The representations of Italian populisms on Facebook (2017-2019). The language of Luigi Di Maio and Matteo Salvini from a psychosocial analytical perspective

The study comparatively explores the communication on Facebook of Matteo Salvini, a rightwing xenophobic populist, and Luigi Di Maio, an eclectic populist more center-left oriented. Communication was monitored during the 2018 National and 2019 European elections. We studied the involvement and anger reactions of the followers, highlighting higher levels in Salvini's followers than those of Di Maio. We then combined automatic textual analyses with qualitative content analyses. The results underlined different forms of populism with the communication styles of the two leaders that strategically use pronominal forms and their categorical amplitude to consolidate the identitarian unity of their people. © 2024 Societa Editrice Il Mulino. All rights reserved.