Affective (re)orientations in online discussions on the threat of violence posed by migrants

Abstract

Online discussions are rife with fear-evoking images and meaning making that highlight a perceived threat to the security of European nations and their inhabitants posed by migrants' violence in the wake of increased immigration. This paper examines the role of emotions in shaping anti-immigration views as a response to the threat of violence attached to migrants in online conversations. Using a dataset of Finnish online discussion threads from 2015-2017 that were prompted by extensive media attention paid to various cases of violent crime in which migrants were suspects, we particularly analyse the affective dynamics of interpellation processes wherein discussants are invited to adopt anti-immigration orientations. This analysis demonstrates how emotions such as fear, hate, and love function together in complex ways to constitute and shift meanings constructed during these discussions. These processes afford the construction and adoption of affectively appealing identities that are based on the re-signification of anti-immigration orientations as morally and socially acceptable, such as 'normal citizen' and 'caring parent'. The analysis thus provides insight into processes in which 'ordinary' citizens hear, and respond to the call for xenophobic positions, thereby illustrating how a sense of community and caring for a community is built within these affective processes.

Making Micro Business Visible: Unlocking the Potential Through Social Media

“…Furthermore, a discussion site is beneficial to customers since it gives a visual that aids students in organizing evidence obtained mostly from readings. As noted by Virkki and Venäläinen (2020), online discussions were filled with fear-inducing pictures and meaning-making that stressed a projected risk to national security of European nations and their citizens posed by migrants' violence in the midst of increasing immigration. Social media also functions as a sharing economy network, which is an economic model in which private citizens share assets or services for free or for a fee, usually over the internet.…”