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Populist Framing Mechanisms and the Rise of Right-wing Activism in Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 August 2021

Tayrine Dias Open the ORCID record for Tayrine Dias [Opens in a new window] ,
Marisa von Bülow Open the ORCID record for Marisa von Bülow [Opens in a new window]  and
Danniel Gobbi Open the ORCID record for Danniel Gobbi [Opens in a new window]
Tayrine Dias
Affiliation:
Tayrine Dias is a doctoral student at Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain. tdias@uoc.edu.
Marisa von Bülow
Affiliation:
Marisa von Bülow is a professor in the Institute of Political Science, University of Brasília, Brasília, Brazil. vonbulow@unb.br.
Danniel Gobbi
Affiliation:
Danniel Gobbi is a research associate at Humboldt-University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany. danniel.gobbi@fu-berlin.de.
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Abstract

This article presents an analysis of the use of populist framing mechanisms by grassroots right-wing organizations. It brings together the social movement literature on framing and the populist literature to understand how actors build an emergent field of activism in a highly contentious context. Based on the analysis of a sample of 4,574 Facebook posts published by 5 civil society organizations during the campaign to oust Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff, it argues that two mechanisms, reductionism and antagonism, enabled actors to focus on similar targets and diagnostics while maintaining relevant differences when seeking to motivate followers and present prognostic frames. These were key mechanisms used by all the actors, albeit with different contents, depending on the frame task. This article contributes to filling gaps in the framing and populist literatures and sheds light on the relevance of populist communication in the rise of right-wing activism.

Keywords

populismpopulist framing mechanismsimpeachmentright-wing organizationsprotests
Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 63 , Special Issue 3: The Grassroots Right in Latin America , August 2021 , pp. 69 - 92
Copyright
© The Authors 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the University of Miami

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Footnotes

Conflict of interest: authors Tayrine Dias, Marisa von Bülow, and Danniel Gobbi declare none.

References

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