Pranks in Contentious Politics

Contention ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-100
Author(s):  
Ben Hightower ◽  
Scott East ◽  
Simon Hunt
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Scholarly Publication ◽  
Arts Activism

There is often a division between scholarly publication and activist knowledge—something that Sarah Maddison and Sean Scalmer (2005) suggest may be countered by taking the knowledge produced by activists seriously. In this interview, Simon Hunt reflects on the genesis of Pauline Pantsdown, a drag persona that he developed in the late 1990s in reaction to Australian Conservative politician Pauline Hanson, who generated controversy for her racist and divisive views. The introduction briefly considers the importance of activist accounts and contextualizes Hunt’s practice in relation to arts activism and networked societies. From there, Hunt discusses a range of significant considerations for activism, notably the significance of using persona as a means for activism, the affordances and challenges of using social media, and methods for activating participation in a changing media landscape.

Participation in Contentious Politics: Rethinking the Roles of News, Social Media, and Conversation Amid Divisiveness

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 215-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leticia Bode ◽  
Stephanie Edgerly ◽  
Chris Wells ◽  
Itay Gabay ◽  
Charles Franklin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Contentious Politics

Paradox of Globalization: New Arab Publics? New Social Contract?

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 114-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leila DeVriese
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Political Strategy ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The Arab Spring

AbstractBecause social media is playing an irrefutable role in the Arab Spring uprisings the central question in this article is to what extent Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in general, and social media in specific, are contributing to the democratization of the public sphere and shifting the monopoly on agenda setting in the Arab Gulf, particularly in the case of Bahrain? How will these technologies continue to shape contentious politics in the Middle East and will their utility for democratizing and expanding the public sphere persist in the aftermath of the Arab Spring? Or will the increasing liberalization of media and freedom of expression that had preceded the Arab Spring experience a repressive backlash as authoritarian states attempt to clamp down on social and traditional media—or even harness them for their own purposes as seen by Facebook intimidation campaigns against activists in Bahrain last Spring. Finally—using the lens of social movement theory—what repertoires of contention and political opportunity structures will pro-democracy activists use to keep their campaigns alive? Activists in the Gulf have not only incorporated the ICTs into their repertoire, but have also changed substantially what counts as activism, what counts as community, collective identity, democratic space, public sphere, and political strategy. Ironically this new technology has succeeded in reviving and expanding the practice of discursive dialog that had once characterized traditional tribal politics in the Arabian Peninsula.

scholarly journals Understanding Brexit on Facebook: Developing Close-up, Qualitative Methodologies for Social Media Research

2021 ◽  
pp. 136078042110373
Author(s):  
Natalie-Anne Hall
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Media Research ◽  
Qualitative Methodologies ◽  
The Relationship

Facebook has frequently been implicated in the 2016 ‘Brexit’ referendum result, and support for Leave has been linked to wider nativist and populist mobilisations online. However, close-up, qualitative sociological research has not been conducted into the relationship between Brexit and social media use. This is, in part, due to the computational turn in online research, which has led to a disproportionate focus on quantitative big data analysis. This article argues for the value of close-up, qualitative enquiry to facilitate situated understandings of the reality of social media use and what it means to individuals. It outlines one such methodology developed to investigate pro-Leave Facebook users, to demonstrate how challenges posed by such research can be overcome, and the opportunities such enquiry affords for studying the role of social media in contentious politics. Invaluable insights gained include the way Facebook provides an empowering tool for making claims to political knowledge in the context of growing transnational nativist and populist grievances.

Social Media and Contentious Politics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrico De Angelis ◽  
Yazan Badran
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Complex Relationship ◽  
Digital Activism ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Networked Public Sphere ◽  
Political Decisions

This chapter aims to re-examine the complex relationship between social media and contentious politics following the 2011 uprisings in Egypt and Syria. The chapter explores the contingent, differentiated, and contradictory roles social media played in each of these cases. The authors combine critical theoretical approaches to the internet and situated ethnographic accounts to make sense of this issue along the different phases of mobilization and its aftermath. They argue that the alternative hierarchies of power and visibility engendered by digital activism and facilitated by social media are an essential vehicle when it comes to establishing an effective connection between the street and the networked public sphere in the mobilization phase. In the post-mobilization phase, however, the logics of social media begin to hinder the ability of social movements to coalesce and transform the energy of the street into political decisions or leverage. Finally, they also argue that in the aftermath of mobilization these alternative online hierarchies of power and visibility tend to quickly lose their legitimizing function, which rested upon their, now severed, connection with the street.

Understanding digital natives in contentious politics: Explaining the effect of social media on protest participation through psychological incentives

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (9) ◽  
pp. 3457-3478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuan Hsiao
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Deliberative Democracy ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Digital Natives ◽  
Social Incentives ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Connective Action ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Individual Efficacy

Many have observed that a new political generation of digital natives has heavily used social media as means of facilitating street protests. Nevertheless, the mechanisms by which social media affects protest participation are not completely understood due to the shortage of psychological explanations. This study employs a uniquely designed survey on a massive demonstration to address such concerns. Social media activity triggers the psychological incentives of anger, social incentives, identification, and individual efficacy. In particular, individual efficacy directly mediates the relationship between social media activity and protest participation. The findings substantiate new theories of connective action and suggest that social media may be a new mobilization structure via changing the decision-making processes of individuals. Theoretical implications on understanding digital natives and deliberative democracy are discussed.

Invisible networked publics and hidden contention: Youth activism and social media tactics under repression

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (11) ◽  
pp. 4095-4115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley Lee
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
High Risk ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Youth Activism ◽  
State Control ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
Public Issues ◽  
Networked Publics

Social media create new channels for young people to engage with civic and political issues outside the confines of traditional public institutions. While social media present new opportunities for youth who were previously excluded from formal channels of political participation, increasingly, these platforms also subject youth to surveillance, censorship, and other forms of repression. In this study, I examine digitally active, young civic actors in Cambodia, an authoritarian regime with a demographic youth bulge and rapidly increasing uptake of social media. Specifically, I focus on social media tactics employed by youth to navigate contentious politics and express dissent under state control and surveillance. The findings show how young activists rely heavily on hidden tactics to exert influence on public issues using social media in highly contentious, high-risk political climates. This study offers insights into the dynamics of digitally mediated civic action and state power situated in broader social, cultural contexts.

After Egypt: The Limits and Promise of Online Challenges to the Authoritarian Arab State

2011 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Lynch
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Conceptual Development ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Core Competencies ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Arab State ◽  
Science Literature ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Impact

The uprisings which swept across the Arab world beginning in December 2010 pose a serious challenge to many of the core findings of the political science literature focused on the durability of the authoritarian Middle Eastern state. The impact of social media on contentious politics represents one of the many areas which will require significant new thinking. The dramatic change in the information environment over the last decade has changed individual competencies, the ability to organize for collective action, and the transmission of information from the local to the international level. It has also strengthened some of the core competencies of authoritarian states even as it has undermined others. The long term evolution of a new kind of public sphere may matter more than immediate political outcomes, however. Rigorous testing of competing hypotheses about the impact of the new social media will require not only conceptual development but also the use of new kinds of data analysis not traditionally adopted in Middle East area studies.

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