The Dislocation of the Empty Signifier Freedom as a Tool in Global Political Struggles A Case Study on RT's Mini-Series How to Watch the News
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11230%2F22%3A10425898" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11230/22:10425898 - isvavai.cz</a>
Result on the web
<a href="https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=Ny.r8N6wUP" target="_blank" >https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=Ny.r8N6wUP</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13183222.2021.1889833" target="_blank" >10.1080/13183222.2021.1889833</a>
Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
The Dislocation of the Empty Signifier Freedom as a Tool in Global Political Struggles A Case Study on RT's Mini-Series How to Watch the News
Original language description
Freedom is approached in this article as an empty signifier and as an object of discursive struggle, from a discourse-theoretical perspective. The hegemonic centrality of freedom in Western discourse and identity construction is acknowledged, but at the same time the article argues that hegemony is never total and all-encompassing. In other words, hegemonic constructions are seen as always particular, with their universal claims displaying cracks and gaps. Especially when different discursive communities (e.g. the West and Russia) engage in global discursive struggles, these cracks become visible through dislocatory strategies. The second part of the article then addresses a case study about how this discursive struggle is organised in practice, focussing on the RT mini-series How to Watch the News, which prominently features Slavoj Zizek. The discourse-theoretical analysis demonstrates how the mini-series deconstructs the Western articulation of freedom, in three ways, namely by showing the failures of Western liberal democracies, and the divided nature of Western societies, and by critiquing the individualistic articulation of freedom. The article concludes by pointing to the ambiguities related to the centrality of freedom, the role of RT and the role of Zizek as public intellectual.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Classification
Type
J<sub>imp</sub> - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
50802 - Media and socio-cultural communication
Result continuities
Project
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Continuities
I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace
Others
Publication year
2022
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
Javnost
ISSN
1318-3222
e-ISSN
1854-8377
Volume of the periodical
29
Issue of the periodical within the volume
1
Country of publishing house
SI - SLOVENIA
Number of pages
16
Pages from-to
66-81
UT code for WoS article
000630677200001
EID of the result in the Scopus database
2-s2.0-85102930641