Performing Media Activism in the Digital Age breaks new ground by conceptualizing activism as a performance extending beyond public space and the moment of public gatherings to consider the more extended view of social or political movements as mediated social connections. The book utilizes primary data extracted from social media platforms by applying a social network analysis (SNA) approach to the people, organizations, and media that are trying to advance their particular agendas, with an eye toward a better understanding of the ways in which social movements operate in a networked society. The goal of social network analysis is to identify social structures within a movement such as communities or clusters and it seeks to locate influence within those structures.
Social network analysis as applied to media activism represents an interdisciplinary field that encompasses social psychology, sociology, as well as graph theory, which should suggest this book will be of interest to scholars and students in these and related fields. In the digital age, social network analysis represents a paradigm shift as analytical and data visualization tools can be applied in an interdisciplinary manner. By combining data science and sociology or cultural anthropology, one has the means to visualize networks of individuals and organizations engaged in a social movement, to see how movements are organized (structured) into communities, clusters, and niches, and to visualize power structures within social movements to see who is influencing a network over extended periods of time.
Author(s): Neil Alperstein
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 267
Preface
Acknowledgments
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Chapter 1: Introduction: Performing in Mediated Networks in the Digital Age
What Is a Social Movement?
Blumer’s Four Stages of Social Movements
Activists and Powerholders
New Social Movement Theory
Cyberconflict Theory
Torches of Freedom
Digital Media and New Social Movements
Patterns of Action
Imagined Communities
Participatory Culture
The Role of Spectacle
Networked Individualism
Situational Theory and Publics
Toward a Theory of Mediated Networks
Conclusion
Chapter 2: A Social Network Approach to Analyzing Social Movements
Social Movements as Virtual Communities
Social Network Approach
Limited Access to Social Data
Network Structures
Online Social Capital
Actor Network Theory (ANT) and the Engineering of Mediators in Performing Media Activism
Social Network Mediators
Strength of Weak Ties
Network Characteristics
Case Study: #NeverAgain Hashtag—March for Our Lives Movement
Conclusion
Chapter 3: Social Influencers, Content Creators, and Network Mediators in Social Movements
Context Collapse
From Two-Step to Multiple Step Flow
The Power of Worker Protest
Microcelebrities and Social Movements
Mediators and Moderators
Performative Activism
Up Chain and Down Chain Amplification
Case Study: Greta Thunberg/Climate Change
Link Analysis
Climate Crisis on Facebook
Social Network Analysis
Conclusion
Chapter 4: Conflict and Contentiousness: Network Connections and Pockets of Resistance in Social Movements
Contentious Politics
Normative Social Behavior
Anti-mask Movement and Normative Social Behavior
Performing QAnon
Social Amplification: Organic and Strategic
Context Collapse in Social Networks
Categorizing Social Movements
The 3.5 Percent Rule
Case Study: Anti-vaccine Communities on Reddit
Toxicity Analysis
Social Network Analysis
Conclusion
Chapter 5: Exploring Issues of Social Justice and Data Activism: The Personal Cost of Network Connections in the Digital Age
Market Making
Algorithms: Just Math
Data Inequities
Social Glue Versus Social Fragmentation
Cloud Protesting
Hashtag Activism
Platformitization
Case Study: Police Brutality and Social Justice
George Floyd Part I
#George Floyd on Twitter: Part II
Conclusion
Chapter 6: Issues of Social Movement Ethics, Privacy, Accessibility, and Inclusiveness in Mediated Networks
What to Prevent/What to Protect
Cloud Ethics
Cloud Protesting
Social Movement Research: Ethics of Engagement
Social Movements and Corporate Responsibility
Case Study: Accessibility and Inclusion in Mediated Social Movements
Disability Influencers on YouTube
Disability Facebook Groups: ADAPT
Disability Rights on Twitter
Disability Influencers on Twitter
Conclusion
Chapter 7: The Present and Future of Performing Media Activism
Cyberconflict and Performance
Changing Media Ecosystem
Algorithm Barons
Truth vs. Misinformation
Youth Culture and Social Movements
TikTok Generation
Virtual Protesting
Influence of Influencers
Collective Action to Connective Action to Collective Consciousness
Social Network Analysis Techniques and Tools
Netlytic (https://netlytic.org/home/)
Communalytic (https://communalytic.com)
CrowdTangle (https://help.crowdtangle.com/en/articles/4558716- understanding-and-citing-crowdtangle-data)
YouTube Data Tools (https://tools.digitalmethods.net/netvizz/youtube/)
Gephi (https://gephi.org/)
Media Cloud (https://mediacloud.org/)
Stanford Cable TV News Analyzer (https://tvnews.stanford.edu/)
Google Trends (https://trends.google.com/trends/?geo=US)
Google Books nGram Viewer (https://books.google.com/ngrams/info)
Index
