Social representations of Brazilian Truth Commission on news comments

  • Anderson Mathias Dias Santos University of Paraíba, Brazil
  • José Joaquín Pizarro Carrasco University of the Basque Country, Spain
  • Lidiane Silva de Araújo University of Campina Grande, Brazil
  • Adriele Vieira de Lima Pinto University of Paraíba, Brazil
Keywords: collective memory, social representations of history, ocial media, transitional justice, truth commissions

Abstract

The study investigated the social representations of the Brazilian Truth Commission from the news comments about its final report released in December 2014. Method: Comments (N = 322) were collected in the three major newspapers websites in Brazil: “Folha de São Paulo”, “O Globo” and “O Estado de São Paulo” during the 48 hours following the report’s publication. They were submitted to a lexical analysis on the software Radicalized discourses justifying the violations and narratives denying the existence of a dictatorship were observed. Discussion: Results were in line with social media theories about online behavior, but they do not corroborate previous research on the social representations of the military regime and Truth Commissions in South America.

Received: 15 September 2021
Accepted: 22 November  2021

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Agassiz, Almeida. 2007. A Ditadura Dos Generais: Estado Militar Na América Latina: O Calvário Na Prisão. Rio de Janeiro: Bertrand Brasil.

Agência Senado. 2019. «Texto que aponta ‘esquerdismo’ no jornalismo causa polêmica no CCS.» Senado Notícias. Accessed November 20, 2021. https://www12.senado.leg.br/noticias/materias/2019/11/04/texto-que-aponta-hegemonia-esquerdista-no-jornalismo-causa-polemica-no-ccs.

Ahonen, Sirkka. 1997. «A transformation of History: The official representations of History in East Germany and Estonia, 1986-1991.» Culture and Psychology 3, no 1: 41-62. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354067X9700300103.

Anderson, Ashley A., Dominique Brossard, Dietram A. Scheufele, Michael A. Xenos, and Peter Ladwig. 2014. «The ‘nasty effect:’ Online incivility and risk perceptions of emerging technologies.» Journal of Computer- Mediated Communication 19, no. 3: 373-87. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12009.

Arnoso, Maitane, Darío Páez, Manuel Cárdenas, Elena Zubieta, Agustín Espinosa, and Marian Bilbao. 2015. «Representaciones sociales del pasado y rituales de justicia transicional en América Latina.» Cadernos de Pesquisa 45, no. 156: 276-98. https://doi.org/10.1590/198053143134.

Arnoso, Maitane, and Pau Pérez-Sales. 2013. «Representaciones sociales de la víctima: entre la inocencia y la militancia política.» Psicoperspectivas. Individuo y Sociedad 12, no. 1: 50-71. https://doi.org/10.5027/psicoperspectivas-Vol12-Issue1-fulltext-221.

Assmann, Jan. 2008. «Communicative and Cultural Memory.» In Cultural Memory Studies. An International and Interdisciplinary Handbook, edited by Astrid Erll and Ansgar Nunning, 109-18. New York: Walter de Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110207262.2.109.

Associação Brasileira de Jornais. 2018. Tiragem impressa dos maiores jornais perde 520 mil exemplares em 3 anos. Accessed January 10, 2020. https://www.anj.org.br/site/menagenda/97-midia-nacional/5251-tiragem-impressa-dos-maiores-jornais-perde-520-mil-exemplares-em-3-anos.html.

Azevedo, Fernando A. 2006. «Sistema de mídia e o sistema político.» Opinião Pública 12: 88-113. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0104-62762006000100004.

Bar-Tal, Daniel. 2007. «Sociopsychological foundations of intractable conflicts.» American Behavioral Scientist 50, no. 11: 1430-53. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764207302462.

Bar-Tal, Daniel, and Eran Halperin. 2011. «Intergroup conflicts and their resolution.» In Frontiers of Social Psychology. Intergroup Conflicts and Their Resolution: A Social Psychological Perspective, edited by Daniel Bar-Tal, 217-40. New York: Psychology Press. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203834091.

Bezerra, Ellen. 2017. «A ditadura militar nos livros didáticos: História e memó- ria nos manuais de Ensino de 1976 e 2016.» In XXIX Simpósio Nacional de História, 1-16. Brasília: UNB.

Bobowik, Magdalena, Darío Páez, James Liu, Laurent Licata, Olivier Klein, and Nekane Basabe. 2014. «Victorious justifications and criticism of defeated: Involvement of nations in World Wars, social development, cultural values, social representations of war, and willingness to fight.» International Journal of Intercultural Relations 43 (PA): 60-73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2014.08.013.

Bombelli, Juan, Omar Fernández, and Fernanda Sosa. 2013. «Representaciones sociales de la historia argentina y género: Un estudio con estudiantes militares.» Boletín de Psicología 108: 71-89.

Boulianne, Shelley. 2015. «Social media use and participation: A meta-analysis of current research.» Information Communication & Society 18, no. 5: 524-38. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2015.1008542.

Bovet, Alexandre, Flaviano Morone, and Hernán A. Makse. 2018. «Validation of twitter opinion trends with national polling aggregates: Hillary Clinton vs Donald Trump.» Scientific Reports 8, no. 1: 8673. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-26951-y.

Calil, Gilberto G. 2014. «O revisionismo sobre a ditadura Brasileira: A obra de Elio Gaspari.» Segle xx. Revista Catalana d’història. 7: 99-126.

Cárdenas, Manuel, Elena Zubieta, Darío Páez, Maitane Arnoso, and Agustín Espinosa. 2016. «Determinants of approval of the work of Truth Commissions in the Southern Cone: A comparative study.» Revista de Psicología Social 31, no. 3: 423-62. https://doi.org/10.1080/02134748.2016.1190127.

Comissão Nacional da Verdade. 2014. Relatório Da Comissão Nacional Da Verdade. Brasília-DF: Comissão Nacional da Verdade.

Concha, Víctor, Eduardo Guichard, and Guillermo Henríquez. 2009. «Memoria histórica y paradigma del curso de vida. Investigación CEVI-Chile.» Sociedad Hoy 17, no. 2: 51-61. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.4664.9765.

Corporación Latinobarómetro. 2020. «Latinobarómetro: Análisis on line.» Accessed September 14, 2021. http://www.latinobarometro.org/latOnline.jsp.

Datafolha. 2014. Democracia e ditadura. São Paulo. Accessed February 14, 2020. http://media.folha.uol.com.br/datafolha/2014/03/31/democracia-x-ditadura-versao-2.pdf.

Engesser, Sven, Nicole Ernst, Frank Esser, and Florin Büchel. 2017. «Populism and social media: How politicians spread a fragmented ideology.» Information Communication and Society 20, no. 8: 1109-26. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2016.1207697.

Fernández, Omar, Lisandro Cejas, and Alberto Sosa. 2013. «Memoria colectiva y representaciones sociales de la História en estudiantes de Psicología.» In V Congreso Internacional de Investigación y Práctica Profesional en Psicología XX Jornadas de Investigación Noveno Encuentro de Investigadores en Psicología del MERCOSUR. Facultad de Psicología - Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, 114-17.

Folha de São Paulo. 2015. 61% Dos Leitores Da Folha Querem Renúncia de Dilma, Aponta Datafolha. Accessed February 14, 2020. https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2015/10/1693643-61-dos-leitores-querem-renuncia-de-dilma.shtml.

Folha de São Paulo. 2009. Dilma diz não ter a mesma cabeça da época em que era guerrilheira. Accessed February 14, 2020. http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2009/04/545690-dilma-diz-nao-ter-a-mesma-cabeca-da-epoca-em-que-era-guerrilheira-veja-a-integra-da-entrevista.shtml.

Georgiadou, Vasiliki, Lamprini Rori, and Costas Roumanias. 2018. «Mapping the European far right in the 21st Century: A meso-level analysis.» Electoral Studies 54: 103-15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2018.05.004.

Haye, Andres, Jorge Manzi, Roberto González, and Héctor Carvacho. 2013. «Teorías infantiles del Golpe de Estado 25 años después de los hechos.» Psykhe 22, no. 2: 67-81. https://doi.org/10.7764/psykhe.22.2.607.

Hayner, Priscilla B. 2011. Unspeakable Truths - Transitional Justice and the Challenge of Truth Commissions. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge.

Henrich, Natalie, and Bev Holmes. 2013. «Web news readers’ comments: Towards developing a methodology for using on-line comments in social inquiry.» Journal of Media and Communication Studies 5, no. 1: 1-4. https://doi.org/10.5897/JMCS11.103.

Huang, Li-Li, James Liu, and M L Chang. 2004. «‘The double identity’ of Taiwanese Chinese: A dilemma of politics and culture rooted in History.» Asian Journal of Social Psychology 7, no. 2: 149-68. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-839x.2004.00141.x.

IBGE. 2015. Acesso à Internet e à Televisão e Posse de Telefone Móvel Celular Para Uso Pessoal Accessed February 14, 2020. https://biblioteca.ibge.gov.br/biblioteca-catalogo?id=293373&view=detalhes.

Inglehart, Ronald, and Pippa Norris. 2016. «Trump, Brexit, and the rise of populism: economic have-nots and cultural backlash.» SSRN Electronic Journal RWP16 (026): 1-53. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2818659.

Kahneman, Daniel. 2011. Thinking Fast and Slow. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Kalampalikis, Nikos, and S. Moscovici. 2005. «Une approche pragmatique de l’analyse Alceste.» Les Cahiers Internationaux de Psychologie Sociale. https://doi.org/10.3917/cips.066.0015.

Lee, Eun Ju. 2012. «That’s not the way it is: how user-generated comments on the news affect perceived media bias.» Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 18, no. 1: 32-45. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2012.01597.x.

Liu, James, Chris G. Sibley, and Li-Li Huang. 2014. «History matters: Effects of culture-specific symbols on political attitudes and intergroup relations.» Political Psychology 35, n. 1: 57-79. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12027.

Liu, Xudong, and Shahira Fahmy. 2011. «Exploring the spiral of silence in the virtual world: Individuals’ willingness to express personal opinions in online versus offline settings.» Journal of Media and Communication Studies 3, no. 2: 45-57. https://doi.org/10.5897/JMCS.9000031.

Liu, James, and Denis J. Hilton. 2005. «How the past weighs on the present: Social representations of History and their role in identity politics.» British Journal of Social Psychology 44 (Pt 4): 537-56. https://doi.org/10.1348/014466605X27162.

Madeira, Rafael, and Gabriela Tarouco. 2010. «A ‘direita envergonhada’ no Brasil: Como partidos reinterpretam seus vínculos com o regime militar?» In V Congreso Latinoamericano de Ciencia Política. Asociación Latinoamericana de Ciencia Política. Buenos Aires. http://www.aacademica.org/000-036/804.

Mathias, Anderson, Darío Páez, Agustín Espinosa, Salvador Sandoval, Carolina Alzugaray, Maitane Arnoso, and Manuel Cárdenas. 2020. «The association between Truth Commissions Evaluation, emotional climate and institutional trust: Comparison and meta-analysis of surveys in six South American countries.» Revista de Psicologia Social 35, no. 2: 203-45. https://doi.org/10.1080/02134748.2020.1721053.

Mitchelstein, Eugenia. 2011. «Catharsis and community: Divergent motivations for audience participation in online newspapers and blogs.» International Journal of Communication 5, no. 1: 2014-34.

Moscovici, S. 2009. Representações Sociais: Investigações Em Psicologia Social. 6th ed. Petrópolis - RJ: Vozes.

Moscovici, S. 2012. A Psicanálise, Sua Imagem e Seu Público. 10th ed. Petrópolis - RJ: Vozes (Original work published in 1961).

Muis, Jasper, and Tim Immerzeel. 2017. «Causes and consequences of the rise of populist radical right parties and movements in Europe.» Current Sociology 65, no. 6: 909-30. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392117717294.

Naiff, Denis, Celso Pereira de Sá, and Luciene alvez Miguez Naiff. 2008. «A memória social do Estado Novo em duas gerações.» Psicologia: Ciência e Profissão 28, no. 1: 110-21.

Napolitano, Marcos. 2017. «A imprensa e a construção da memória do regime militar Brasileiro (1965-1985).» Estudos Ibero-Americanos 43, no. 2: 346-66. https://doi.org/10.15448/1980-864X.2017.2.24766.

Nencini, Alessio. 2011. «Social representations of National History: Stability and changeability between different generations of Italians over a period of three years.» Societal and Political Psychology International Review 2, no. 1: 111-26.

Oddone, María Julieta, and Gloria Lynch. 2008. «Las memorias de los hechos Socio-Históricos en el curso de la vida.» Revista Argentina de Sociología 6, no. 10: 121-42.

Paredes, Mariana, and Patricia Oberti. 2015. «Eventos sociohistóricos en la vida de los Uruguayos: Una perspectiva generacional.» Revista de Ciencias Sociales 28, no. 36: 145-68.

Reyes, María José, Juan Muñoz, and Félix Vázquez. 2013. «Políticas de Memoria desde discursos cotidianos: La despolitización del pasado reciente en el Chile actual.» Psykhe 22, no. 2: 161-73. https://doi.org/10.7764/psykhe.22.2.582.

Sá, Celso Pereira de, Denize Cristina de Oliveira, Ricardo Vieralves de Castro, Renata Vetere, and Rafael Vera Cruz de Carvalho. 2009. «A memória histórica do regime militar ao longo de três gerações No Rio de Janeiro: Sua estrutura representacional.» Estudos de Psicologia (Campinas) 26, no. 2: 159-72. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0103-166X2009000200004.

Santana, Arthur. 2014. «Virtuous or vitriolic: The effect of anonymity on civility in online newspaper reader comment boards.» Journalism Practice 8, no. 1: 18-33. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2013.813194.

Törnberg, Petter. 2018. «Echo chambers and viral misinformation: Modeling fake news as complex contagion.» PLoS ONE 13, no. 9: 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0203958.

Veloz, Maria Cristina Triguero, Clélia Maria Nascimento-Schulze, and Brigido Vizeu Camargo. 1999. «Representações sociais do envelhecimento.» Psicologia: Reflexão e Crítica 12, no. 2: 479-501. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0102-79721999000200015.

Published
2021-12-28
How to Cite
Dias Santos, Anderson Mathias, José Joaquín Pizarro Carrasco, Lidiane Silva de Araújo, and Adriele Vieira de Lima Pinto. 2021. “Social Representations of Brazilian Truth Commission on News Comments”. Deusto Journal of Human Rights, no. 8 (December), 83-102. https://doi.org/10.18543/djhr.2285.