Turning Audiences into Activists: A Qualitative Case Study of PragerU and Moral Foundations Theory

Abstract: YouTube plays a significant role in the right wing media ecosystem, especially as an alternative source for news and information beyond traditional media outlets. PragerU is a far right YouTube channel with over 3 million subscribers and 1.7 billion views at the time of writing, which lies on the periphery of the Alternative Influence Network and subsequent alt-right pipeline. Using the organization PragerU as a case study, this thesis aims to understand how far the organization communicates their ideology via Moral Foundations Theory to further engage their viewers. PragerU structures its content offerings as a funnel system, designed to move viewers down a pipeline towards becoming monetary subscribers and volunteers. Using a qualitative content analysis, I examined PragerU’s content through Moral Foundations Theory to understand how the organization moves individuals down this funnel, and how they craft effective and persuasive arguments for right wing ideology in the digital age. This study finds that PragerU’s video content structures its rhetorical arguments in a way that mirrors its content funnel, moving viewers from fear and reactionary based content structured around the Moral Foundation of Sanctity/Degradation to deeper, more philosophical arguments around the Moral Foundation of Liberty/Oppression, posing the idea of what it means to be American.