Discursive stability and instability in online political discussion : An analysis of the subreddits r/sweden and r/svenskpolitik in the run-up to the 2022 Swedish election

Sammanfattning

Social media has become an increasingly important arena for political discussion. However, as platforms operate differently, it’s relevant to examine how they shape political debate. Within this frame, Reddit is comparatively understudied in a Swedish research context. This thesis examines how political discussion within r/sweden and r/svenskpolitik were structured and shaped by subreddit dynamics in the run-up to the 2022 election in Sweden. Drawing on Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory, the study analyses Reddit threads concerning different political themes, observing antagonism articulated across the two subreddits. The findings show that r/svenskpolitik is organised through a relatively stable hegemonic discourse, which enables users to collectively enforce norms, and delegitimise opposing views. However, this increases the risk of echo-chamber tendencies, and a strong ‘us versus them’ dynamic. In contrast, r/sweden lacks a stable overarching discourse, and discussions are instead framed by the original poster in each thread. Patterns and antagonism vary across threads, where echo-chamber tendencies emerge at thread-level. These findings suggest that discursive stability on Reddit promotes more horizontal interaction, whereas instability increases reliance on individual actors, creating more vertical interaction.