Conspiratorial Narratives in Violent Political Actors’ Language

This article articulates the concept of “conspiratorial narratives”—defined as stories which integrate a large range of events and archetypal characters from past and present in a single teleological explanation for the alleged suffering of a given social group—and argues that this particular lingui...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of language and social psychology 2019-10, Vol.38 (5-6), p.706-734
Main Author: Baele, Stephane J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Language
Narratives
Politics
Propaganda
Radio
Suffering
Verbal aggression
Violence
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Summary:This article articulates the concept of “conspiratorial narratives”—defined as stories which integrate a large range of events and archetypal characters from past and present in a single teleological explanation for the alleged suffering of a given social group—and argues that this particular linguistic construct is a key marker of extremist language. Using three different cases to illustrate our theoretical contribution (Nazi propaganda, Rwandan genocidaires’ radio, IS’ messaging), we show that paying attention to conspiratorial narratives leads us to significantly revise classic accounts of violent actors’ language, and provides a better understanding of the link between that language and violence itself—more precisely, why violence happens, how much violence is directed to whom, and when it occurs.
ISSN:0261-927X
1552-6526
DOI:10.1177/0261927X19868494