On January 6, 2021, thousands of demonstrators entered the US Capitol. In
 political and media discourse, the event was quickly framed as a clear instance of large-scale political violence. A close examination of available video footage, however, reveals a more complex picture: phases of intense confrontation and destruction are followed by abrupt shifts toward disorientation, exploration, and the situational negotiation of rules. This study analyses such transitions in the immediate aftermath of collective violence from a praxeological and interactionist perspective. Methodologically, it combines video analysis with thick descriptions of key scenes to trace processes of re-ordering, fragmentation, and situational meaning-making. While the Capitol storm serves as the main case,  comparative vignettes  including the 2017 G20 summit in Hamburg –  broaden the analysis to recurring patterns and ruptures in collective dynamics.It is undisputed that social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter now play a significant role in the formation and (further) development of public opinion.In particular, the possibility of exchanging views on relevant social, political and economic events across national borders is a central aspect of social media; they enable the formation of communicative and social systems of like-minded people. But for some time now, the culture of discussion and exchange on the net seems to have changed: the language used by social media users is increasingly characterised by anger, hatred and intolerance towards other views and opinions. And offline, too, violent escalations can be observed at demonstrations and gatherings all over the world.

The aim of my planned doctoral project is to work out correlations between linguistic practice on the net and real acts of violence in public. On the one hand, this should contribute to closing the research gap between theories of language and theories of action and, on the other hand, open up a new perspective on the current debate about the human right to freedom of speech. This will be done by means of a (super-)situational reconstruction as well as a linguistic and micro-sociological analysis of empirical cases. In view of this objective, it is necessary to examine relevant theories of language, speech acts and action as well as approaches to significant theories of conflict and violence in order to be able to guarantee the most comprehensive applicability possible. Subsequently, tweets related to the empirical cases will be evaluated in particular with regard to their linguistic stylistics as well as their consequences and meanings for collective movements and corresponding violent escalations.

Nowadays social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter play a significant role when it comes to forming and shaping public opinions. Especially the possibility of exchange of ideas and opinions and discussing world affairs across borders is crucial for social media and its users worldwide. Those platforms enable like-minded people to connect and form social as well as communicative networks. Yet the atmosphere of interaction and discourse seems to have changed over the last couple of years as the language used among the people participating in the discussions online appears to be angrier, more hateful and less accepting of different sets of opinions. It appears that the parties involved in those online discussions are increasingly arguing and fighting about the sole privilege of interpretation. And also offline the phenomenon of fighting about the one and only truth seems to be continued as demonstrations and political or social rallies seem to escalate violently with increasing frequency.

The goal of my PhD project is to map out correlations between the practice of online language and violent acts in the offline public spaces. On the one hand, this is intended to contribute to closing the research gap between theories of language and theories of action, and on the other hand, to open up a new perspective on the current debate about the human right to freedom of speech within the frame of the World Wide Web. This will be done by means of a (super-)situational reconstruction as well as a linguistic and micro-sociological analysis of empirical cases. In view of this objective, it is necessary to examine relevant theories of language, speech acts and action as well as approaches of significant theories of conflict and violence in order to be able to guarantee the most comprehensive applicability possible. Subsequently, especially tweets related to the empirical cases will be evaluated with regard to their linguistic stylistics as well as their consequences and meanings for collective movements and corresponding violent escalations.