Do verbo à violência: discursos de ódio, preconceito e desumanização da população da favela

Abstract

Hate speech encompasses a variety of forms of expression that incite discrimination, prejudice, and violence against specific social groups based on race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and other social identities (Brugger, 2007; Chetty & Alathur, 2018). In social psychology, hate speech can be understood as a form of "antilocution," that is, a verbal expression of prejudice. It represents the first step in a five-stage escalation that can lead to avoidance behaviors, discrimination, physical attacks, and even extermination (Allport, 1954/1979). On social media, group belonging and algorithmic structures encourage the dissemination of intolerance, intensifying prejudice, activating negative stereotypes, and reinforcing dehumanizing ideologies. This process influences public opinion and fosters acceptance of social exclusion and violence against historically marginalized groups, such as favela residents. This thesis aims to analyze hate speech directed at the Black and impoverished population of favelas, investigating how exposure to such speech impacts implicit prejudice and relates to dehumanization practices. Additionally, it seeks to identify the elements that contribute to the normalization of discriminatory content and to characterize the stereotypes, identity elements, and ideological underpinnings of these discourses. To achieve these objectives, the chapters are organized to build a progressive and interconnected analysis. In Chapter 1, we present a theoretical discussion of the phenomenon, addressing how virtual platforms promote the formation of identities and groups that perpetuate stereotypes and prejudice against marginalized groups. Chapter 2 offers a systematic review of empirical literature on hate speech, highlighting methodologies and approaches applied in the field. Chapter 3 examines the role of hate speech in institutional violence against minorities, particularly the Black population, addressing the normalization of violence by public security forces. It also presents a study using social network data on the 2021 police massacre in Jacarezinho. In Chapter 4, we investigate the effect of hate speech on social perception, focusing on the dehumanization of the Black population, through an experimental study analyzing whether exposure to hate speech intensifies implicit prejudice and racial violence. Finally, Chapter 5 addresses the political use of hate speech in authoritarian regimes. Focusing on the Brazilian context and the phenomenon's impacts on police violence and public security policies, it also presents a study on the 2022 electoral period, examining hate speech as a tool for strengthening group identities and endorsing extermination. The results of this work indicate that although participants exposed to hate speech did not show higher levels of implicit prejudice compared to the non-exposed group, they exhibited higher levels of dehumanization toward favela residents. Furthermore, the perception of offensiveness in hate speech correlated with social media use, mediated by individuals' political orientation. In other words, social media consumption influences the perception of hate speech offensiveness according to each participant's political spectrum. Computational studies corroborate these findings, highlighting the rhetorical use of dehumanization against the favela population, with hate speech recurrently comparing these individuals to "garbage." This fosters societal acceptance of punitive policies and extermination practices targeting favelas.