The Internet and politics of fear: putting Islamophobia online
The Internet has long been used as a space to facilitate debate, but what happens when negative attitudes towards religious groups are projected into this public space, fuelling animosity towards particular groups or religions?
New research published in Ethnic and Racial Studies, ‘Online Islamophobia and the politics of fear: manufacturing the green scare’ suggests that negative attitudes and explicit racism against people of the Muslim faith are becoming increasingly visible in public discourse throughout Europe, enhanced by counter-jihadist networks.
This research explores an online cross-section of ‘Islamophobic’ networks, emphasizing right-wing populist parties who use discursive strategies to strengthen their position on the ‘Islamic threat’ to the West. By combining elements of social network analysis and critical discourse analysis, three key online platforms are evaluated as to whether they create a mainstream political position, using online ‘actors’ to stand for defence of Western values and freedom of speech.
All three sites chosen for the study are prolific platforms that receive a high number of visitors and have varying geographical outlooks. 600 blogs posts (200 from each site) were sampled randomly for qualitative analysis.
Using the results of this sample, this study argues a case that ‘Islamophobic’ discourse is strengthened by xenophobia within the online media in Europe, and ultimately promotes a political culture of fear.
To read the article in full, visit: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01419870.2015.1021264#.VSOicvnF__M
For more information please contact:
Rebecca Bray
Routledge Ethnicity Journals
rebecca.bray@tandf.co.uk
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