Chapter 3
Germany
Populist conceptualisations as drivers for identity formation and
expressing support for the Alternative für Deutschland
(AfD)
This chapter addresses how populist conceptualisations
and right-wing populist rhetoric are drawn upon by Alternative für
Deutschland (Alternative for Germany, AfD) supporters on Facebook when
expressing support for AfD and constructing in- and outgroups. 1479 direct
replies to the original post covering the election campaign for the 2019 EU
election in four threads were selected from the official AfD Facebook page.
Findings disclose that populist conceptualisations such as ‘saving’ and
speaking for ‘the people’, denouncing the elite and belittling outgroups are
crucial drivers for voting AfD and identity constructions of in- and
outgroups. AfD supporters draw on linguistic resources specific to social
media (e.g. emojis) and populist discourse in their comments resulting in
populist and right-wing rhetoric being manifest in AfD supporters’
discourse.
Article outline
- Introduction
- The Alternative für Deutschland (AfD)
- Data and method
- Data analysis
- The original AfD posts
- Motivation to vote AfD, or constructing the political self
- Agreeing with the party programme
- Putting hope in the AfD as the saviour of Germany
- Showing (unconditional) love for the AfD
- Constructing ingroups and outgroups
- Constructing the ingroup: “The (German) people”
- Constructing the enemy within: Non-AfD voters
- Constructing the enemy within: The establishment
- Constructing the enemy outside: Brussels/EU
- Conclusion
-
Notes