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“We are happy we welcome this decision what … our Prime Minister has taken”: Political subjectivities in populist politics during demonetization (2016) in India
Author(s) -
Sambaraju Rahul
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of community and applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.042
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1099-1298
pISSN - 1052-9284
DOI - 10.1002/casp.2374
Subject(s) - politics , prime minister , populism , negotiation , sociology , political communication , relevance (law) , public policy , social psychology , media studies , political science , social science , psychology , law
Discursive social psychologists have examined various ways in which political talk and participation in politics are accomplished. In this paper, I examine talk related to a populist policy to examine how it is that members of the general public informally participate in populist political practices. I examined transcripts of broadcast on‐air interviews with those experiencing outcomes of a controversial monetary policy in India introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, namely, demonetization. Discursive psychological analyses show that interviewers and interviewees treated talk on policy as implicating political subjectivities for the interviewees. They flexibly offered various forms of assessments on the policy in ways to negotiate implications that they were predisposed to the policy and Modi. Their political subjectivities as those who were “Modi supporters,” for example, were attended to and negotiated in ways to accomplish interview participation. The findings show the relevance of personal/subjective assessments and positions in political talk. These are discussed in relation to contemporary understandings of populism.