Memory in Propaganda: Creation of In-Groups and Out-Groups

• In Event: Power, Propaganda, and Predation: Contemporary Russia's International Strategies of Control and Influence

Abstract

Scholars have extensively studied how Russian propaganda uses historical narratives to create a common identity which legitimizes Putin's regime and its invasion of Ukraine. Nevertheless, the creation of such identities might alienate individuals who do not share the promoted identity. Existing literature has focused less on this aspect, thus conducting limited research on how propaganda creating identities strategically chooses to positively promote some social groups (in-groups) and negatively others (out-groups). I contribute to the literature on the use of historical memories in propaganda by using quantitative text analysis and computational methods in order to study which in-groups and out-groups are promoted using historical narratives, and to what extent the positive promotion of in-groups co-occurs with the negative promotion of out-groups. Given the risk of alienating some citizens, I argue that the regime uses historical narratives to strategically promote desired identities while minimizing the number of alienated individuals (e.g. choosing carefully the out-groups), and that - for this reason - the positive promotion of in-groups does not necessarily co-occur with a negative representation of out-groups (and vice versa). This research will ultimately rely on Putin's speeches and news from Channel One from 2012 until 2022 to test whether these hypotheses hold for both media sources or whether different sources imply different uses of historical narratives in propaganda. Ultimately, the research aims to better understand how Russian propaganda appeals to a broad audience via a strategic use of identities.

Author

• E R