Communicative inequality in the discursive repertoire of collective action: The case of #YoSoy132

Abstract

The article analyzes how communicative inequality mediates the discourse associated with collective action. Based on the analysis of the Mexican #YoSoy132 (2012), it describes how –in a context characterized by a high media concentration and a particular articulation between the dominant media system and the hegemonic political parties– the democratization of communication becomes a main claim. The text shows how #YoSoy132 sets relevant discursive links between communicative inequality and social inequality in general. Online social networks are considered as a central resource for overcoming an unequal communicational order, but we also identify some risks and challenges associated with the use of these technological platforms and the centrality of the communicative dimension. The article concludes that communicative inequality is multidimensional and that its centrality in the discursive repertoire of the social movement #YoSoy132 has significant consequences for collective action and even for the continuity of the movement.