Rapport Management and Disparagement in Internet Memes: A Pragmatic Analysis of Selected Political, Social, and Religious Memes

Abstract

Internet memes have become an important form of digital communication through which users express criticism, ridicule, ideological positions, and negative social evaluation. One important function of such discourse is disparagement, which may undermine the worth, credibility, identity, or social value of a target. This study examines how disparagement is relationally constructed in selected political, social, and religious internet memes through Spencer-Oatey’s Rapport Management Model. It explores how meme-based disparagement threatens Quality Face, Social Identity Face, Equity Rights, and Association Rights, and whether thematic context affects the type of relational attack. A qualitative pragmatic approach is adopted using three purposively selected image-text memes, one representing each thematic category. The analysis shows that Social Identity Face is the most consistent dimension across the selected samples, whereas Quality Face becomes salient when a meme attacks competence, credibility, morality, or seriousness. Equity Rights emerge when a target is represented as undeserving of equal consideration or dignity. The study argues that Rapport Management provides a focused framework for explaining how meme-based disparagement operates not merely as insult or humor, but as an attack on personal and collective social value.