Populism 2.0 in the Spanish public sphere through Twitter
PDF
EPUB
HTML

Keywords

populismo
VOX
discurso político
redes sociales
Twitter populism
VOX
political discourse
social media
Twitter

How to Cite

Arroyo-Almaraz, I., Del Pino Ortega, F., & Vicente-Fernández, P. (2023). Populism 2.0 in the Spanish public sphere through Twitter. COMMUNICATION. International Journal of Audiovisual Communication, Advertising and Cultural Studies, 21(1), 96–114. https://doi.org/10.12795/Comunicacion.2023.v21.i01.06
Received 2023-04-25
Accepted 2023-06-19
Published 2023-06-30
Views
  • Abstract 220
  • PDF 118
  • EPUB 5
  • HTML 1

Abstract

The rise of right-wing populism raises growing concern about the health of representative democracies. In Spain, the emergence of VOX on the political scene has meant the end of Spanish exceptionalism, in addition to conditioning the political and media agenda as well as forcing other political parties to reconsider their strategies. Nowadays, social media occupy a central place in social and political life. Populism has been fuelled by the proliferation of social media such as Twitter, which brings together on the same platform the protagonists of the political debate and spreads messages in a fragmented way and out of the media’s control. This study aims to understand Santiago Abascal’s discursive strategy through a qualitative and quantitative discourse analysis of his posts on Twitter as VOX’s leader during a decisive period for the party. The results indicate how his discourse focuses on building a populist political party that, in addition to basing its appeal on identifying threats and enemies, projects a heroic image of the party through the exaltation of victimization and the proclamation of its achievements using ideological terminology and collective imagination. The study confirms the importance of sentimental and emotional discourse and the role of the party leader in political communications.

https://doi.org/10.12795/Comunicacion.2023.v21.i01.06
PDF
EPUB
HTML

References

Ahearne, J. (2017). Cultural insecurity and its discursive crystallisation in contemporary France. Modern & Contemporary France, 25(3), 265-280. https://doi.org/10.1080/09639489.2017.1285276

Alcántara-Plá, M. (2020). A hybrid methodology for the analysis of digital discourse. The case of “democracy” on Twitter. Cuadernos AISPI: Estudios de lenguas y literaturas hispánicas, 16(2), 25-44. https://doi.org/10.14672/2.2020.1696

Alonso-Muñoz, L. & Casero-Ripollés, A. (2018). Communication of European populist leaders on Twitter: Agenda setting and the ‘more is less’ effect. El Profesional de la Información, 27(6), 1193-1202. https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2018.nov.03

Author/a (2019). -

Berlanga, I. & Ortiz, Í. (2021). Digital semiotics and political communication. The take-off and rise of Vox. Doxa Comunicación. Revista Interdisciplinar de Estudios de Comunicación y Ciencias Sociales, (33), 53-74. https://doi.org/10.31921/doxacom.n33a929

Bermúdez, N. (2014). Las emociones en el discurso político. “Pathograma” del kirchnerismo. Acta Poética, 35(1), 11-43. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0185-3082(14)70398-0

Cala, R. (2019). Emotion and reason in the construction of political discourse: the case of the proclamation of the unrecognised Catalan Republic in October 2017. Estudios de lingüística del español, 40, 95-115. https://raco.cat/index.php/Elies/article/view/363492

Caldevilla, D. & García, E. (2020). Professionals and Post-Truth:Collective Responsibility as a Weapon against Digital Lies. aDResearch ESIC International Journal of Communication Research, 21(21), 70-83. https://doi.org/10.7263/adresic-021-04

Castro, A. & Díaz, P. (2021). The political communication of the right-wing radicals on social networks. From Instagram to TikTok and Gab, Vox’s digital strategy. Dígitos. Revista de Comunicación Digital, (7), 67-89. http://doi.org/10.7203/rd.v1i7.210

Chadwick, A. (2013). The Hybrid Media System: Politics and Power. Oxford University Press.

Charaudeau, P. (2009). Reflexiones para el análisis del discurso populista. Discurso & Sociedad, 3(2), 253-279. http://www.dissoc.org/ediciones/v03n02/DS3(2)Charaudeau.pdf

Chaves-Montero, A. (Ed.) (2017). Comunicación Política y Redes Sociales. Egregius.

Davis, J.E. (Ed.) (2015). Identity and Social Change. Transaction Publishers.

Domínguez, N.R. (2012). Política 2.0: el uso de las redes sociales en la política argentina. Anuario Electrónico de Estudios en Comunicación Social ‘Disertaciones’, 5(1), 77-104. https://revistas.urosario.edu.co/index.php/disertaciones/article/view/3889

Enli, G. (2017). Twitter as arena for the authentic outsider: Exploring the social media campaigns of Trump and Clinton in the 2016 US presidential election. European Journal of Communication, 32(1), 50-61. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267323116682802

Errejón, Í. (2011). El 15-M como discurso contrahegemónico. Encrucijadas: Revista Crítica de Ciencias Sociales, (2), 120-145.

Errejón, Í. & Mouffe, C. (2015). Construir pueblo: hegemonía y radicalización de la democracia. Icaria.

Fernández Gómez, J.D., Hernández-Santaolalla, V. & Sanz-Marcos, P. (2018). Influencers, marca personal e ideología política en Twitter. Cuadernos.info, (42), 19-37. https://doi.org/10.7764/cdi.42.1348

Fernández Lagunilla, M. (2009). La lengua de la comunicación política I: El discurso del poder. Arco Libros.

Ferreira, C. (2019). Vox as representative of the radical right in Spain: A study of its ideology. Revista Española de Ciencia Política, (51), 73-98. https://doi.org/10.21308/recp.51.03

Gallardo, B. (2014). Usos políticos del lenguaje. Un discurso paradójico. Anthropos Editorial.

Gamper-Sachse, D. (2018). Ambivalences of populism: The case of Catalan independentism. Social Science Information, 57(4), 573-587. https://doi.org/10.1177/0539018418811685

Gelado-Marcos, R., Puebla-Martínez, B. & Rubira-García, R. (2019). Twitter, the End of Bipartisan Politics and the Rise of Populism. The Spanish Campaign in May 2015. Revista de Sociologia e Politica, 27(71). https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-987319277107

Goldhammer, A. (2015). Explaining the Rise of the Front National. Political Rhetoric or Cultural Insecurity? French Politics, Culture & Society, 33(2), 134-142. https://doi.org/10.3167/fpcs.2015.330208

González Bengoechea, A. (2015). Redes sociales y política: el uso comunicativo de Twitter por parte de los principales partidos políticos. Fòrum de Recerca, (20), 539-555. http://doi.org/10.6035/ForumRecerca.2015.20.36

González Castro, J. (2021). Communication and populism 2.0 in the new Spanish politics: the case of United We Can and Vox. aDResearch ESIC International Journal of Communication Research, 26(26), 76-103. https://doi.org/10.7263/adresic-026-09

González Gómez, C. (2021). Lexical and argumentative analysis of Santiago Abascal's discourse on Twitter: populism in 280 characters? Tonos Digital: Revista de estudios filológicos, (41), 1-26. https://digitum.um.es/digitum/handle/10201/111065

Guerrero-Solé, F., Mas-Manchón, L. & Aira, T. (2022). El impacto de la ultraderecha en Twitter durante las elecciones españolas de 2019. Cuadernos.info, (51), 223-245. https://doi.org/10.7764/cdi.51.27471

Guerrero-Solé, F., Suárez-Gonzalo, S., Rovira, C. & Codina, L. (2020). Social media, context collapse and the future of data-driven populism. El Profesional de la Información, 29(5). https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2020.sep.06

Innerarity, D. (2015). La política en tiempos de indignación. Galaxia Gutenberg.

Kriesi, H. (2014). The Populist Challenge. West European Politics, 37(2), 361-378. https://doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2014.887879

Laclau, E. (2005). La razón populista. Fondo de Cultura Económica.

Laclau, E. & Mouffe, C. (2014). Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics. Verso.

Lava, D. (2021). VOX´s populist discourse in the 2019 General Elections: comparative analysis of thematic agendas on television and Twitter. Dígitos. Revista de Comunicación Digital, (7), 37-65. http://doi.org/10.7203/rd.v1i7.200

López-García, G. (2016). “New” vs “old” leaderships: the campaign of Spanish general elections 2015 on Twitter. Communication & Society, 29(3), 149-168. http://doi.org/doi:10.15581/003.29.3.149-168

Marín, P.P., Simancas, E. & Berzosa, A. (2019). Uso e influencia de Twitter en la comunicación política: el caso del Partido Popular y Podemos en las elecciones generales de 2016. Cuadernos.info, (45), 129-144. https://doi.org/10.7764/cdi.45.1595

Méndez, M.C. (2020). La construcción de la identidad lingüística de Santiago Abascal en Twitter. Revista Estudios del Discurso Digital, (3), 50-77. https://doi.org/10.24197/redd.3.2020.50-77

Mény, Y. & Surel, Y. (Eds.) (2002). Democracies and the Populist Challenge. Palgrave Macmillan.

Mouffe, C. (2018). Por un populismo de izquierda. Siglo XXI.

Mudde, C. & Rovira, C. (2019). Populismo: una breve introducción. Alianza.

Müller, J.F. (2019). La sorpresa VOX: las respuestas a las 10 grandes preguntas que todos nos hacemos sobre VOX. Deusto.

Nussbaum, M.C. (2014). Emociones políticas: ¿Por qué el amor es importante para la justicia? Paidós.

Oliva, M., Pérez-Latorre, Ó. & Besalú, R. (2015). The celebrification of political candidates. Celebrity culture, electoral marketing and the construction of politician’s public image. ARBOR Ciencia, Pensamiento y Cultura, 191(775). http://doi.org/10.3989/arbor.2015.775n5009

Pérez-Curiel, C. & Limón-Naharro, P. (2019). Political influencers. A study of Donald Trump’s personal brand on Twitter and its impact on the media and users. Communication & Society, 32(1), 57-75, https://doi.org/10.15581/003.32.1.57-76

Postman, N. (2006). Amusing ourselves to death: Public discourse in the age of show business. Penguin.

Ramos, R. (2021). The Covid-19 crisis as a political opportunity. Santiago Abascal’s use of Twitter during the State of Alarm in Spain (March 14-June 20, 2020). Doxa Comunicación, (33), 75-98. https://doi.org/10.31921/doxacom.n33a993

Reyes, G. (2017). El abecé de la pragmática. Arco Libros.

Salmon, C. (2019). La era del enfrentamiento: del storytelling a la ausencia de relato. Península.

Sayago, S. (2014). El análisis del discurso como técnica de investigación cualitativa y cuantitativa en las ciencias sociales. Cinta de Moebio. Revista de Epistemología de Ciencias Sociales, (49), 1-10. http://doi.org/10.4067/S0717-554X2014000100001

Toro, S. & Pérez-Curiel, C. (2021). Political populism in Covid’s time. Analysis of Donald Trump and Boris Johnson communication strategy on Twitter. Revista de Comunicación de la SEECI, (54), 1-24. https://doi.org/10.15198/seeci.2021.54.e700

Ungureanu, C. & Serrano, I. (2018). El populismo como relato y la crisis de la democracia representativa. Revista CIDOB d’Afers Internacionals, (119), 13-34. https://doi.org/10.24241/rcai.2018.119.2.13

van Dijk, T.A. (2016). Discurso y conocimiento: una aproximación sociocognitiva. Gedisa.

Vázquez-Barrio, T. (2021). Populism in the 2019 General Elections. Analysis of the speeches by the three right-wing candidates on Twitter. Communication & Society, 34(1), 123-141. https://doi.org/10.15581/003.34.1.123-141

Villacañas, J.L. (2015). Populismo. La Huerta Grande.

Wodak, R. (2015). The Politics of Fear: What Right-Wing Populist Discourses Mean. Sage.

Wodak, R. & Meyer, M. (2003). Métodos de análisis crítico del discurso. Gedisa.

Žižek, S. (2013). El año que soñamos peligrosamente. Akal.

Žižek, S. (2019). Contra la tentación populista. Godot.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Copyright (c) 2023 Isidoro Arroyo-Almaraz, Francisco Del Pino Ortega, Pilar Vicente-Fernández

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...