Street Vendors as a New Cognitive Schema: A Cognitive Analysis based on the Perspectivization of Facebook Users in the Groups ‘Alpaca Army Official’ and ‘UNMSM Posting: Más especiales que nunca’; [Les vendeurs ambulants comme schéma mental: une analyse cognitive à partir de la perspectivisation des utilisateurs de Facebook dans les groupes «Alpaca Army Official» et «UNMSM Posting: Plus spéciaux que jamais»]; [Os vendedores ambulantes como esquema mental: uma análise cognitiva a partir da perspectivização dos usuários do Facebook nos grupos “Alpaca Army Official” e “UNMSM posting: Más especiales que nunca”]

Conde J.; Diego L.; González M.; Malarin F.; Reyes S. · Lengua y Sociedad (2026) · DOI: 10.15381/lengsoc.v25i1.32079

Resumen

Over the last decades, one of the phenomena that has drawn the most attention in Latin American cities has been the growing presence of street vendors in different public spaces. This increase responds to multiple factors, including the economic, social, and cultural conditions that shape how society perceives and values these actors. In the digital context, specifically on platforms such as Facebook, various expressions and discourses can be observed that illustrate the ways in which these perceptions are constructed and transformed over time. Posts and comments reflect ideas, prejudices, or evaluations that are collectively transmitted and that, in many cases, are influenced by processes of perspectivization and conceptualization. For this reason, analyzing how digital narratives contribute to shaping or modifying mental schemas about street vendors and street vending becomes essential, since this allows for a better understanding of the dynamics that sustain prejudice or processes of empathy in society. Furthermore, this analysis helps explain why street vendors are discursively represented as a negative phenomenon or why the expression “street vendor” is used pejoratively to disqualify someone. It is concluded that this responds to the mental process of “perspectivization,” through which only certain traits observed from a partial and biased perspective are emphasized, without considering the broader panorama or the full complexity of the phenomenon. © Los autores.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos