Bread and Plots: Conspiracy Theories and the Rhetorical Style of Political Influencer Communities on YouTube

Christina Wurst
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Christina Wurst: Department of American Studies, University of Tübingen, Germany

Media and Communication, 2022, vol. 10, issue 4, 213-223

Abstract: Based on the assumption that social media encourages a populist style of politics in online communities and the proposition that populism and conspiracy theories tend to co-occur, this article investigates whether this holds true for YouTube influencers, particularly on the less investigated left-wing spectrum. The article provides qualitative case studies of four different groups of political content creators on YouTube whose content makes use of or analyzes popular culture. The article concludes that a populist style plays a far less central role in left-wing communities on YouTube than on other platforms or within right-wing communities.

Keywords: BreadTube; conspiracy theories; popular culture; populism; social media; YouTube (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:meanco:v10:y:2022:i:4:p:213-223

DOI: 10.17645/mac.v10i4.5807

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