The emotional foundations of authoritarian discourse: a mixed-methods study of anger, disgust and fear in online discussions on news issues
Abstract
This article investigates the emotions that shape authoritarian discourse in online publics. Authoritarianism is conceptualized as a discursively enacted moral order, grounded in the interrelated values of conformism, authoritarian submission and aggression, and constituted through recurrent emotional practices. Drawing on sociological and discourse approaches to emotion, the article examines the following: (1) how anger, disgust and fear are articulated and configure authoritarian practices; (2) how authoritarian values are enacted and authorized through these emotions; and (3) how these emotions are distributed and develop within prominent online discourses. Empirically, the article applies a mixed-methods design to 563 news-linked discussion threads on school disorder and transgender issues from the Swedish online platform Flashback (2010–24). Authoritarian discourse is reproduced through emotional dynamics at multiple levels. In-depth discourse analyses demonstrate how articulated emotions construct individuals and groups as objects of blame, impurity and threat, thereby justifying exclusionary, retributive and punitive measures. These emotions are repeatedly mobilized to establish moral boundaries and authorize authoritarian reasoning across discussions. Combined with structural topic modelling, the analysis identifies systematic associations between specific emotions and discourse topics, as well as selective intensifications over time. The article contributes to the sociology of emotions by empirically demonstrating how emotions that have been thoroughly studied within this field – anger, disgust and fear – structure authoritarian discourse. In doing so, it brings the analysis of authoritarianism to the centre of research on emotions and society and highlights the importance of emotional dynamics for understanding contemporary tensions between liberal and authoritarian values within liberal democracies.