The Nordic Far Right and the Production of Gut Feelings

Abstract

This chapter explores the performance of so-called gut feelings by far-right and anti-immigrant political groups through social media interaction. Reference to gut feelings has been increasingly imported into the center of political debates as a marker of deeper, authentic truth, and thus used as a legitimization of political viewpoints. The chapter argues that it is vital to explore more closely the constructed nature of these emotions and study how they are performed and produced. The chapter draws on Margaret Wetherell’s idea of affective practice that underlines emotions as social practices and patterns. It follows feminist and anthropological approach to emotions as culturally constructed, relational, connected within a larger social meaning-making process, and crafted through social interactions. The chapter shows how “gut feelings” are produced on far-right social media groups, where their values and ideologies are collectively amplified and shared. In this context, gut feelings normalize racism and sexism: they are used as cultural markers of what is considered dangerous, contaminated, and disgusting.