From Mockery to Moral Outrage: Affects and Relations of Power in Polarized Climate Change Discussions on Australian Twitter

Abstract

This article investigates how affective polarization becomes discursively manifest in climate change discussions involving Australian politicians on Twitter during the 2019 and 2022 federal election campaigns. Drawing on the concepts of interactional and affective polarization on Twitter and employing Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory alongside Margaret Wetherell’s affective-discursive approach, we first examined the interactional dynamics of these discussions and then conducted an in-depth qualitative analysis of tweets to explore the construction of opponents’ identities and associated affective patterns. The results revealed a web of relations within competing affective discourses. Identifications—such as children, families, workers, farmers, and Australia—were frequently invoked in opposition to rivals, who were often portrayed as threats. The affective patterns of relating to these perceived threats varied, ranging from dismissal and mockery to blame and righteous anger, highlighting shifting power struggles within the discourses. We observe affective patterns linked to a deeper, historically ingrained anxiety about Australia’s international standing.