Emoción y razón en la construcción del discurso político: el caso de la proclamación de la no reconocida República Catalana en octubre de 2017

Abstract

This chapter intends to reflect on the use of emotion and reason in the construction of the discursive strategies of the main Spanish political parties (PDCAT, Ciudadanos, PP, PSOE and Podemos), in an unprecedented and key moment, as was the proclamation and suspension in the same plenary of the unilateral declaration of independence by the Catalan Government on October 10, 2017. In a scenario governed by the mediatization of politics (Strömback 2008), in which the media and social networks are becoming increasingly important when it comes to shaping political discourses, where citizenship is treated as an audience (Manin 2006), a debate is created about the use of persuasion of emotions in political discourses. Authors such as Perniola (2004, in Dader, 2009: 155) criticize this use with the concept of “sensiocracy”, the power of emotions; while other researchers like George E. Marcus (2008) speak of a “sentimental citizen”, who needs both reason and emotion to participate in politics. To make an analysis of this situation, I have chosen to make an approach to the discursive strategies of Spanish political parties, divided between supporters of the Constitution and those is favor of independence, in order to observe the use of emotional and rational persuasion in an unprecedented situation in Spain.