Hate speech in ethnic identity formation and confirmation
processes Cover Image

„Словото на омразата“ в процесите на изграждане и утвърждаване на етническата идентичност
Hate speech in ethnic identity formation and confirmation processes

Author(s): Genka Georgieva
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Media studies, Communication studies
Published by: Софийски университет »Св. Климент Охридски«
Keywords: hate speech; ethnicity; identity; communication; identity policy; culture of remembrance

Summary/Abstract: Ethnic identity is an object of analysis of many academic disciplines, and the term itself refers to the link of the individual person to a certain group. Identity formation and confirmation are closely linked to two parallel processes – of constructing the collective „Self“ and of its distinction from the „Others“. The article reviews the main schools of thought with regard to the phenomenon of ethnic identity – primordialism, instrumentalism, constructionism and interactionism, and identifies the role hate speech plays in the identity construction process both vis-à-vis individual and collective identity, its significance for the interaction and the identity of the „others“ as well as the main mechanism used in these processes. It concludes that identity serves as a mediator and moderator of the effects hate speech produces in society.