Shame and Pride in the Delegitimization and Relegitimization of Air Travel

Abstract

This article is about the delegitimization and relegitimization of global air travel as a common-sense practice. Based on social semiotics, multimodal critical discourse studies and
Ahmed’s (2014) approach to affect and emotion, the study systematically explores how affective subjectivities are construed through the use of shaming practices by climate activists on Instagram and how the aviation industry addresses shaming practices by relegitimizing flying. Thus, the focus of the analysis is on how shame and pride are evoked to answer why the global elite should not fly globally, or, conversely, why they should continue to do so. The results reveal that the discursive delegitimization and relegitimization strategies of climate activists and the aviation industry are based on the same moral assumption that CO2 emissions are bad for the environment and that they both use affect as a key component of their strategies. However, whereas climate activists conduct their flight shaming by pointing to the negative effects of the frequent-flyer lifestyle of social media influencers, the discourse of the aviation industry is entrenched in the negative effects of flying as a starting point for its formation of a proud air traveller identity.