Emotion Narratives of Far Right Populist Mythologies

Populism explores social polarisation which is produced by stiffened social identities associated with divergent emotions in relation to social groups (us and them). Emotions in society are mobilised by narrative constructions that entangle predictive feelings in association to specific Others on the base of political mythologies that shape groups identities, status and roles. The paper builds on theories of social and political psychology as well as political sociology adopting the theoretical construct of the emotion narrative. The analysis maps the political mythologies of far right parties of Portugal and Italy to explore rational and affective dimensions of their institutional and public discourse. Documental analysis, media analysis and Cognitive Affective Maps are used as methods of data analysis. The main hypothesis is that institutional and party literature crystallize parties’ political mythologies and highly mediated, self-mediated, and mediated political discourses adapt them to political contingency to impact in political behaviour recurring to normative affective dynamics. The findings should contribute to better understand the socio-political dynamics underpinning far right and populist growth.