Trasnformers for Social Network Analysis in Social Sciences. the Case of the Ecological Transition and Climate Change Denialism in Spain.

The analysis of online public debate processes has become a central axis for applied research in social sciences. The possibility of studying digitally mediated public opinion with data science tools and social network analysis can be a step forward for sociological research. However, it also represents a test bed for new AI computational tools such as Transformers.

This work presents some technical keys to improve our understanding of how we apply AI to social research. Additionally, and as an applied example, the results of the application of this type of techniques to a central public debate process in today's societies are summarized; how citizens perceive the process of climate change and how certain groups position themselves against the existence of the change itself, as well as against public policies promoted to reduce the effect of economic and industrial development on the environment.

We show the structure of this debate on X, Facebook, and Instagram during two waves of downloads (one coinciding with the dates of the world summit against climate change and the other at a time without events of such relevance), focusing on the affective disposition (sentiment analysis) of the participants, the main topics discussed and identifying the denialist discourses.