Racial dynamics on Facebook
A study of right-wing political movements in Portugal
Abstract
Racialization is a process through which belonging to a particular race is socially constructed and attributed to certain individuals or human groups based on intrinsic characteristics, such as skin colour, ethno-cultural origin, or phenotype. This phenomenon, as a discriminatory mechanism, serves as the material basis for the spread and reaffirmation of prejudices, exclusions, favouritism, and hate speech, especially in the current era, where digital technologies amplify these polarizing political processes. Thus, this paper analyses the racialization present in right-wing political movements on Facebook, based on an update of a previous study. The analysis adopts a quantitative approach, involving the extraction, data mining, and visualization of data from two widely recognized fanpages in Portugal: Nova Portugalidade and Associação Portugueses Primeiro. The sample covers a period of 8 years, from January 1, 2017, to January 1, 2024, comprising a total of 3,740 posts. The results indicate a remarkable growth of the Portuguese nationalist movement on Facebook. However, compared to the original study, there seems to be a trend of decline or stabilization in this growth over the past three years. The former African colonies and their peoples are subjects of racial framing, frequently suffering direct hate attacks.
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References
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