Articulations of the institutional and the popular in the construction of Europe: A discourse-theoretical analysis of Czech social media content

Abstract

This article focuses on how Europe is discursively constructed across its institutional and popular dimensions, in content published on social media, in the Czech Republic. The research combines quantitative content analysis and discourse-theoretical analysis to explore both broader patterns and varied nuances of the institutional and the popular in the discursive construction of Europe. The analysis shows the hegemonic presence of institutional aspects and dimensions in articulating Europe, while the Europe of the people, of values and ideas, is not conspicuous. The discursive mechanisms of reduction and contestation activate specific articulations of the institutional and the popular, weakening the signifier Europe as a potential identity marker for Czech citizens. These mechanisms are activated by Eurosceptic populism, exacerbated during the research period of elections, in the Czech context that bears a post-socialist load in articulating national and European identities.