[Air-L] CFM--Symbolic Interaction and Authoritarianism

[Sarina Chen]

The Trump Administration's actions during its first year in power has
elicited coverage that cites "the authoritarian playbook." This coverage
has created interest in how observers of the political scene not only
define such a playbook in particular, but also discuss authoritarianism as
a social form.  In this vein, sociologists and students of symbolic
interaction can offer a variety of insightful approaches to how this social
form is possible.

.
As a social form, authoritarianism involves patterned social practices and
relationships that maintain unequal alignments beneficial to a small,
concentrated superordinate entity, or a power elite. This elite
systematically increases their life chances at the expense of a populous
array of subordinates. The elite superordinate class also operates by
imposing strict regulations on media, suppresses and punishes political
opponents, systematically degrades the rule of law, and creates obstacles
that vastly limit the freedom of a subordinate class. This limitation
includes suppressing opportunities that would allow members of a
subordinate class to attain the privileges and well-being often congruent
with a more democratic social form.


Authoritarianism, like other social forms, is socially constructed over
time. Once constructed and enacted, a complex process of institutionalizing
authoritarianism separates the authoritarian nation from a more democratic
one.  Within the past few decades, for instance, Vladimir Putin's Russian
system is now a highly centralized, personalistic autocracy, especially
since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.  While it would be a
mistake to claim that the U. S. has become an authoritarian nation, the
aforementioned authoritarian playbook attributed to the Trump
Administration has involved actions that eviscerated the federal
government, subjugated Congress, and ignored the rule of law. Consider the
following activities attributed to the Trump Administration:


Domestically

--mass dismissal of career civil servants;

--initiations of investigations and persecutions of political opponents;

--attacked on the free press, universities, law firms, and civil society
organizations;

--dismantled the Department of Education;

--unilaterally deployed National Guard troops to cities (Washington DC,
Portland, Los Angeles, Chicago, St. Louis, Memphis)

--activated State National Guard troops in 15 states;

--implementing tariffs, prerogative that the Constitution gives to
Congress,

--skirted due process and the rule of law on deportations;

--delegitimized judges;

--scaled back or eliminated Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs in
schools, government bodies and corporations;

–ended federal funding for NPR (a radio network) and PBS (a television
network) by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB);

--demolished the historic White House East Wing to replace it with a larger
State Ballroom;

--renamed Trump-Kennedy Center.


Internationally

--issued a CIA strike on a port facility in Venezuela and captured
President Nicolas Maduro and his wife during a subsequent raid;

–issued a massive strike in Syria;

–issued airstrikes in Somalia;

–issued strikes in Nigeria;

–issued a bombing in Iraq;

–issued the attack of three nuclear facilities
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_facilities_in_Iran> in Iran
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran>;

–issued a large campaign of air and naval strikes in Yemen;

--issued U.S. military to carry out 30 strikes on alleged drug boat;

--dismantled the Voice of America (VOA), one of the U.S.’s most effective
tools for promoting press freedom and countering disinformation in
authoritarian societies;

--eliminated agencies or cut funding of organizations that promote
democracy and safeguard human rights, such as the U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID), the State Department's Bureau of
Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL), the International Republican
Institute (IRI), the National Democratic Institute (NDI), and the National
Endowment for Democracy (NED).


The Trump administration’s authoritarian practices are not without
resistance in the U.S. and abroad.  More than 250 active legal cases in the
U.S. are challenging the actions of the Trump administration.  Most
recently, the US Supreme Court ruled against the Trump Administration's
deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago. Demonstrations against the
Trump administration's crack down on free speech have emerged on university
campuses in the U.S. Further, No Kings, a grassroot national and
international anti-Trump organization, held two protests in 2025. Each
protest involved millions of people in all 50 US states as well as in
countries around the world, protesting the actions of the Trump
administration as an abuse of power and threat to democracy.


The communication processes and social interaction dynamics involved in
constructing and resisting authoritarianism have an impact on various
domains of social life. This impact affects individuals, families, schools,
corporations, markets, and government bodies, etc.  The processes also
highlight issues such as free speech, social welfare, education,
immigration, economy, and democracy, etc

.

Given the important and pervasive impact of authoritarianism and its
detractors, Vol. 65 of Studies in Symbolic Interaction: An International
Bi-annual Book Series (published by Emerald Publishing) is dedicated to
publishing articles that emphasize constructing and resisting authoritarian
policies.  Original works that address the communication processes and
social interaction of constructing and/or resisting authoritarianism, that
are based on symbolic interactionism, and that emphasize agency,
reflexivity, social interaction, temporality and processes are welcome.


For all interested, please submit an abstract of no more than 750 words to
Shing-Ling Sarina Chen (sarina.chen at uni.edu) by March 15, 2026.



If the abstract is selected for inclusion, the final manuscript is due
September
30, 2026.

Sincerely,

Shing-Ling Sarina Chen

Studies in Symbolic Interaction