Distance and Familiarity in Political Talk in Argentina

PEREYRA, SEBASTIÁN; MARENTES, MAXIMILIANO

When Citizens Talk About Politics

Routledge

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2020; p. 173 - 191

We analyse political talk from focus groups in Argentina as a means to understand citizens´ attitude about and relationship to politics. Analysing discourse about supply (DaS) and discourse about citizen action (DaCA), we show how political supply and the repertoire of actions by individual citizens revolve around distance from and familiarity with politics. We illustrate some recurring topics in studies of politics in Argentina. Specifically, strong presidential leadership and malaise in representation can be understood from the perspective of everyday language and observed in the political talk of citizens. In our scheme of analysis, distance and familiarity seem to be bound to what analysts call a ´delegative attitude´ towards politics. This draws on O´Donnell´s (1994) notion of a ´delegative democracy´ used to describe transitional political regimes in Latin America and Central Europe. The concept focuses on centrality of the presidential figure and his or her tendency to reduce politics to a matter of representing national interests.