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A Linguistic Approach to Studying User Migration from the Manosphere to the Alt-Right

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A Linguistic Approach to Studying User Migration from the Manosphere to the Alt-Right Cucks, Keks, and Pepes: A linguistic approach to studying user migration from the Manosphere to the Alt-Right Supervisor: Marc Tuters Second reader: Richard Rogers MA New Media and Digital Culture 27th of June, 2018 Jimi Cornelisse 10591699 Abstract This research aims to empirically assess the possible migration of Reddit users belonging to the Manosphere to the Alt-Right. Numerous researchers have previously theorized that such migration from the Manosphere to the Alt-Right may occur, as both groups consist of tech-savvy young white males who are disenchanted with contemporary society. Furthermore, these groups are known to share similar beliefs, such as their dissatisfaction with the role of feminism in contemporary society. These different subcultures reside, albeit not exclusively, on Reddit, with both the Manosphere and the Alt-Right consisting of multiple subgroups. In this research, an analysis is conducted on the migration of users from four different manospheric subreddits (TheRedPill, MGTOW, MensRights, and Incels) to the more general Alt-Right subreddit The_Donald. In order to assess the extent of this possible migration, three different methods of analysis are employed: 1. An analysis of the activity of the users on all analysed subreddits; 2. An analysis of the usage of Alt-Right slang by these users; and 3. An analysis of the general discourse of the users on both their ‘own’ subreddits and The_Donald. The findings indicate that it is possible to empirically assess a possible migration of users on Reddit and furthermore prove that there is a definite empirical grounding to the claims of researchers, as users from the Manosphere also became more active on The_Donald as the Alt-Right gained greater popularity online. The contributions of this thesis are thus twofold: It provides an empirical basis for earlier claims regarding this possible migration, and it offers a method for empirically assessing the migration of users on Reddit. II Table of Contents 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 1 2 Theoretical Framework .............................................................................................................................. 5 PART I - DIGITAL COMMUNICATION ....................................................................................................... 6 2.1 Online mediated communication .......................................................................................................... 6 Online disinhibition .......................................................................................................................... 6 Agonism/Antagonism ........................................................................................................................ 7 Trolling culture ................................................................................................................................. 8 Summary ......................................................................................................................................... 11 PART II - HISTORICAL OVERVIEW.......................................................................................................... 12 2.2 Alt-Right ............................................................................................................................................. 12 Historical overview ........................................................................................................................ 12 Decline and resurrection of the Alternative Right .......................................................................... 13 Alt-Right communities on Reddit .................................................................................................... 16 2.3 Manosphere ........................................................................................................................................ 18 Origin of the men´s rights movement and the Manosphere ............................................................ 19 Contemporary men’s rights ............................................................................................................ 21 The Manosphere online .................................................................................................................. 21 Manospheric communities on Reddit ............................................................................................. 23 PART III - METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK .................................................................................... 28 2.4 Digital Methods .................................................................................................................................. 28 2.5 Linguistic innovation .......................................................................................................................... 29 Diffusion of innovation ................................................................................................................... 30 3 Research ..................................................................................................................................................... 33 3.1 Subreddit-specific user analysis ......................................................................................................... 34 The_Donald’s top 300 users’ comments on subreddits .................................................................. 35 TheRedPill’s top 300 users’ comments on subreddits .................................................................... 37 MGTOW’s top 300 users’ comments on subreddits ....................................................................... 39 MensRights’ top 300 users’ comments on subreddits ..................................................................... 41 Incels’ top 300 users’ comments on subreddits .............................................................................. 43 3.2 Subreddit-specific slang analysis ........................................................................................................ 45 Analysis of the Alt-Right slang used by the top 300 users on TheRedPill ...................................... 46 III Analysis of the Alt-Right slang used by the top 300 users on MGTOW ......................................... 48 Analysis of the Alt-Right slang used by the top 300 users on MensRights ..................................... 50 Analysis of the Alt-Right slang used by the top 300 users on Incels............................................... 52 3.3 Discourse analysis .............................................................................................................................. 54 The_Donald discourse analysis ...................................................................................................... 55 TheRedPill discourse analysis ........................................................................................................ 56 MGTOW discourse analysis ........................................................................................................... 58 MensRights discourse analysis ....................................................................................................... 60 Incels discourse analysis ................................................................................................................ 63 4 Results ........................................................................................................................................................ 66 4.1 General overview of findings ............................................................................................................. 66 Activity on subreddits ..................................................................................................................... 66 Slang analysis ................................................................................................................................. 67 Discourse analysis .......................................................................................................................... 70 4.2 October spike in The_Donald ............................................................................................................. 73 4.3 Explanation for migration from Manosphere into Alt-Right .............................................................. 76 5 Conclusion and discussion ........................................................................................................................ 78 5.1 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................... 78 5.2 Limitations of this research ................................................................................................................ 82 5.3 Recommendations for future research ................................................................................................ 83 Works cited ........................................................................................................................................................ 84 Appendix A - Queries ........................................................................................................................................ 90 Query 1 – Most frequently used words (per month) ......................................................................................
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