Emotions in specialised genres: Power, manipulation and persuasion from the Affect Spectrum Theory

María  Ángeles Orts

doi:10.14198/ELUA.21432

Autores/as

María Ángeles Orts Universidad de Murcia, España https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8178-9255

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14198/ELUA.21432

Palabras clave:

AST, géneros profesionales, persuasión, manipulación, poder, comunidades especializadas

Resumen

Este trabajo pretende examinar los géneros profesionales desde una perspectiva novedosa que vincula el constructivismo social y la teoría básica de la emoción, partiendo del supuesto de que las emociones son intrínsecamente de carácter social, y de que los fenómenos sociales (como son las comunidades profesionales) tienen una naturaleza emocional (TenHouten, 2021). Así, pretendemos considerar el papel constructivo de las emociones en la creación y el desarrollo de los textos especializados (en algunos casos, centrándonos específicamente en el ámbito jurídico) y, a su vez, en las comunidades profesionales de las que surgen estos textos. Nuestro trabajo se basa en la teoría socio-evolutiva de las emociones, o teoría del espectro afectivo (en inglés, AST o affect-spectrum theory), que se desarrolla en disonancia con otros modelos cartesianos y de elección racional que contraponen razón y emoción y afirman que la sociedad sólo progresa en la medida en que la primera puede controlar, suprimir y triunfar sobre la segunda. En concreto, nuestra hipótesis de fondo es que la comunicación especializada y profesional se articula en torno a las emociones -y al poder, la manipulación y la persuasión, entre otras expresiones emocionales negativas o positivas-. Así, los mecanismos o géneros textuales, como instrumentos comunicativos de las comunidades especializadas, revelan las tensiones que se producen de forma centrípeta o centrífuga, es decir, hacia dentro o hacia fuera de esa comunidad. Para ello, lo hacen desde un modelo relacional agonista, desplegando la autonomía en una dinámica centrípeta a través de la coerción y/o la manipulación), o desde un modelo relacional hedonista, empleando la interpersonalidad en una dinámica centrífuga que les permita entablar relaciones comunitarias a través de la persuasión y la divulgación.

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