Networks of Outrage: Mapping the Emergence of New Extremism in Europe
The project has analyzed the coordination and communication efforts of right-wing populist movements based on digital trace data.
In the past decade, Europe has witnessed the birth of many movements at the right end of the political spectrum. While PEGIDA, the Identitarian Movement and many others differ in many aspects, they share similar bottom-up web communication strategies. This project aimed at exploring the public online networks and European connections that characterize these movements of outrage.
In the past decade, Europe has witnessed the birth of many movements at the right end of the political spectrum. While PEGIDA, the Identitarian Movement and many others differ in many aspects, they share similar bottom-up web communication strategies. This project aimed at exploring the public online networks and European connections that characterize these movements of outrage. This was achieved by investigating their public communication on the web and in social media using a mixed-method approach, and by conducting interviews and on-site research. The results – journalistic investigations and research reports – were published online, in the newspaper and in scientific journals. Through the analysis of several online discourses of/on movements of outrage it could be shown that their opponents and supporters inform themselves using completely different sources. The people involved in movements of outrage not only discuss topics such as migration and Islam, but also talk about terrorism, crime, media and global trade. An analysis of the moderation behavior on a selection of Facebook pages showed that even unemotionally expressed criticism is often deleted, while incisive utterances are left public. The close interdisciplinary cooperation between the two project partners enabled a sustainable mutual knowledge increase. Through media work and knowledge transfer the project could reach a broad audience.
Project Information
Overview
Duration: 2016-2017
Research programme: FP4 - Algorithmed Public Spheres
