, Democratization and De-democratization.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 21, no. 1: 37–43. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2007. Democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue