EL DISCURSO SUBVERSIVO DE PATRICIA ESTEBAN ERLÉS EN EL CONTEXTO DE LO FANTÁSTICO FEMINISTA

La poética fantástica de Patricia Esteban Erlés (Zaragoza, 1972) constituye una contestación al ideario conservador asumido por nuestro imaginario cultural. Así lo demuestran características relativas a la selección y el tratamiento de los personajes, la temática, la construcción y la significación del espacio narrativo, el modo de abordar la monstruosidad derivada de la realidad sexista, las propuestas formales y la apuesta por el hibridismo genérico. Su análisis estará imbricado con reflexiones sobre la consolidación de esta línea de lo fantástico feminista en las últimas décadas en el ámbito de la narrativa en español y sobre la posible existencia de un canon de autoras, tanto en español como en otras lenguas, que haya podido influir en esa fragua de lo fantástico escrito por mujeres con una clara perspectiva política, en la que lo no mimético se convierte en una herramienta ideológica de denuncia social y genérica. Abstract: Born Zaragoza, 1972, Patricia Esteban Erlés’s poetics of fantastic represents a contestation to the conservative ideology assumed by our cultural imaginary. This is demonstrated by some characteristics related to the selection and treatment of characters, the subject, the construction and the signification of the narrative space, the approach to monstrosity as derived from sexist reality, the formal proposals and the inclination towards generic hybridism. Its analysis will be interweaved with reflections on the consolidation of this trend of the feminist fantastic in the last decades in the Spanish narrative panorama and the possible existence of a female writers canon, both in Spanish and other languages, that could have influenced the forging of the fantastic written by women with a clear political perspective in which non-mimetic genres have become an ideological tool for gender and social denunciation.

What Conservatives Value: Reply to Blackburn

In reply to Dean Blackburn’s ‘In the Shadows’, it is argued that the situated nature of the conservative ideology entails that its adherents cannot have a substantive set of shared values, but that their values will typically be a cultural inheritance. The epistemological element of conservatism may not be the most electorally salient in any concrete context, but has strategic value as the common element of conservatism most likely to support a public reason defence.

Populism and fascism in Europe: case of Romania

The article focuses on the essence of populism and fascism in the context of the political regime in Romania. It analyses the real threat of fascism in the interwar period in Romania as well as a negative impact on the socio-economic sphere in the Romanian society. The article also points to the fact that the fascist party in Romania was short-lived. The dictatorship of Ion Antonesku and his followers, in fact, implemented some points of their program (eg, anti-Semitic activities), adopting mate nationalistic and conservative ideology, but it did not accept the fascist "revolutionary" ideas and totalitarian structures. Populism is a good option for election campaigns. After all, people always like a simple and understandable way without undue burden. Human logic and speculation aid such a way. Nevertheless, populism is a nourishment for authoritarian leaders.

Recontextualizing Barstool Sports and Misogyny in Online US Sports Media

This critical qualitative case study interrogates the roles Barstool Sports and its founder, Dave Portnoy, serve in reaffirming the narrative power of conservative cultural ideology in mainstream US sports media. Portnoy’s targeted harassment of female journalists is analyzed as examples of how the outlet alienates critics of heteronormative, hypermasculine discourse within relevant cultural arenas in digital sports media. To examine how the company deflects criticisms of misogyny, we explore Barstool Chicks—an alternative version of the company’s website targeting female audiences. Resultantly, Barstool and Portnoy undermine the potential for feminist-driven narratives in sports media and contribute to the normalization of repressive conditions within cultural industries that perpetuates the continued dominance of conservative ideology.

Falsehood in, falsehood out: A tool for measuring exposure to elite misinformation on Twitter

Most research studying misinformation on social media examines links to news articles. Yet a great deal of misinformation comes directly from public figures. Here, we introduce a new tool for measuring Twitter users’ exposure to elite misinformation based on the public figures they choose to follow. From a database of 950 professional fact-checks by PolitiFact, falsity scores can be calculated for 816 public figures. We then assign users a misinformation-exposure score by averaging the falsity scores of the public figures they follow. We show that users’ misinformation-exposure scores are negatively correlated with the quality of news they share (based on ratings from both professional fact-checkers and a politically-balanced crowd of laypeople), and positively correlated with conservative ideology. Additionally, we analyze the co-follower and the co-share network of 5,000 Twitter users and find an ideological asymmetry: ideological extremity is associated with more misinformation-exposure for conservatives but not liberals.

A Power-Challenging Theory of Society, or a Conservative Mindset? Upward and Downward Conspiracy Theories as Ideologically Distinct Beliefs

Even though conspiracy theories are diverse, they are typically construed as a homogeneous phenomenon. Based on classic theorizations of conspiracy theories by Popper (1945; 2002) and Moscovici (1987), we propose to distinguish between belief in upward conspiracy theories (i.e., targeting relatively powerful groups) and downward conspiracy theories (i.e., targeting relatively powerless groups). The former are theorized as power-challenging beliefs and the latter are theorized as being underpinned by conservative ideology. Across three studies conducted in Belgium (Total N = 2363), we show that these two types of conspiracy beliefs indeed relate differently to power-challenging attitudes (i.e., political extremism, feelings of leadership breakdown) and conservative ideology. Specifically, upward conspiracy beliefs were characterized by a U-shaped relationship with political orientation (i.e., an “extremism” bias), and a strong relationship with feelings of leadership breakdown. By contrast, downward conspiracy beliefs were strongly associated with conservative ideology. Both types of conspiracy beliefs were, however, positively correlated.

Mobilizing Victimhood: Situating the Victim in Canadian Conservatism

This article offers an examination of the discursive significance of the “victim” in the Conservative Party of Canada through a critical discourse analysis of two key pieces of legislation (Bill C-10 and Bill C-36) tabled by the Harper Conservative government. The central argument contends that while all populist arguments may be a form of victim argument, not all conservative victim arguments are populist—particularly ones directed at issues related to women and gender equality. The article finds that, perhaps due to the reactive nature of conservative ideology, conservative politicians in Canada adopt an “ambidextrous” approach to victims—mobilizing two distinct and, at times, contrasting sets of arguments. The article concludes by proposing two possible explanations for this ambidexterity, one stemming from the literature on organizational management and the other from theorizations of the reactive nature of conservative ideology.

The Place of Slavophilism in the Typology of Conservatism

In the history of political thought, Russian Slavophilism of the period from 1840s till 1880s has two established traditions of interpretation: as a variant of conservative ideology and as one form of Russian liberalism of the 1840s, along with Westernism (in this case, the later history of Slavophilism, i.e. the period between 1860s and 1880s, is viewed as a departure from initially liberal stances. Beginning with the framework of Andrzej Walicki, the article attempts to demonstrate the underpinnings of this peculiar duality of evaluations. Slavophilism is understood as liberal conservatism; the article also uncovers the structural conditions, on which the liberal component of Slavophile views are based. Special attention is given to the analysis of processes, which led to the dominance of the interpretation, according to which Russian Slavophilism is a conservative ideology, where the liberal component is defined as situational. The reason for such a reading are rooted in the peculiar position of Russian liberalism in the late XIX century, when the nationalism agenda was interpreted as entirely pertaining to the conservative side of the political spectrum.

The Place of Slavophilism in the Typology of Conservatism

In the history of political thought, Russian Slavophilism of the period from 1840s till 1880s has two established traditions of interpretation: as a variant of conservative ideology and as one form of Russian liberalism of the 1840s, along with Westernism (in this case, the later history of Slavophilism, i.e. the period between 1860s and 1880s, is viewed as a departure from initially liberal stances. Beginning with the framework of Andrzej Walicki, the article attempts to demonstrate the underpinnings of this peculiar duality of evaluations. Slavophilism is understood as liberal conservatism; the article also uncovers the structural conditions, on which the liberal component of Slavophile views are based. Special attention is given to the analysis of processes, which led to the dominance of the interpretation, according to which Russian Slavophilism is a conservative ideology, where the liberal component is defined as situational. The reason for such a reading are rooted in the peculiar position of Russian liberalism in the late XIX century, when the nationalism agenda was interpreted as entirely pertaining to the conservative side of the political spectrum.