Don’t call me right! The strategy of normalization in german right-wing extremism

  • This is the 18. article in our series Trouble on the­ Far-Right. When it comes to change in social environments, a parable of philosopher Charles Handy gets pulled out quickly. If you drop a frog in boiling water, it jumps out immediately; but placed in cold water slowly warming up, it acclimates itself and falls to sleep, unaware of being boiled alive. The parable reminds us of the perceptional relativity of change: Within communities creeping developments cause habituation, abrupt breaks an arousing shock. In terms of social movements this truism becomes apparent in a double way: On the one hand, erupting crises may destabilize social orders and create the necessary space for dissident actors to gain momentum – while they would fail to mobilize outside the scenario of an anxious community gasping for a new guarantor of order. On the other hand, the rise of a dissident actor with unconventional performances may work as a shock triggering withdrawal reflexes in the broader society – while dissidents with relative habitual sentiments can find resonance in communities disappointed by the ruling order. Does this perspective offer a potential to explain the rise of far right movements in Europe? Let’s examine it by the example of Germany where, in the last two years, far right actors have experienced a remarkable gain in political acceptance – on the streets, in the booths and in the talk shows. In this case, it could be argued that their success in protest and electoral mobilizations as well as their disproportionate high presence in the media rests on communication politics that effect a normalization of far right positions previously disreputed in public discourse. Through this creeping habituation by society, they are able to gain momentum in situations of crisis, producing themselves successfully as a legitimate agent of the “anxious citizens” disappointed by the government. To test this little argument, a finger exercise in frame analysis seems to be proper, a tool common in social movement studies to explain why certain ideas in certain contexts are potent to mobilize audiences – and are not in others.

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Metadaten
Author:Holger Marcks
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-398038
URL:http://www.sicherheitspolitik-blog.de/2016/04/26/dont-call-me-right-the-strategy-of-normalization-in-german-right-wing-extremism/
Parent Title (German):sicherheitspolitik-blog.de
Place of publication:Frankfurt am Main
Document Type:Report
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2016/04/26
Date of first Publication:2016/04/26
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2016/04/26
Tag:AfD; Germany; Lügenpresse; NPD; Pegida; Rechtsruck; crisis; extremism; far right; frame analysis; framing; mobilization
Note:
Dieses Werk bzw. Inhalt steht unter einer Creative Commons Namensnennung-NichtKommerziell-KeineBearbeitung 3.0 Unported Lizenz.Über diese Lizenz hinausgehende Erlaubnisse können Sie unter redaktion@sicherheitspolitik-blog.de erhalten
HeBIS-PPN:381226891
Institutes:Gesellschaftswissenschaften / Gesellschaftswissenschaften
Exzellenzcluster / Exzellenzcluster Die Herausbildung normativer Ordnungen
Dewey Decimal Classification:3 Sozialwissenschaften / 32 Politikwissenschaft / 320 Politikwissenschaft
Sammlungen:Universitätspublikationen
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - Namensnennung-Nicht kommerziell-Keine Bearbeitung 3.0