Extracting Narrative Structure from Online Labor Discourse: A Prompt-Based Operationalization of the Actantial Model

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Abstract

This paper introduces a prompt-based approach to extracting narrative structure from online labor discourse using large language models. Building on Greimas’s Actantial Model, it develops a structured prompt that constrains LLM outputs to a closed set of narrative roles (subject, opponent, helper, and object). Applying this method to over 26,000 posts and comments from Reddit labor communities (r/antiwork and r/WorkReform) surrounding a major reputational crisis, the analysis identifies tendencies of narrative transformation. The paper illustrates the potential of structured prompting for scalable narrative analysis in computational social science, while highlighting the importance of prompt–model co-optimization.

Author

• Yuntong JI, Northeastern University