Open AccessDISCOURSES OF VICTIMHOOD AND IDENTITY POLITICS ON SOCIAL MEDIA: UNDERSTANDING AFFECTIVE POLARIZATION DURING THE US ELECTION
Author(s) -
Amanda Trigiani,
Megan Boler
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
selected papers of internet research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2162-3317
DOI - 10.5210/spir.v2021i0.12254
Subject(s) - social media , politics , blame , sociology , social psychology , grounded theory , identity politics , duty , identity (music) , media studies , qualitative research , psychology , political science , social science , law , aesthetics , philosophy
This cross-platform digital ethnography examines the nuances of howemotions are expressed and who they are directed towards within social media in order tobetter understand the phenomenon of affective polarization and the increased emotionalityonline. As part of a larger three-year SSHRC-funded comparative study between the US andCanadian elections, the focused dataset for this project draws on grounded theory (Charmaz,2006) and our exploration of 1800 social media posts from the political left and rightacross social media platforms: Twitter, Facebook, and Gab. By examining how social mediausers discursively construct representations of self and other through expressions ofus/them dichotomies, this project seeks to better understand polarized political identitiesand how social media users emphasize that their morals and values are similar or distinctfrom others. How do people on the left and the right feel victimized by the other? What arethe moral and emotional injuries as well as the identity politics upon which they base theirclaims to victimhood and simultaneously place blame on the other? How do social media usersrhetorically express their indignation through us/them dichotomizing, to justify theirnegative affect as well as enactments of revenge as moral duty? In addition to presentingkey findings, this talk highlights our innovative approach to affective discourse analysisdeveloped over the past two years of iterative, grounded theoretical qualitativestudy.