Populism and digital Bolsonarism: text mining analysis of the Thursday lives

Authors

  • Ricardo e Silva Martins Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil, ricardoesilvamartins@gmail.com https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4979-3350
  • Augusto Neftali Corte de Oliveira Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil, augusto.oliveira@pucrs.br https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5615-8187

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5216/sec.v28.80293

Abstract

Following his successful use of social media in the 2018 election, former president Jair Bolsonaro maintained this communication
strategy throughout his term in office. The “ Thursday Lives ”, broadcast on multiple platforms, were the main channel of interaction with his supporters and with society between 2019 and 2022. This study applies content analysis techniques by text mining to examine the content of the broadcasts carried out during the entire period of Jair Messias Bolsonaro’s presidential mandate. The textual analysis of 179 lives highlights the constant presence of themes such as infrastructure, public
safety, the economy and attacks on opponents. The results reveal part of the former president’s populist strategy, linked to a pragmatic agenda and responsive to conventional socio-economic interests.

Keywords: Jair Bolsonaro; populism; social networks; text mining; YouTube.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Ricardo e Silva Martins, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil, ricardoesilvamartins@gmail.com

Doutorando em Sociologia e Ciência Política pela Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul.

Augusto Neftali Corte de Oliveira, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil, augusto.oliveira@pucrs.br

Doutor em Ciência Política pela Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul e professor da Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul.

Downloads

Published

2025-07-04

How to Cite

MARTINS, Ricardo e Silva; DE OLIVEIRA, Augusto Neftali Corte. Populism and digital Bolsonarism: text mining analysis of the Thursday lives. Sociedade e Cultura, Goiânia, v. 28, 2025. DOI: 10.5216/sec.v28.80293. Disponível em: https://revistas.ufg.br/fcs/article/view/80293. Acesso em: 6 dec. 2025.

Issue

Vol. 28 (2025)

Section

Free Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Sociedade e Cultura

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish in this journal agree to the following terms:

    1. Authors retain the copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication, the work being simultaneously licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which allows the sharing of the work with acknowledgment of authorship and of the initial publication in this journal;
    2. Authors are authorized to enter into additional contracts separately, for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in this journal (eg, publishing in an institutional repository or as a book chapter), with acknowledgment of authorship and of the initial publication in this journal;
    3. Authors are allowed and encouraged to post and distribute their work online (eg, in institutional repositories or on their personal page) at any point before or during the editorial process, as this can bring productive change as well as increases the impact and the citation of the published work (see O Efeito do Acesso Livre).