Racism, Nationalism and Right-Wing Extremism Online: The Austrian Presidential Election 2016 on Facebook
Christian Fuchs
Chapter from the book: Morelock, J. 2018. Critical Theory and Authoritarian Populism.
Part of
Chapter from the book: Morelock, J. 2018. Critical Theory and Authoritarian Populism.
The 2016 Austrian presidential election saw a run-off between the Green party candidate Alexander Van der Bellen and the Freedom Party of Austria’s (FPÖ) far-right candidate Norbert Hofer. This paper asks: how did voters of Hofer express their support on Facebook? It presents the results of a qualitative ideology analysis of 6,755 comments about the presidential election posted on the Facebook pages of FPÖ leader Heinz-Christian Strache and FPÖ candidate Hofer. The results reveal insights into the contemporary political role of the online leadership ideology, online nationalism, new racism online, the friend/enemy-scheme online, and online militancy. Right-wing authoritarianism 2.0 is a complex problem that stands in the context of contemporary crises and demagoguery.
Fuchs, C. 2018. Racism, Nationalism and Right-Wing Extremism Online: The Austrian Presidential Election 2016 on Facebook. In: Morelock, J (ed.), Critical Theory and Authoritarian Populism. London: University of Westminster Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16997/book30.i
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Published on Dec. 17, 2018