Graduation Year

2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

M.A.

Degree Name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Degree Granting Department

Sociology

Major Professor

Brian Turnbull, Ph.D.

Co-Major Professor

Alejandro Marquez, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Sara Green, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Nana Tuntiya, Ph.D.

Keywords

Brexit, Campaigns, Referendum, Populism

Abstract

Modern advancements in technology, in particular the rise in influence and popularity of social media platforms, have had a profound effect on the political landscape. The way in which political actors conduct their campaigns therefore requires significant analysis. Populist campaigns have particularly benefitted from the political influence of social media platforms. This research therefore looks at two significant political events from 2016, the Presidential Election campaign of Donald J. Trump in the United States and the 'Vote Leave' Brexit referendum campaign from the United Kingdom. Utilizing Manuel Castells' 'Network Society' (1990) as the theoretical framework for the research, this analysis examines the language used in a representative sample of tweets from across the two campaigns - focusing specifically on the official Twitter accounts of Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) and Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson), from the 'Vote Leave' Brexit campaign and from Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) from the 2016 Presidential Election campaign. In this thesis, a thematic codebook aids in analyzing the language used throughout the two campaigns on Twitter and leads to many differences and similarities. The results display how the two campaigns leverage the modern advancements in Castells’ network society, particularly the powerful increase in influence of the internet through social media messaging. Whilst tying both campaign strategies to the process of 'othering' as displayed throughout the findings, I argue that the decentralized mode of communication and bypassing of traditional forms of media brought about by social media has given great power to populist political actors and had a profound impact upon modern democratic processes.

Download

Included in

Sociology Commons

Share

COinS