Social media as a catalyst for social changes (exemplified on Russian migration media discourse)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47475/2070-0695-2026-60-2-73-81Keywords:
media discourse, migrant, Telegram, conflict, cognitive-linguasynergetic analysis, social media, attractorAbstract
This article analyzes migration discourse in social media, using thematic Telegram channels as a case study. From a cognitive-linguistic-synergetic perspective, the digital environment of Telegram is examined as an open, nonlinear, and unstable system that shapes public opinion on significant social issues among its audience over a given period of time. The research material consists of multimodal media texts from the Telegram channels "Russian Nationalist" and "Migrants – As They Are," which focus on issues of interethnic interaction and labor migration. The media corpus, comprising 659 texts from October 2025, was compiled using continuous sampling. Frequent contexts and lexical collocations were identified using the Miratext program. The TGStat Telegram analytics service was employed to determine the publications that generated the greatest public resonance (based on the number of reactions, comments, and reposts). Identifying attractors within the media discourse under study involves pinpointing recurring, media-reproduced narratives and attitudes in the form of frequent semantic constructs, as well as detecting points of instability within the system that give rise to fluctuation processes manifesting as public resonance. The study identifies the representational features of attractors of a conflictogenic nature and their thematic orientation. The paper proposes a cognitive-linguistic-synergetic approach for identifying conflictogenic triggers in multimodal publications within migration media discourse. The analysis reveals key attractors that exert a significant influence on the audience. Furthermore, conclusions are drawn regarding the practical application of the cognitive-linguistic-synergetic approach in detecting catalysts of conflictogenic processes in social media. The findings of the research may be useful for compiling analytical data and studying public opinion on pressing social issues within a specified time frame. Acknowledgments: The research is accomplished with financial support of the Russian Science Foundation grant № 25-28-00134, https://rscf.ru/project/25-28-00134/.References
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