YouTube and Political Ideologies: Technology, Populism and Rhetorical Form
| DOI | 10.1177/0032321720934630 |
| Author | Alan Finlayson |
| Date | 01 February 2022 |
| Published date | 01 February 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0032321720934630
Political Studies
2022, Vol. 70(1) 62 –80
© The Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/0032321720934630
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YouTube and Political
Ideologies: Technology,
Populism and Rhetorical Form
Alan Finlayson
Abstract
Digital (participatory and shareable) media are driving profound changes to contemporary
politics. That includes, this article argues, important changes to the production, dissemination and
reception of political ideas and ideologies. Such media have increased the number and political
range of ‘ideological entrepreneurs’ promoting forms of political thought, while also giving rise to
distinct genres of political rhetoric and communication. All of this is affecting how people come
to be persuaded by and to identify with political ideas. In developing and justifying these claims, I
draw on the Political Theory of Ideologies, Digital Media Studies and Rhetorical Political Analysis.
I begin by showing how a populist ‘style’, induced by broadcast media, has been intensified by digital
media, affecting ideological form and content. Next I consider, in detail, a particular example –
YouTube – showing how it shapes political, ideological, communication. I then present a case-
study of the UK-based political YouTuber Paul Joseph Watson. I show how the political ideology
he propagates can be understood as a blend of Conservatism and Libertarianism, expressed in
a Populist style, centred on the ‘revelation’ of political truths and on a promise of therapeutic
benefits for followers. In a closing discussion I argue that this may be understood as a kind of
‘charismatic’ authority, and that such a political performance style is typical of these kinds of media
today.
Keywords
political ideologies, rhetoric, populism, digital and social media, YouTube
Accepted: 26 May 2020
Introduction
Understanding and assessing the effects on political processes of digital, participatory and
shareable media is a key challenge for Political Studies. An early wave of optimistic work
on the democratic potential of what were once ‘new’ media has been replaced by investi-
gations into how the Internet is challenging the conduct of democratic politics at a
number of levels. These include theoretical and analytical reflections on how the Internet
School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK
Corresponding author:
Alan Finlayson, School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies, University of East
Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK.
Email: a.finlayson@uea.ac.uk
934630PSX0010.1177/0032321720934630Political StudiesFinlayson
research-article2020
Article
Finlayson 63
changes ‘the character of political power and legitimacy’ (Runciman, 2017: 5), connects
to our democratic aspirations (Coleman, 2017) and interacts with systems of news, infor-
mation and government (Chadwick, 2017). There are studies of the impact of digital
media on specific political processes including elections (Margetts, 2017), parties
(Dommett, 2018; Gerbaudo, 2018b) and campaigning (Dommett and Temple, 2018).
Valuable interdisciplinary research into how the visual and affect-driven aspects of digital
political culture alter people’s experiences of politics (e.g. Dean, 2019) connects with an
expanding literature within media and digital studies on the politics of platform designs
and uses (Massanari, 2015) and of the ‘connective’ and ‘affective’ communities to which
they give rise (Papacharissi, 2015). This article draws on and contributes to such assess-
ments of the effects of digital media by adding to them research informed by the political
theory of political ideologies (e.g. Finlayson, 2012; Freeden, 2005, 2006; Freeden et al.,
2012) and by rhetorical theory and analysis. Digital media stimulate growth in ‘ideologi-
cal entrepreneurship’ (individuals earning a living from disseminating political ideas),
change the qualities and characteristics of political rhetoric and affect how people identify
with political positions and ideologies. Understanding this is a pressing concern.
To develop and explain these claims, I first situate the argument in relation to contem-
porary research into political ideologies, particularly the ‘turn’ to studying populist ‘style’
and the mediatisation of politics. Style, I suggest, is part of what rhetoric scholars call
‘ethos’, the explanation and justification of claims by grounding them in the ‘ethical’
character of speakers and propositions and their relationship to that of audiences. Research
shows that audio–visual media emphasise the personality and character of political actors,
demanding of them an identifiable ‘style’ and, I argue, make political rhetoric and argu-
mentation centre ever more on appeals to ethos. In the second section, I consider how
structural features of social media (the organisation of the production and consumption of
communication) intensify this focus on ethos. Taking YouTube as an example, I show that
it requires users to emphasise their persona or ethos, and create particular sorts of rela-
tionship with audiences/consumers. In a third section, I drill deeper still, analysing an
exemplary instance of YouTube political–discursive production: that of the prominent
British right-wing online activist Paul Joseph Watson. Locating Watson’s thinking within
an ideological context (of Libertarianism, Conservatism and Populism) I explain the rhe-
torical style through which he communicates his ‘political theory’: the construction of an
‘antagonism’ against a ‘new class’ and an emphasis on ‘secrets’ and revelations. This, I
show, is united and ‘grounded’ in the performance of an ethos of one brave and bold
enough to reveal ‘the truth’. The appeal of Watson’s rhetoric lies in the promise that iden-
tifying with this ethos is of therapeutic value to the individuals who subscribe to this
world view (and to his YouTube channel).
In a subsequent discussion section, I connect these three stages of the analysis. I argue
that Watson is an exemplar of a political style in which the rhetoric of ethos is brought to
the fore and political identification with it is presented as a kind of personal therapy.
Platforms such as YouTube induce this kind of political performance in which people
appear as authoritative, interpreters of what is ‘really’ going on, inviting viewers to expe-
rience this truth for themselves. This ‘charismatic’ style (Weber, 1946), in development
before the explosion of digital media, is intensified but also individualised by social
media technologies.
The article thus brings together and integrates research from three (sub)fields: the polit-
ical theory of political ideologies, rhetorical political analysis and sociologies of digital
media. In so doing, it contributes to the wider theory and analysis of politics in the era of
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