Hegemony in the post-truth era: right-wing extremism and the illusion of disintermediation

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the conditions under which hegemony is exercised in the new cognitive atmosphere which has been conventionally called post-truth. We revisit the works of Antonio Gramsci and Raymond Williams, defining hegemony as a system of meanings experienced in everyday life, which shapes a “sense of reality” for people. Moving on, we present the post-truth landscape, highlighting a defining feature: the crisis of modern epistemic mediations and their replacement by algorithmic market mediations, guided by neoliberal principles. Finally, we show how the far right lives, in a militant way, the post-truth world, focusing on a foundation of today reactionary discourse that we define as illusion of disintermediation, a fetishized way of conceiving digital interactions as capable of providing an experience of “freedom” and “autonomy” based on supposed “direct access” to reality. The article intends to demonstrate how, based on specific economic and sociotechnical infrastructures, the coordinates of social order become dispositions of the mind, resulting in more subtle and penetrating ways of exercising hegemony.