Date of Completion

Spring 5-1-2026

Thesis Advisor(s)

Fred Lee

Honors Major

Political Science

Disciplines

Political Theory

Abstract

The United States has experienced a rapid growth in extremism, reinforced by online social networks. Existing scholarship attributes increased extremism to political polarization, the appropriation of liberal norms of free speech, and white male racial anxiety. Present debates concern the popularity of alternative social networking platforms that provide opportunities for radicalization. Current scholars assume that online alternative sites are relatively isolated and engage in the most extreme cases of right-wing violence and hate speech. However, this thesis argues that extremism in the United States has been widespread and increasingly embedded in mainstream political discourse. I argue that leaders within the current, though fragile, hegemonic bloc—particularly Republican members of Congress—legitimize extremist groups and their ideas. This argument is demonstrated through a historical process tracing of white nationalist influencers and right-wing politicians since approximately the 1980s up to present members of the United States Congress. I employ theoretical arguments from Antonio Gramsci’s concept of hegemony and Stuart Hall’s encoding/decoding model to explain how media—now including social media as a social institution—shapes ideological and cultural movements. I demonstrate how the online white nationalist movement succeeds in its strategic tactics and narratives, which shows how their Gramscian “war of position” has reshaped the mainstream. Now, once-extreme viewpoints have changed the ideology of the mainstream Republican Party’s political leadership.

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