Political Ideology, Rhetoric and Aesthetics in the Twenty-First Century: The Case of the 'Alt-Right'

二十一世纪的政治意识形态、修辞与美学：“另类右翼”的案例

• 批准号: AH/R001197/1
• 负责人: Alan Finlayson
• 金额: $ 50.64万
• 依托单位: University of East Anglia
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2018 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FR001197%2F1
• 关键词: Political; Ideology; Rhetoric; Aesthetics; Twenty

The tone and style of public political discourse have, it seems, become more blunt and aggressive. Often this is associated with online 'trolling' but the issue is broader than that. The internet has reduced 'entry costs' to the public sphere, introducing new audiences to new political voices using platforms (anonymous below-the-line comments, 140 character tweets, blogs building partisan audiences) which combine image and text. As a result the ideological landscape is changing and positions seem to be held more stridently. Just as the advent of printing, national newspapers, radio and television changed the shape of what could be thought and said politically (and how and by whom) changes in political communication today are also affecting the form and content of political thinking. We argue that while all of this cannot be understood without attending to digital technologies it cannot be fully understood with reference to technology alone. New forms and styles of political thinking, arguing and communicating are also linked with, on the one hand, deep changes in democratic politics (such as the 'hollowing out' of political parties and related social-political institutions) and, on the other hand, to much longer histories of ideological theory and practice. For example, some 'trolling' and related forms of political communicative disruption (e.g. organized online attacks) are parts of a wider network of 'alt-right' and related political groups which have had a recognizable impact on Conservatism in the USA and, increasingly, in the UK and Europe. Adherents and participants engage in online dissemination of ideas, arguments with opponents, targeted online engagements and interventions into more traditional political action. They have created and distributed an ideologically charged political vocabulary, including terms such as 'cultural Marxism', 'cuckservative' and 'identitarianism', which has begun to enter the mainstream, changing the shape of Conservative and right-wing political thought and rhetoric. We will develop our study of general changes in political thinking and communicating through a case-study of these movements focusing on a range of political positions and groups including anti-state ultra-libertarians, white nationalists, men's rights activists and advocates of a form of 'scientific racism' known as Human Bio-Diversity (HBD). Combining contemporary cultural and political theory, political science and political sociology, rhetoric and research into visual and digital cultures the project aims to: 1) develop concepts for understanding what happens to political thinking and ideology in digital culture. 2) develop and apply methods combining history of political thought, political science and (digital) Humanities. 3) refine and test these through a case-study of the 'alt-right' (interviews with alt-right/conservative thinkers and activists, study of the movement's historical & ideological lineage and analysis of how online forums, formats and visual styles contribute to and constitute its rhetorical form and ideological content). The project thus refines and combines theories and methods for understanding and analyzing the relationships between political communication and ideologies and, through the case study, enriches research into the ideology and politics of the 'alt-right'.As part of the project we will organise cross-disciplinary symposia leading to the publication of an edited book. We will publish the main findings of the project as a book about ideology and online communication and as academic articles in journals from across the fields with which the project is engaged. In addition the project will lead to the creation of a 'Dictionary of Trolling and Internet Argumentation' (to be made available online and disseminated to political commentators and activists) and a podcast series exploring the alt-right and wider changes to political ideologies, rhetoric, image and argument.

公共政治话语的语气和风格似乎变得更加直率和咄咄逼人。这通常与在线“拖钓”有关，但问题比这更广泛。互联网降低了公共领域的“进入成本”，利用联合收割机结合图像和文本的平台（匿名线下评论、140个字符的推文、建立党派受众的博客）向新的受众介绍新的政治声音。因此，意识形态格局正在发生变化，立场似乎更加尖锐。正如印刷术、全国性报纸、广播和电视的出现改变了政治上的思想和言论（以及如何和由谁来进行）的形式一样，今天政治传播的变化也影响着政治思想的形式和内容。我们认为，虽然所有这一切都不能理解，如果不参加数字技术，它不能完全理解的技术单独参考。政治思维、辩论和交流的新形式和风格，一方面也与民主政治的深刻变化（如政党和相关社会政治机构的“空心化”）有关，另一方面也与意识形态理论和实践的更长历史有关。例如，一些“拖钓”和相关形式的政治传播中断（例如有组织的在线攻击）是“另类右翼”和相关政治团体的更广泛网络的一部分，这些团体对美国的保守主义产生了明显的影响，并且越来越多地在英国和欧洲。追随者和参与者在网上传播思想，与反对者进行辩论，有针对性地在网上参与和干预更传统的政治行动。他们创造和传播了一个充满意识形态色彩的政治词汇，包括“文化马克思主义”、“cuckservative”和“identitarianism”等术语，这些术语已开始进入主流，改变了保守党和右翼政治思想和言论的形态。我们将通过对这些运动的案例研究来发展我们对政治思想和沟通的一般变化的研究，这些运动侧重于一系列政治立场和团体，包括反国家的极端自由主义者，白色民族主义者，男性权利活动家和一种被称为人类生物多样性（HBD）的“科学种族主义”的倡导者。结合当代文化和政治理论，政治学和政治社会学，修辞学和视觉和数字文化的研究，该项目旨在：1）发展概念，了解数字文化中的政治思想和意识形态发生了什么。2)开发和应用方法相结合的政治思想史，政治科学和（数字）人文。3)通过对“另类右翼”的案例研究（采访另类右翼/保守派思想家和活动家，研究该运动的历史和意识形态谱系，分析在线论坛，格式和视觉风格如何促进和构成其修辞形式和意识形态内容）来完善和测试这些。因此，该项目提炼和结合了理解和分析政治传播与意识形态之间关系的理论和方法，并通过案例研究，丰富了对“另类右翼”意识形态和政治的研究。作为项目的一部分，我们将组织跨学科研讨会，最终出版一本编辑过的书。我们将把该项目的主要发现出版为一本关于意识形态和在线交流的书，并在该项目所涉及的各个领域的期刊上发表学术文章。此外，该项目将导致创建一个“巨魔和互联网辩论词典”（将在网上提供并分发给政治评论员和活动家）和一个播客系列，探讨另类右翼和政治意识形态，言论，形象和论点的更广泛变化。

项目成果

Neoliberalism, the Alt-Right and the Intellectual Dark Web

新自由主义、另类右翼和知识分子暗网

• DOI: 10.1177/02632764211036731
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Theory, Culture & Society
• 作者: Finlayson A

YouTube and Political Ideologies: Technology, Populism and Rhetorical Form

YouTube 和政治意识形态：技术、民粹主义和修辞形式

• DOI: 10.1177/0032321720934630
• 发表时间: 2020
• 期刊: Political Studies
• 影响因子: 3.1
• 作者: Finlayson A

The Metaphysics of Brexit

英国脱欧的形而上学

• DOI: 10.1080/09528822.2018.1548834
• 发表时间: 2018
• 期刊: Third Text
• 影响因子: 0.2
• 作者: Finlayson A

The Politics of Anti-Discourse: Copypasta, the Alt-Right, and the Rhetoric of Form

反话语政治：Copypasta、另类右翼和形式修辞

• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Theory & Event
• 作者: Robert Topinka

The politics of the NPC meme: Reactionary subcultural practice and vernacular theory

全国人大模因的政治：反动的亚文化实践和白话理论

• DOI: 10.1177/20539517231172422
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Big Data & Society
• 影响因子: 8.5
• 作者: Gallagher R