Culture industry and the latest right-wing radicalism in Brazil

• Grant number: 20/09214-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: July 01, 2021
• End date: April 30, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Sociology - Other specific Sociologies
• Principal Investigator: Marcelo Siqueira Ridenti
• Grantee: Bruna Della Torre de Carvalho Lima
• Host Institution: Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas (IFCH). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Inspired by the studies of the Frankfurt School and its contemporary successors, this postdoctoral research proposal aims to study the recent right-wing radicalism in Brazil. The idea is to investigate the relations between digital culture industry and the far-right propaganda it conveys, on the one hand, and the rise of authoritarianism in the Country, on the other. The methodology resorts to a multi-method approach of analysis: firstly, the political advertising content and techniques on YouTube, WhatsApp and Facebook will be investigated; subsequently, our focus will turn to the profile of the consumers of such advertising, composed of constituents who voted for Jair Bolsonaro in the first and second rounds of the 2018 presidential elections who use at least one of these social networks. The following questions guide my research: what was the role of social networks in the rise of this radicalism in recent years in Brazil? What is the relationship between digital culture industry and anti-democratic propaganda? What is the modus operandi of the radical right's speech in Brazil? Why did constituents directly attacked by Bolsonaro's campaign vote for this candidate? Through a constructive dialogue with the bibliography on the subject, the objective is likewise to investigate elements present in contemporary authoritarianism which were under-scrutinized in its classic analysis, such as misogyny, for example. (AU)