Right-wing intellectuals facing the nation and the popular. Argentina, early twentieth century

Abstract

After the transformations that Argentine suffered at the end of the 19th century, and since the implantation of Democracy of universal male suffrage in 1912, the elites started to worry about what they considered a distorted order and a dangerous depreciation of hierarchies. In this context some writers begun to enjoy themselves with the idea of being the “spiritual superior minority”, capable of giving character to the people. They considered that the moral and political direction of the Nation should be based on them. Self-denominated nationalist movements began to arise, gradually abandoning their cultural nativist character in order to develop a concrete ideological and political quality. The concepts of nation y nationalism were discursive instruments which helped unify this incipient, anti-democratic right-wing. In the political gamble, they dedicated several pages to undermine the popular culture. At the beginning, this disqualification was an argument to politically discredit the new actors that were emerging. Also, it was a distinctive element that helped them to show themselves as the positive opposite of the excluded.