Digitally implanted authoritarianism? The revival of "conservative" discourses in Portuguese-speaking countries in the 21st century

• Grant number: 23/13694-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: November 20, 2024
• End date: February 19, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Sociology - Sociology of Knowledge
• Principal Investigator: Marcos César Alvarez
• Grantee: Natasha Bachini Pereira
• Supervisor: Antonio Jorge Pais Costa Pinto
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
• Associated to the scholarship: 21/07296-9 - Digital de-democratization: the spread of authoritarianism through social media in Brazil, BP.PD

Abstract

With the aim of deepening the analysis of the first results of the proposer's research into the transposition and propagation of "conservative" discourse on Facebook in contemporary Brazil, we propose to carry out a study on the re-(rise) of this type of discourse in Portuguese-speaking and semi-peripheral countries, starting with a comparison with the case of Portugal. In dialogue with the literature in the field, we will discuss whether and to what extent the analytical keys that have been proposed for understanding the so-called new "conservative" wave, such as the very notion of conservatism, as well as audience plebiscite, digital populism, socially implanted authoritarianism and the extreme right, help in understanding the phenomenon. In the analysis, we will also try to verify the influence of conjunctural variables, such as the spread of social media and the global economic crisis in local contexts, as well as the elements of this discourse that are perpetuated historically and culturally, given the previous colonialist relations between these countries. From an empirical point of view, we will observe the frames given to political institutions, human rights violations and state violence by the main enunciators of the "conservative" discourse on social media, and their impact on the opinion of followers, through semi-structured interviews in both countries.