"The ancient past is often used to express political identities," says lead author Chiara Bonacchi of the University of Edinburgh. "Our research shows that various periods of pre-modern British history are most commonly invoked to advocate and justify negative and extreme positions. When people reference the ancient past in political debates on social media, it's usually connected with hostile and polarised views rather than moderate ones."
Researchers scrutinized nearly 1.5 million posts using AI, computational, and manual techniques, identifying a distinct pattern that associates historical references with extreme political sentiments.
In examining the heated debates around Brexit on Facebook, the study found that users advocating for extreme sides of complex issues were more likely to employ historical narratives.
This research highlights the troubling trend of historical thinking being leveraged in political discourse, particularly in contexts like Brexit where emotions and identities are already deeply polarized.
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