SOCIOCOGNITIVE POLARISATION OF FORMER DRUG USERS IN BRUNEI: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Abstrak

For former drug users, reintegration into society is rarely straightforward. Despite
undergoing rehabilitation, many continue to face social exclusion shaped by how
they communicate and how others perceive them. However, limited research has
examined how identity is discursively negotiated in post-rehabilitation contexts,
particularly through the lens of socio-cognitive polarisation. This research
investigates how “Us vs Them” polarisation shapes identity reconstruction in the
narratives of former drug users in Brunei. Drawing on van Dijk’s Sociocognitive
Approach (SCA) within Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), this research analyses
semi-structured interviews with ten former drug users serving as peer mentors at
Pusat Al-Islah, Brunei’s primary rehabilitation centre, known locally as mayors.
Data were transcribed verbatim and analysed using discursive strategies, including
pronoun use, evaluative language, and narrative framing, organised across four
sociocognitive schemata: affective, perceptive, cognitive, and figurative. The
findings reveal that sociocognitive polarisation is systematically reproduced across
all four schemata. Participants consistently position themselves as reformed and
deserving of belonging, while constructing society as judgmental and
marginalising. The dichotomy reflects internalised social judgment rooted in shared
mental models, through which moral value and group identity are continuously
negotiated. The research contributes to CDA by demonstrating that socio-cognitive
polarisation is not merely a rhetorical device but rather functions as a structural

mechanism that regulates belonging, exclusion, and identity reconstruction in post-
rehabilitation discourse.