Social conflicts and public sphere. The use of gender stereotypes by political parties and movements in Italy

In a critical review of the model of public sphere designed by Habermas, Nancy Fraser invites us to read the conflictual feature that is determined by the plural context that characterizes contemporary publics. With respect to the progressive demand for recognition of new civil rights, there are real convergences that can be observed between movements and political parties whose aim is to re-establish cultural hegemony in the context of civil rights. The purpose of our analysis is to highlight the rise of such convergences in Italy. To this end, we focused on the one hand on the two main parties of the Italian radical Right (Fratelli d’Italia and Lega per Salvini Premier) and their respective leaders. On the other, we considered the Italian Men’s Rights Activism (MRA). The result is highlighting principles on which links are established between the analysed groups based on an imaginary characterised by a view of traditional society, whose gender roles are conceived hierarchically and, therefore, establishing a misogynistic and sexist front with which to take action in the public sphere.