Political identifications in the Spanish "new right". An analysis of the case of VOX from an approach of logics

Abstract

In this paper we seek to contribute to the study of the political party Vox, through an analysis of the identification process of its adherents and activists. Based on a series of in-depth interviews with Vox adherents, audiovisual records in social networks and observations of proselytising activities during the campaign for the governorship of the Community of Madrid between March and May 2021, we will scrutinise the social, political and phantasmatic logics articulated in the Voxite identification from an analytical perspective articulated by the Political Theory of Discourse and some elements of psychoanalysis (Glynos and Howarth, 2007).

Based on the analysis of the three logics, we will argue that Vox's public message interpellates its adherents on concrete issues, promoting the claim of a full and free subject. This subject is threatened, on the one hand, by new social demands that challenge the conservative nationalist and traditional status quo, and frustrated, on the other hand, by the proliferation of economic and social inequalities. In this way, through this exploration of voxite identification, we aim to contribute to the vast existing bibliography on this political actor that highlights the importance of the collective identity that Vox constructs, or pretends to construct, as an explanatory factor for its relative rise on the Spanish scene. At the same time, through this specific case, we are interested in contributing to the debate on the transformations of contemporary ideological dynamics.