"Войната на световете" - културен скрипт или предстояща криза?
"War of the Worlds" - A Cultural Script or an Inpending Crisis?

Author(s): Dimitar Panchev
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Sociology, Applied Sociology, Social differentiation, Sociology of Culture
Published by: Пловдивски университет »Паисий Хилендарски«
Keywords: cultural script; negative identity; clash of civilizations; discourse; self-fulfilling prophecy
Summary/Abstract: The article aims to provide a few examples from the fictional literature, film industry and computer games, all of which directly address the problem of collision between worlds that are incommeasurable. The main suggestion is that the conflict between them can be resolved only through the complete destruction of one of those worlds. This will be the starting point for the analysis of the so-called „clash of civilizations” theme, which was documented during the media monitoring carried out in October 2015. The main argument of the article is that the construction of a generalized negative image of the Other and its systematic exclusion from access to the order of discourse in its essence can become a „self-fulfilling prophecy” (borrowing the term from Robert C. Merton), i.e. this Other becomes the bearer of a crisis which, prior to that, has been ascribed as essential to him. In this way the marginalized elements of society do not have any alternative exit but to be who they are, in line with their ascribed negative identity.

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