La Pennsylvanie est un État complexe dans sa géographie économique, urbaine et raciale et, partant, dans les comportements électoraux de ses citoyens. Cette thèse examine la manière dont le Tea Party s’y est organisé et les modes de mobilisation qu’il a adoptés. Fort d’une tradition conservatrice souvent sous-estimée, l'État de William Penn constitue un bon observatoire pour étudier l'évolution et les mutations du mouvement conservateur et de son bras armé électoral, le Parti républicain. L’observation de terrain démontre que le Tea Party ne peut pas être appréhendé indépendamment d’une large galaxie de groupes nationaux et locaux, de think tanks, de médias avec lesquels il entretient des relations souvent conflictuelles.La thèse met en lumière la mutation d’un mouvement social médiatisé en une mobilisation politique dont les efforts se concentrent à l’échelle fédérée et locale. Rétifs à toute institutionnalisation, les groupes locaux voudraient restituer aux citoyens des processus de décision que l’appareil républicain aurait confisqués à son profit. Stratégie d’entrisme, pressions sur les élus, travail idéologique d’organisations de terrain, action concertée au Congrès ont fait glisser le centre de gravité du GOP vers un conservatisme pour lequel la capacité à nouer des compromis pour gouverner est disqualifiée. En dépit d’une force militante en recul, la nébuleuse Tea Party soumet idéologiquement le mouvement conservateur et le Parti républicain à de fortes pressions qui ne sont pas étrangères à la confusion qui caractérise la situation politique actuelle du pays. / Pennsylvania is a complex state in its economic, urban, and racial geographies, accordingly complex is the electoral behavior of its citizens. This thesis examines the ways in which Tea Party groups in Pennsylvania mobilized and organized. The often overlooked conservative tradition of William Penn’s state makes it an excellent case study to examine the evolution and mutations of the conservative movement and of its electoral arm, the Republican party. The fieldwork conducted in this thesis shows that the Tea Party cannot be understood without taking into account a great number of national and local groups, think tanks, and media personalities with whom it often has chaotic relationships.This work focuses on the evolution of a visible social movement into a political mobilization that targets the state and local levels. Local Tea Party groups, who are opposed to any form of institutionalization, fight to snatch power from the hands of the GOP establishment to give it back to the voters. Gradual infiltration of the Republican party, constant pressure on elected officials, ideological work conducted by advocacy organizations, and concerted action in Congress have driven the GOP towards a brand of conservatism that rejects any idea of compromise in governing. Despite a drop in the number of activists, the Tea Party movement has subjected the conservative movement and the Republican party to heavy ideological pressure, which partly explains the current confusion in the country’s political landscape.

<p>  </p> <p>We cannot fully assess the normative and epistemic implications of online discourse, especially political discourse, without recognizing how it is being systematically leveraged to undermine the credibility and autonomy of those with marginalized identities. In the following chapters, I supplement social/feminist epistemological methodologies with norm theory to argue that online discourse entrenches the mechanisms of political dominance and cultural hegemony by ignoring and devaluing the experiences and struggles of marginalized individuals. Each chapter investigates a different, concrete manifestation of this dynamic. In Chapter 1, I argue that digital capitalist enterprises like Facebook facilitate the targeting of minoritized users with disproportionate instances of abuse, misinformation, and silencing. This is exemplified by the practice of using racial microtargeting to engage in Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) voter suppression. I contend in Chapter 2 that, given the exploitative nature of racially-microtargeted political advertising campaigns, these social media companies are ultimately morally responsible for initiating and sustaining a burgeoning digital voter suppression industry. In Chapter 3, I argue that the presence of online disinformation, in tandem with key party figures’ explicit endorsement of vicious group epistemic norms like close-mindedness and dogmatism, have directly contributed to the formation and epistemic isolation of conservative political factions in the US. Finally, I argue in Chapter 4 that social media and hostile media bias rhetoric directly reinforce sexist and racist credibility norms, effectively creating a toxic environment of misogynistic online discourse that hurts the perceived credibility of women journalists.</p>