Identity Emergence in the Context of Vaccine Criticism in France

Abstract

This study investigates the emergence of collective identity among individuals critical of vaccination policies in France during the COVID-19 pandemic. As concerns grew over mandated health measures, a loose collective formed on Twitter to assert autonomy over vaccination decisions. Using analyses of pronoun usage, outgroup labeling, and tweet similarity, we examine how this identity emerged. A turning point occurred following President Macron's announcement of mandatory vaccination for health workers and the health pass, sparking substantial changes in linguistic patterns. We observed a shift from first-person singular (I) to first-person plural (we) pronouns, alongside an increased focus on vaccinated individuals as a central outgroup, in addition to authority figures. This shift in language patterns was further reflected in the behavior of new users. An analysis of incoming users revealed that a core group of frequent posters played a crucial role in fostering cohesion and shaping norms. New users who joined during the week of Macron's announcement and continued posting afterward showed an increased similarity with the language of the core group, contributing to the crystallization of the emerging collective identity.

Figures (7)

• Figure 1: Number of new and continuing vaccine-critical users by weeks, where a new user is posting for the first time and a continuing user has posted at least once before. The grey-shaded area represents the period following Macron's announcement on mandatory vaccination for health workers and the health pass, which coincided with a surge in new users joining the conversation.
• Figure 2: Pronoun use (A) across weeks, with the period following Macron's speech shaded grey, and (B) before versus after Macron’s speech, considering two groups of pronouns: first-person singular (1SG) and first-person plural (1PL) pronouns. Before Macron’s speech, users mostly used 1SG pronouns while they used more 1PL pronouns after.
• Figure 3: Proportion of authors using outgroup labels by category across months, with the period following Macron's speech shaded grey. Labels related to authority are used by more authors and the focus on vaccinated people increases over time.
• Figure 4: Cosine similarity between the Established-Core, Established-Irregular, Incoming-Persistent, and Incoming-Transient groups. We focused on the week before Macron's speech (A - 2021-27), the week of his speech (B - 2021-28), and the week after (C - 2021-29). The Established-Core consistently show the highest within-group similarity, which increases over time. The Incoming-Transient display the lowest within-group similarity and are the most distinct from the Established-Core. In contrast, the Incoming-Persistent are more similar to the Established-Core.
• Figure 5: Proportion of outgroup label use by authors in different groups, with the period following Macron’s speech shaded grey and 95% confidence interval error bars. The Established-Core use outgroup labels most, the Incoming-Transient least, while the Established-Irregular and Incoming-Persistent show similar patterns.