THE DENIAL OF ACCESS TO SILENCE AS A TOOL OF POWER: AN ESSAY GUIDED BY THE THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE OF SOCIAL STUDIES OF LANGUAGE

Abstract

This paper draws upon the theoretical framework of Social Studies of Language to describe the social denial of the right to silence, uncovering the production conditions of discourses circulating through digital media, such as social networks. In the 21^st century, these networks assume characteristics of a compulsory audience, culminating in their configuration as the contemporary expression of Louis Althusser's concept of Ideological State Apparatuses, as well as fitting into the concept of apparatus (dispositif) in Giorgio Agamben and Michel Foucault. It discusses how the contemporary subject sees their citizenship becoming increasingly digitalized and how being outside this environment can result in practical consequences, such as the impossibility of obtaining a visa to the United States. This essay demonstrates that this phenomenon does not originate solely in the internet era, but constitutes a reinterpretation of Canon Law prescriptions from 1247, reaffirmed at the Council of Trent (1545–1563), which established the obligation of the faithful to attend Sunday mass. The study also addresses the consequence of this denial of the right to silence, which leads to performed autobiography, in which social network users feel compelled to present their best version to meet social expectations. It concludes that widespread access to information may be generating the obligation of constant presence before stimuli, and suggests in-depth studies on the relationship between this phenomenon and the dissemination of extremist discourses.