MARIELLE FRANCO’S MURDER: PSYCHOSOCIAL APPROACH AT POLARIZATION IN A SOCIAL THINKING EXTRACT

Abstract:

This paper analyzes on line comments from Brazilian newspaper “O Dia” following the murder of Marielle Franco and Anderson Gomes. Analyze polarization in this material. Analysis was based on polarization studies by Martín-Baró, Lozada, Villa Gómez, besides those on social thinking by Moscovici and Jodelet. 1330 comments from 40 articles were submitted to the IRaMuTeQ software and complementary content analyses. The content analysis pointed out the categories: characterization of the victim, of the death, of the killer, and showed how they interconnect. Polarization centered on the city’s problems, and issues such as human rights and same sex marriage, with a conservative bias. The most thought-provoking findings were the denials of the existence of racism; discrete indications that polarization has various tones and intensities; the asymmetric polarization, with a predominance on the conservative pole; and the right wing as a possible active minority that tries to influence the change of common sense in progress.

Keywords:
Polarization; Social Psychology; Social thinking