Citationism as academic erudition and as a strategic action

Abstract

Being erudite represents an important characteristic of the academic, causing academic prose to be marked by an aura of sophistication and intellectual elitism. When erudition manifests in the practice of citationism, it can constitute a communicative distortion strategy instrumentalized to avoid or minimize debate or more accurate argumentation. Discussing this specific problem is the purpose of this essay. This criticism is developed by considering Habermas’ philosophical-sociological perspective, in which communication constitutes a process of exchange of intersubjective meanings while establishing itself as a strategic act of intervention in the world. In this sense, citacionism is seen as a usage of the specificities of the specialized lexicon in the academic world, working as an important mechanism of domination and influence despite the unintelligibility derived from this process.