Social identity and polarisation on social media around the satire of power regarding Chilean police violence

Abstract

The aim of this study is to understand the construction of social identities on social media in a context of strong inequality, through discourse analysis of the satire of power. This satire referes to acts of violence committed by the Chilean police. This research explored 1,303 comments associated with police satire videos shared on social media, which together formed a textual corpus for the analysis of these discourses. These comments were published on a popular digital platform between 2019 and 2024. The discourse analysis was conducted using a critical approach. Results suggest that the discourses comprise four main analytical dimensions: (1) identity in resistance, (2) conservative identity, (3) identity in fiction, and (4) Latin American identities. It is concluded that there are discourses on social media that contribute to the construction of social identities that denounce acts of violence carried out by State agents, allowing the establishment of a common narrative that constructs identity, nevertheless, it is also possible to observe dynamics linked to polarisation processes in other groups which reaffirm violence and authoritarian regimes.