The purpose of this thesis was to study how Yellow Vest protests, which started 17November 2018, and protesters themselves, were being described in the French mainstreampress. The material consisted in 19 editorials from 5 of the most-circulated newspapers in thecountry. They were analyzed using Norman Fairclough’s model of critical discourse analysisand within a theoretical framework drawn from Chantal Mouffe’s discussion of the notion ofconsensus. The findings suggest that the mainstream discourse on Yellow Vests is one whichdenies their legitimacy within the political realm through a process of depoliticizationsupported by discourses of contempt, republicanism, and unity. This study illustrates thestruggle of protesters to be granted space and legitimacy within contemporary democracies to properly exercise their civil and political rights.

The attempts to understand discontent and populist surges in the West, especially in recent years, led to an abundance of research, comments, and speculations. Some thinkers asserted that such events are the symptoms of a cleavage restructuration in liberal democratic societies that would be centered around the question of merit. Research generally links higher education and general success in life to satisfaction and relative support of the established order. On the contrary, lesser educated and successful individuals tend to question this state of affairs. A cleavage revolving around success and education would consequently replace previous divisions, such as the usual right-left opposition, but also come on top of other schisms, mainly spatial ones. This thesis offers to verify the existence of such a cleavage with a case study of the Yellow Vests movement, in France. Analyzing the discourse of the representants of the meritocracy, Emmanuel Macron and his government, it finds trends that support the existence of such an underlying conflict.