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Populism and Immigration: (Re)Inventing Identities Through Language

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Values, Cities and Migrations

Part of the book series: Green Energy and Technology ((GREEN))

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Abstract

Populism is one of the hottest topics of the moment and immigration is a fundamental lens for understanding its success, although not the only one. Starting from this assumption, this chapter aims to specify how language can be used as a strategic resource to empower populist platforms. The analysis contributes to the existing analysis by clarifying that language is intrinsically evaluative: the choice of the use of words and the linguistic strategies implemented by any political actor cannot be seen as neutral. Hence, we argue that (radical right) populists do not make a pathological use of language per se. The populist linguistic strategies belong to a physiological dimension, in the sense that PRRPs masterly exploit the potentialities inherent in language. In brief, we connect to Mudde’s convincing argumentation concerning the need to understand contemporary populist radical right not as a normal pathology but as a pathological normalcy (2010) and consider that populist radical right parties’ relation to language is better perceived as a pathological physiology, in the sense that the content might be at odds with the politically correct, but even the politically correct is not neutral.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Note that fear is not a negative emotion in itself, just as the operation of arousing fear is not necessarily negative. On the positive potentials of fear and the link with responsibility see Jonas (1979) and the so-called “heuristic of fear”.

  2. 2.

    For more details see Lo Piparo (2003).

  3. 3.

    For an analysis of Aristotelian rhetoric, see Piazza (2008).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy

    Salvatore Di Piazza

  2. University of Florence, Florence, Italy

    Sorina Soare

Authors
  1. Salvatore Di Piazza
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  2. Sorina Soare
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Salvatore Di Piazza .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. DARCH, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy

    Grazia Napoli

  2. DIST, Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy

    Giulio Mondini

  3. DASTU, Politecnico of Milano, Milano, Italy

    Alessandra Oppio

  4. DIA, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy

    Paolo Rosato

  5. DARCH, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy

    Simona Barbaro

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Di Piazza, S., Soare, S. (2023). Populism and Immigration: (Re)Inventing Identities Through Language. In: Napoli, G., Mondini, G., Oppio, A., Rosato, P., Barbaro, S. (eds) Values, Cities and Migrations. Green Energy and Technology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-16926-7_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-16926-7_4

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