Networks, Society, and Polis: Epistemological Approaches on Mediatization

Between the power of enunciators and the power of discourses... 233 On the other hand, Perucca is the one who occupies a key role within the networks since he reveals that the thread originated from a post by Santos Vargas. But his discourse is not retaken, it does not reach the mass media; it is ignored, and does not generate a specific circulation. VII – The power of enunciators and the power of discourses We now return to another distinction made by Eliseo Verón for the study of circulation. In the chapter “The network of distances,” Verón (1987) establishes a difference. He says that the ideological is the “system of relations of a discourse (or of a type of discourse) with its conditions of production when they put into play basic mechanisms of the functioning of society” (p. 134). In its turn, power is “the system of relations of discourse with its effects, when the conditions of recognition do concern the basic mechanisms of the functioning of society” (p. 134). In other words, the ideological is a bond with the conditions of pro- duction and, therefore, its traces can be studied while there are no traces of power, they can only come from a study in recogni- tion that focuses on circulation. In our case, we can circumscribe the presence of these two dimensions and analyze them within hypermedia circulation processes. Santos Vargaswas not a powerful enunciator before his post; it is for most an unknown, as is proven by the fact that, until Perucca identified him, no media knew that he had produced the image. However, one of his posts was shared by one of the most powerful and well-known enunciators in Argentina: CFK. To what was it due? Our thesis is that it happened because it brought into play another power: the semiotic logic that resides in the power of discourses. A sizeable power that not only made his discourse to be shared by CFK but also made it reach the mass media. How- ever, many discourses that CFK publishes on her social media net- work accounts are not retaken to the mass media. Santos Vargas’ discourse power is also limited because it would not have reached the mass media unless what occurred happened: that CFK shared it. That is, the power of the enunciator intervenes, too. It is how