Cover of the Journal for Discourse Studies- Mimicry of Marginality

In this paper Jonas Trochemowitz and Lara Herford aim to analyze the talking format of Change my Mind by Steven Crowder and its adaptation by the former spokesperson of the right-wing extremist group Identitäre Bewegung in Austria. By employing the concept of ›genre of dissent‹ we ask the question how democratic values of deliberation are strategically used to gain legitimacy for far right positions in discourse. A key aspect is how these strategies relate to practices of self-marginalisation in the sense of mimicry of marginality. As a model for dismantling and criticising these practices we suggest the concept of instrumental deliberation.


Trochemowitz, Jonas & Lara Herford. 2024. Staged Dissent. »Change My Mind« as a Vehicle of Instrumental Deliberation within the Identitäre Bewegung Österreich. Zeitschrift für Diskursforschung 2023 (2). S. 163–186.

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ISSN: 2195-867X

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DOI: 10.3262/ZFD2302163

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idea of democratic critique

“If you think that acts of contradicting someone always need to point to better solutions, you haven’t really understood the idea of democratic critique.”

Martin Nonhoff
problem to be solved

“Contradiction is not primarily a problem to be solved but a motor we cannot do without.”

Martin Nonhoff
name contradiction

“Contradiction becomes real where someone names contradiction.”

Ingo H. Warnke
driver

“Contradictions are an important driver of scientific practice and knowledge.”

Norman Sieroka
hierarchy of norms

“If social contradictions are reflected in law, law cannot form a hierarchy of norms free of contradictions.”

Andreas Fischer-Lescano