For incels, being a man at the bottom of a masculine hierarchy is still better than being a woman
Can negative evaluations of a broad outgroup paired with positive evaluations of a broad ingroup, sustain willing affiliation with even intensely self-derogating online communities? Synthesizing concepts from masculinities scholarship, social identity theory, and self-verification theory, this study compares language from two distinctive misogynist communities active on Reddit.com—Men Going Their Own Way, male separatists who positively frame members as superior to other men and men as superior to women, and Involuntary Celibates (incels), who openly derogate incel community members—to understand what sustains misogynist incels’ willing affiliation with the self-derogating incel community. Using thematic qualitative analysis, I find that while male separatists favor both their own narrower online community and the broader ingroup of men, misogynist incels engage in a patriarchal bargain, using relatively benevolent depictions of some men alongside negative depictions of all women to perpetuate broader gender inequality.
Uncovering the tactics of anti-immigration YouTube - and tools to fight back
Define American recently released a new report, “’Immigration Will Destroy Us’ and Other Talking Points.” It describes how popular anti-immigration YouTube videos frame the issue and their influence on offline conversations and perceptions. One section, co-authored by Francesca Tripodi, Shauna Siggelkow, and Sarah E. Lowe, analyzed the content of the 23 most-watched videos with anti-immigration messages and documented how they promote their narrative. Many of the videos promote the Great Replacement Theory narrative, a white nationalist theory that believes white genocide is imminent. Due to how frequently this narrative appears in the videos, researchers named the network of channels that publish these videos the Great Replacement Network (GRN).
Most of this content comes from a very small number of creators, and two of the three most prominent channels are also the largest anti-immigrant organizations in the United States.
These channels attack and instill fear about legal immigrants (Muslims) and illegal immigrants (Latine). The tactics they use to persuade include:
- Calls to logic and common sense (“trust me, I’ve done the research”)
- Appeals to fear
- Malinformation, or true statistics or data taken out of context to support false conclusions
The report reveals how YouTube influences immigration attitudes among key demographics, and the alarming sway the GRN holds (they have over 100 million views). Define American shares this research in the hope that content creators and similar groups can use this research to counter this narrative and tell positive stories for immigrants online, debunking each of the GRN’s claims one YouTube video at a time.