Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 8-23-2018 9:00 AM Social Networks, Political Discourse and Polarization during the 2017 Catalan elections Rafael Monroig The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Suárez, Juan L. The University of Western Ontario Quan-Haase, Anabel The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Hispanic Studies A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Master of Arts © Rafael Monroig 2018 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Digital Humanities Commons, Political Science Commons, and the Spanish Linguistics Commons Recommended Citation Monroig, Rafael, "Social Networks, Political Discourse and Polarization during the 2017 Catalan elections" (2018). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 5556. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/5556 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Abstract This thesis investigates the political process in Spain and Catalonia during the Catalan election in December 2017. This regional election was unusual because of the independence process in Catalonia and its repression. Two parties, Ciudadanos (anti- independence) and Podemos (ambiguous position) and their leaders’ activity in Twitter was analyzed. It was explored from three perspectives: social networks, lexical and emotional discourse and ideological polarization. Firstly, social networks were used to see the properties of the support communities of both parties. Interestingly unlike Ps, Ciudadanos’ (Cs) metrics of cohesion showed that political communities of this party in Spain and Catalonia were remarkably well integrated.