E-Thesis 326 views
Identity is everything: A discursive analysis of in-group identity construction on radical right Twitter / Keighley Perkins
Swansea University Author: Keighley Perkins
DOI (Published version): 10.23889/SUthesis.69488
Abstract
Recent riots have demonstrated the reach of the radical right in contemporary UK society and the role social media can play in how those affiliated with this political ideology interact with one another. It is on platforms, such as Twitter/X, where radical right groups (RRGs) have access to a wide r...
| Published: |
Swansea, Wales, UK
2025
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| Institution: | Swansea University |
| Degree level: | Doctoral |
| Degree name: | Ph.D |
| Supervisor: | Lorenzo-Dus, Nuria ; Nouri, Lella |
| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa69488 |
| Abstract: |
Recent riots have demonstrated the reach of the radical right in contemporary UK society and the role social media can play in how those affiliated with this political ideology interact with one another. It is on platforms, such as Twitter/X, where radical right groups (RRGs) have access to a wide range of individuals sympathetic to their movement who can be recruited and radicalised. Previous research has identified the role identities play in this radicalisation process and, therefore, emphasises the importance of investigating the ways in-group identities are constructed by RRGs to effectively disrupt them. The current study analyses all tweets shared by the English Defence League (EDL), Siege Culture (SC), and the UK and Ireland branch of Generation Identity (GI UKRI) between 2017 and 2019, provided to the study by UK law enforcement. The data comprises of 4,686 tweets, 78,471 words and 774 images. Using Du Bois’ (2007) stance framework, the study examines the social (RRG) identities enacted by the EDL, SC and GI UKRI. Stance-taking was supported by discourse analysis approaches that focused on legitimation, self-praise, blame and (im)politeness. Cumulatively, this analysis revealed three identities – the campaigner, the hero and the victim – with the former being the most prevalent across all three groups. The study, therefore, builds on existing work on extremist in-group identities by demonstrating the importance of how the in-group do politics to their in-group identities, despite disinterest in entering the political mainstream. Stance analysis also enabled the groups to be understood from their own perspective, providing a tool with which they could be compared ideologically. In this way, the current study has an applied functionality with possible implications for policing practice by providing the means through which emerging groups can be understood and positioned on the radical right spectrum in relation to previously established movements. |
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| Item Description: |
ORCiD identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9667-9403 |
| Keywords: |
identity, radical right, discourse analysis |
| College: |
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Funders: |
ESRC Wales DTP |