Mating Call, Dog Whistle, Trigger: Asymmetric Alignments, Race, and the Use of Reactionary Religious Rhetoric in American Politics

IF 4.1 1区 社会学 Q1 SOCIOLOGY
Samuel L. Perry
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引用次数: 8

Abstract

Asymmetric social alignments are transforming American partisan rhetoric, particularly how politicians leverage identity-based appeals. For example, asymmetric religious, racial, and ideological alignments within the Republican party now make reactionary religious rhetoric increasingly strategic. Focusing on that case, I propose a novel conceptual model to understand what such rhetoric aims to accomplish. Reactionary religious rhetoric advertises, appeals, and activates on a spectrum from overt to subconscious registers, which I explain using three metaphors: mating call, dog whistle, and trigger. Within a context of asymmetrical partisan “sorting,” Christian nationalist rhetoric overtly advertises partisanship (mating call). Rhetoric deploying encoded terms like “Christian” and “socialist” appeals to ethno-culture, connecting specific political opponents to abstract ethno-religious threats (dog whistle). Lastly, research on overlapping identities increasingly suggests rhetoric involving threats to “Christianity” may unconsciously activate White racial threat (trigger). I consider applications of this conceptual model to growing political appeals to nationalist and populist identities.
求偶的呼唤,狗哨,触发器:不对称结盟,种族,以及美国政治中反动宗教修辞的使用
不对称的社会联盟正在改变美国的党派言论,尤其是政治家如何利用基于身份的诉求。例如,共和党内部不对称的宗教、种族和意识形态结盟现在使得反动的宗教言论越来越具有战略意义。针对这种情况,我提出了一个新的概念模型来理解这种修辞的目的。反动的宗教修辞在从公开到潜意识的范围内宣传、呼吁和激活,我用三个比喻来解释:求偶的呼唤、狗哨和触发器。在不对称的党派“分类”的背景下,基督教民族主义的修辞公然宣扬党派之争(求偶召唤)。使用诸如“基督教”和“社会主义”等编码术语的修辞迎合了民族文化,将具体的政治对手与抽象的民族宗教威胁(狗哨)联系起来。最后,对重叠身份的研究越来越多地表明,涉及威胁“基督教”的修辞可能无意识地激活白人种族威胁(触发器)。我考虑将这一概念模型应用于日益增长的对民族主义和民粹主义身份的政治诉求。
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来源期刊
Sociological Theory
Sociological Theory SOCIOLOGY-
CiteScore
6.90
自引率
6.80%
发文量
16
期刊介绍: Published for the American Sociological Association, this important journal covers the full range of sociological theory - from ethnomethodology to world systems analysis, from commentaries on the classics to the latest cutting-edge ideas, and from re-examinations of neglected theorists to metatheoretical inquiries. Its themes and contributions are interdisciplinary, its orientation pluralistic, its pages open to commentary and debate. Renowned for publishing the best international research and scholarship, Sociological Theory is essential reading for sociologists and social theorists alike.
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