Dimensions of Populist Networked Communication about Migrants
- Institution: Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Cracow University
- Year of publication: 2022
- Source: Show
- Pages: 208-224
- DOI Address: https://doi.org/10.15804/athena.2022.75.12
- PDF: apsp/75/apsp7512.pdf
The aim of the article is to analyze how the German party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), defined as right-wing and populist, positions the issues of migrants in virtual communication. The conducted research (content analysis) encompassed posts published by the party in 2020 on Facebook. The results of the research revealed that migrants appeared in AfD messages in two contexts. They were presented as a source of various threats and their presence in Germany being the result of wrong political decisions. The affective dimension of communication is associated with emphasizing the risk related to crime and threats to the German national identity and cultural values that bind the community together. The political dimension, on the other hand, focuses on the criticism of the government, which, in the AfD’s opinion, has taken poor decisions, which resulted in an uncontrolled influx of migrants.