A multimodal semiotic analysis of online "prepper" communities through visual grounded theory methodology, combined with a quantitative hierarchal clu

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Right-wing terrorist attacks have increased by 250% since 2014 and are the second most severe threatto social security in the United Kingdom, with a third of foiled terrorist plots attributed to far-rightextremists since 2017 (Institute for Economics & Peace, 2020). Social media is used as a recruiting toolfor right-wing extremism, with multimodal texts such as memes, videos, and shared articles prevalent inonline communications promoting ideologies. Additionally, the emergence of the coronavirus pandemichas highlighted and sensationalised the existence of previously fringe groups, such as "doomsdaypreppers." The study aims to bridge the gap between the understanding of far-right narratives and theproliferation of "prepper" ideology on social media by combining a semiotic analysis of multimodal textsfrom online survivalist communities with a quantitative hierarchical cluster analysis of user responses tothe texts.The research will explore the underlying societal and individual mechanisms driving the spread of rightwingideology within populist fringe communities and will utilise forms of multimodal communication onsocial media platforms, with texts being extracted from communities dedicated to discussions on"prepping". Additionally, the use of critical realist epistemology will enhance the research by exploringpre-existing theoretical concepts to propose plausible causal mechanisms acting as tendencies. Throughthe interdisciplinary contributions of social and computer scientific analysis, the results will seek toidentify mechanisms within narratives and correlate user responses that contribute to radicalisation,further supporting an emerging body of research with the potential to inform strategies reducing threatsof terrorism posed by far-right extremists.