Open AccessTransformative Communication Radar: Practices, Action and Praxis Communication in Solidarity Economy Networks in Portugal and Catalonia
Author(s) -
Sara Moreira,
Cristina Parente
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
triplec
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.564
H-Index - 21
ISSN - 1726-670X
DOI - 10.31269/triplec.v19i2.1272
Subject(s) - praxis , communicative action , solidarity , transformative learning , transformational leadership , sociology , collective action , action (physics) , solidarity economy , epistemology , public relations , political science , politics , social science , pedagogy , law , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics
This article explores the transformational character of solidarity economy network communication in Portugal and Catalonia, focusing on the first two months of the crisis brought on by COVID-19. We assume that what these networks choose to convey (or remain silent on) in their public communications reflects their positions in the fields of action and values and their theoretical alignment, establishing an ethico-political orientation. Through the analysis of virtual content conveyed by solidarity economy organisations, we analyse the topics covered, the types of content and sources cited, and the level of demand in the discourse, as well as their individual, institutional and collective character. The results reveal very different communicative approaches in each of the cases analysed: from silence or total absence of communicative practices to what can be considered a transformational praxis communication, based on collective action challenging the structures of power and domination and pointing out ways to overcome them. The article proposes a transformative communication radar linking Habermas’s theory of communicative action and Fuchs’s Marxist-inspired praxis communication concept, as a way of distinguishing merely instrumental communicative approaches from those guided by communicative and cooperative rationality driving new agreements and societal transformations.