Darian Nigro

Date of Award

2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Reilly, Jack

Second Advisor

Gorup, Michael

Area of Concentration

Political Science

Abstract

Prominent cases of political violence in America are often approached by determining a potential cause and seeking a solution specific to that cause. For example, a mass shooting tied to a political ideology may be approached as the consequence of a nationwide mental health crisis or failures in gun control. However, efforts to understand and prevent such cases may be more successful if these acts are addressed as the result of radicalization: a trackable process that leads to violence. Additionally, the role of internet-based platforms has been questioned in relation to the violent realization of radical ideas. Therefore, researching the process of radicalization as it occurs within online spaces may offer valuable insight into the effective prediction and prevention of political violence. However, the potential nuance of internet-based communications within the process of radicalization necessitates further research. This study employs text-based analysis methods used by Ted Grover and Gloria Mark (2019) to investigate the behavioral patterns of internet-based political communities on the social media website Reddit. User comments taken from political communities on Reddit are analyzed and compared over a six-month period using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC). The comparison aims to determine whether warning behaviors of the radicalization process are observable within political communities online. The warning behavior of idea and topic fixation is investigated by reviewing the frequency with which terms are mentioned. Next, the sentiment of comments is analyzed, addressing the potential warning behavior of an increasingly negative tone. Finally, the comments are reviewed for markers of in-group identification, which has been identified as another potential warning behavior in the radicalization process.

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