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Which came first, the Tweety or the Egg? The Backfire Effects of Repression Online

Richardson, Alexandra LU (2023) WPMM43 20231
Department of Political Science
Abstract
The 2017 Catalan independence referendum on the first of October was both a transformative event for the Catalan independence movement and the beginning of Spain’s constitutional crisis. The actions by the Spanish government could be described as repressive, but did audiences online interpret it as such? Protest and resistance, on the streets and online, criticising the government’s actions are evidence of backfire, when repression fails to prevent dissent. This study looks into the consequences of repression online, and whether the interpretations of these repressive events led to it backfiring. To do so it carries out a quantitative content analysis on Twitter data, using topic modelling to discover latent themes in the text. The... (More)
The 2017 Catalan independence referendum on the first of October was both a transformative event for the Catalan independence movement and the beginning of Spain’s constitutional crisis. The actions by the Spanish government could be described as repressive, but did audiences online interpret it as such? Protest and resistance, on the streets and online, criticising the government’s actions are evidence of backfire, when repression fails to prevent dissent. This study looks into the consequences of repression online, and whether the interpretations of these repressive events led to it backfiring. To do so it carries out a quantitative content analysis on Twitter data, using topic modelling to discover latent themes in the text. The analysis found differences in the online discussions about certain repressive events. The arrest of public figures was more salient to Catalan-speaking audiences, while police violence was shocking to English-speaking ones. The Spanish online discussion is ambivalent. This study contributes to understanding how repression and backfire works online, an increasingly important arena for protest in the 21st century. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Richardson, Alexandra LU
supervisor
organization
course
WPMM43 20231
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
repression, Catalonia, referendum, punishment puzzle, online
language
English
id
9115470
date added to LUP
2023-08-27 16:37:24
date last changed
2023-08-27 16:37:24
@misc{9115470,
  abstract     = {{The 2017 Catalan independence referendum on the first of October was both a transformative event for the Catalan independence movement and the beginning of Spain’s constitutional crisis. The actions by the Spanish government could be described as repressive, but did audiences online interpret it as such? Protest and resistance, on the streets and online, criticising the government’s actions are evidence of backfire, when repression fails to prevent dissent. This study looks into the consequences of repression online, and whether the interpretations of these repressive events led to it backfiring. To do so it carries out a quantitative content analysis on Twitter data, using topic modelling to discover latent themes in the text. The analysis found differences in the online discussions about certain repressive events. The arrest of public figures was more salient to Catalan-speaking audiences, while police violence was shocking to English-speaking ones. The Spanish online discussion is ambivalent. This study contributes to understanding how repression and backfire works online, an increasingly important arena for protest in the 21st century.}},
  author       = {{Richardson, Alexandra}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Which came first, the Tweety or the Egg? The Backfire Effects of Repression Online}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}