Socio-political Content and Regional Discourse of Modern Russia: The Issues Discussed by Citizens in the Online Space and the Solutions Offered by the Candidates for Governor in Their Election Manifestos (Intersection Points and Fault Lines) | South-Russian Journal of Social Sciences
Socio-political Content and Regional Discourse of Modern Russia: The Issues Discussed by Citizens in the Online Space and the Solutions Offered by the Candidates for Governor in Their Election Manifestos (Intersection Points and Fault Lines)
Vol. 20 (2019) No. 4, Political Institutions and Processes
Vol. 20 (2019) No. 4
Political Institutions and Processes

Socio-political Content and Regional Discourse of Modern Russia: The Issues Discussed by Citizens in the Online Space and the Solutions Offered by the Candidates for Governor in Their Election Manifestos (Intersection Points and Fault Lines)

Ryabchenko N.A.
Kuban State University
ORCID ID 0000-0001-6980-2894
Gnedash A.A.
Kuban State University
ORCID ID 0000-0002-3516-107X
Malysheva O.P.
Kuban State University
ORCID ID 0000-0001-8285-0508
Shestakova A.A.
Kuban State University
ORCID ID 0000-0003-3233-2029
Nikolaeva M.V.
Kuban State University
ORCID ID 0000-0001-7002-1497
PDF
https://doi.org/10.31429/26190567-20-4-27-48
https://doi.org/10.31429/26190567-20-4-27-48

How to Cite Array

Ryabchenko N.A., Gnedash A.A., Malysheva O.P., Shestakova A.A., Nikolaeva M.V. (2019) Socio-political Content and Regional Discourse of Modern Russia: The Issues Discussed by Citizens in the Online Space and the Solutions Offered by the Candidates for Governor in Their Election Manifestos (Intersection Points and Fault Lines). South-Russian Journal of Social Sciences, 20 (4), pp. 27-48. DOI: 10.31429/26190567-20-4-27-48
Submission Date 2019-10-15
Accepted Date 2019-11-14
Published Date 2019-12-27

Copyright (c) 2019 Наталья Анатольевна Рябченко, Анна Александровна Гнедаш, Ольга Петровна Малышева, Анастасия Андреевна Шестакова, Мария Витальевна Николаева

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

The article presents the findings of a major empirical study into socio-­political user-­generated content produced in the online space of the 22 constituent entities of the Russian Federation, as well as socio-­political content generated by the candidates for governor of th  same 22 constituent entities in 2018–2019. The methodological basis of the research into socio-­political content and regional discourses of modern Russia is network analysis, whose theoretical basis is the methods of mathematical modelling of social networks and communities. At the second stage, network analysis was enhanced by cultural components of social action (local practices and contexts, discourses, repertoires and norms); therefore, the traditional methodology of mathematical analysis of social networks (i. e. structural network analysis) was supplemented with the methods of relational sociology and linguo-­discursive analysis. Linguo-­discursive analysis was used to interpret the processes of creation and development of meanings and contexts in political discourse generated both by social networks and communities, and candidates for governor likewise. Parsing of network data and linguo-­discursive analysis was applied to research online political content generated in the online space of 22 constituent entities of the RF was carried out via operational hybrid toolset, a computer software program “Structural relational parsing of political content”. The empirical basis of the research comprises the content generated by the communities on Vkontakte social platform (online network communities “Tipichnyj” (“Typical”) representing 22 constituent entities of the RF and online network communities “Podslushano” (“Overheard”) representing 21 constituent entities of the RF), and the  lectoral materials of the candidates for the governor in the 22 constituent entities of the RF. The analysis of research findings enabled us to group the regions according to the identified intersection points and fault lines in public discourse and the agenda shaped by the candidates for governor in their election programs. These are a “Zero tension” group, a “Prevention of Tension” group, a “Critical Tension”, and a “Prominent Tension” group. Such research into political content generated by people and governmental representatives in the regional public online space is highly warranted as it provides revolutionary new qualitative and quantitative insights into the socio-­political situation of the RF regions; it can be applied to enhance effective communication between the authorities and civil society and allow to identify potential points of growth for protest sentiments capable of developing in online social networks and communities likewise.

Keywords

online space, socio-­political content, regional discourse, modern Russia, issues discussed by citizens, solutions offered by the candidates for governor, elections manifestos, parsing of network data, mathematical analysis of social networks, linguo-­discursive analysis, methods of relational sociology

Acknowledgements

The research was carried out through the financial support of the The Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Department of Humanitarian and Social Science), the research project no. 18-011-00910 entitled (The models and practices of political content management in modern states’ online space in the “the Post-­Truth” Era.) (2018–2020).

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