Does the Left-Right Ideological Distinction Help Differentiate 'Populist' Communicative Patterns on Social Media? An Analysis of the Facebook Posts of Two 'Populist' Candidates in the 2017 German Federal Election

Kód výsledku v IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A90101%2F20%3A10442382" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:90101/20:10442382 - isvavai.cz</a>

Výsledek na webu

<a href="https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=3RYj8A8jOq" target="_blank" >https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=3RYj8A8jOq</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.6166/TJPS.202012_(86).0001" target="_blank" >10.6166/TJPS.202012_(86).0001</a>

Jazyk výsledku

angličtina

Název v původním jazyce

Does the Left-Right Ideological Distinction Help Differentiate 'Populist' Communicative Patterns on Social Media? An Analysis of the Facebook Posts of Two 'Populist' Candidates in the 2017 German Federal Election

Popis výsledku v původním jazyce

The term &apos;populist actors&apos; vaguely describes certain political parties and figures on the edges of the ideological spectrum. Theoretically, it assumes that there are similar communicative features among right-left populist actors since they are given the same label. Nevertheless, most studies have indicated that scholars hold contradicting viewpoints on this issue. This dispute continues when scholarly attention is being directed worldwide to the social media communication of right-wing and left-wing populist parties/politicians. In view of the conflicting insights of previous research, this study investigates whether the conventional left-right distinction makes it possible to differentiate populist communicative patterns found on social media. By proposing a theoretical framework combining populist rhetoric and communication styles, we argue that right-wing and left-wing populist actors are alike in using social media to disseminate such populist rhetoric, while sharing similar communicative patterns. Combining co-occurrence analysis and social network analysis, this study analyzed Facebook posts made by the radical right AfD top candidate Alice Weidel and the radical left Die Linke top candidate Sahra Wagenknecht during the 2017 federal election period. First, our findings show that all four populist characteristics are present in both candidates&apos; posts. These posts are framed to mobilize voters by taking up &apos;antagonistic&apos; identities. Second, the populist discourse tends to foster so-called &apos;horizontal&apos; conflict (i.e., discrimination against minority social groups for the benefit of others) through a patriotic style, as well as &apos;vertical&apos; conflict (i.e., &apos;the people&apos; versus &apos;the elites&apos;, &apos;the establishment&apos;) through a crisis rhetoric style.

Název v anglickém jazyce

Does the Left-Right Ideological Distinction Help Differentiate 'Populist' Communicative Patterns on Social Media? An Analysis of the Facebook Posts of Two 'Populist' Candidates in the 2017 German Federal Election

Popis výsledku anglicky

The term &apos;populist actors&apos; vaguely describes certain political parties and figures on the edges of the ideological spectrum. Theoretically, it assumes that there are similar communicative features among right-left populist actors since they are given the same label. Nevertheless, most studies have indicated that scholars hold contradicting viewpoints on this issue. This dispute continues when scholarly attention is being directed worldwide to the social media communication of right-wing and left-wing populist parties/politicians. In view of the conflicting insights of previous research, this study investigates whether the conventional left-right distinction makes it possible to differentiate populist communicative patterns found on social media. By proposing a theoretical framework combining populist rhetoric and communication styles, we argue that right-wing and left-wing populist actors are alike in using social media to disseminate such populist rhetoric, while sharing similar communicative patterns. Combining co-occurrence analysis and social network analysis, this study analyzed Facebook posts made by the radical right AfD top candidate Alice Weidel and the radical left Die Linke top candidate Sahra Wagenknecht during the 2017 federal election period. First, our findings show that all four populist characteristics are present in both candidates&apos; posts. These posts are framed to mobilize voters by taking up &apos;antagonistic&apos; identities. Second, the populist discourse tends to foster so-called &apos;horizontal&apos; conflict (i.e., discrimination against minority social groups for the benefit of others) through a patriotic style, as well as &apos;vertical&apos; conflict (i.e., &apos;the people&apos; versus &apos;the elites&apos;, &apos;the establishment&apos;) through a crisis rhetoric style.

Druh

J_ost - Ostatní články v recenzovaných periodicích

CEP obor

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OECD FORD obor

50601 - Political science

Projekt

—

Návaznosti

—

Rok uplatnění

2020

Kód důvěrnosti údajů

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Název periodika

Zhèngzhì kēxué lùncóng

ISSN

1018-3892

e-ISSN

1018-3892

Svazek periodika

86

Číslo periodika v rámci svazku

prosinec 2020

Stát vydavatele periodika

TW - Čínská republika (Tchaj-wan)

Počet stran výsledku

30

Strana od-do

1-30

Kód UT WoS článku

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EID výsledku v databázi Scopus

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