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Manufacturing Populism: Digitally Amplified Vernacular Authority
[journal article]
Abstract This article shows that digital technologies can play an outsized role in populist discourse because the imagined "voice of the people" gains its authority through the appearance of continuities and consistencies across many iterative communication events. Those iterations create an observable aggre... view more
This article shows that digital technologies can play an outsized role in populist discourse because the imagined "voice of the people" gains its authority through the appearance of continuities and consistencies across many iterative communication events. Those iterations create an observable aggregate volition which is the basis of vernacular authority. Digital technologies give institutions the ability to generate those iterative communications quickly. Through example analyses, I show three different ways that institutional actors deployed digital technologies to promote their populist political agendas by manufacturing "the will of the people." Each of these examples suggests that digital technologies hybridize communication in ways that suggest the elite are always already part of "the people."... view less
Keywords
algorithm; populism; rhetoric; new technology; political communication; artificial intelligence; influence; people
Classification
Political Process, Elections, Political Sociology, Political Culture
Interactive, electronic Media
Impact Research, Recipient Research
Free Keywords
aggregate authority; digital technologies; iterative communications; vernacular discourse
Document language
English
Publication Year
2022
Page/Pages
p. 236-247
Journal
Media and Communication, 10 (2022) 4
Issue topic
Online Communities and Populism
ISSN
2183-2439
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed