Language of Enmity in Parental School Chats: A Microsystem of Aggression and a Digital Ecosystem of Conflict
Introduction: The School Chat as a Miniature Model of the Public Sphere
The parental chat in messengers (WhatsApp, Telegram) is a unique digital environment where private and public, formal and informal, emotional and business intersect. The emergence of language of enmity in this space is not a domestic conflict, but a systemic phenomenon reflecting social anxiety, competitive parenting strategies, and a crisis of communicative culture. The chat becomes a field for the projection of parental ambitions, fears, and prejudices, where objects of enmity can be other parents, children, teachers, or school administration.
1. Structure and Dynamics of Language of Enmity in the Chat: From "Other" Children to "Foreign" Parents
Discourse of hatred in parental chats rarely takes an openly extremist form. It takes more sophisticated, socially acceptable forms in this environment:
Stigmatization through "otherness" of a child: Discussing not as a person, but as a "problem": "child with special needs", "not adapted", "aggressive", "bothers the whole class". The rhetoric of collective good ("the whole class suffers") is used to justify bullying and demand isolation or transfer of the child. This is a form of ageist and ableist (age and disability-oriented) enmity.
Class and cultural intolerance: Accusations against families with a different material status ("can't give a gift to a teacher", "dress the child in rags"), migrants ("their children don't know the language, slow down the program"), adherents of another lifestyle ("vegans impose their rules on excursions").
Conspiratorial narrative against administration and teachers: Building the image of a "hostile clique" of teachers who "kept silent" for one, "prejudicially treat" another, "are not objective" or "hide everything". The language of enmity here is aimed at undermining trust in the institution and justifying one's ...
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