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Digital prefigurative participation: The entwinement of online communication and offline participation in protest events
- Source :
- New Media & Society
- Publication Year :
- 2011
- Publisher :
- SAGE Publications, 2011.
-
Abstract
- This article reviews the main findings of a three-year empirical study that examined the possible contribution of computer-mediated communication (CMC) to participation in offline social movement protest events. Participation was examined as manifest in mobilization, identity building and organizational transformation. Digital prefigurative participation is a tentative construct that attempts to capture the CMC aspect of engagement in the three processes. The participatory processes were probed in the contrasting circumstances of high- and low-risk protest events. This distinction has revealed some important differences in the structural factors that foster participation, primary among which has been organizational affiliation. Yet, it has remained largely unexplored in studies of internet use in protest politics. Findings from two case studies of environmental protests in Romania and the UK suggest that digital prefigurative participation may be extensive among unaffiliated participants at a low-risk event and the affiliated at a high-risk one.
- Subjects :
- Sociology and Political Science
Web 2.0
business.industry
Communication
Civic and Community Engagement
Citizen journalism
Identity building
HM
Public relations
Social and Behavioral Sciences
FOS: Sociology
Politics
Empirical research
Sociology
Organizational transformation
The Internet
Organizational Affiliation
Protest, Internet, Web 2.0, participation, social movement, mobilisation, identitybuilding, organization
Construct (philosophy)
business
Social psychology
Social movement
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 14617315 and 14614448
- Volume :
- 14
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- New Media & Society
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....82ad96760460e6496eea6f776bda36b8