How the internet shapes collective actions

In: Palgrave pivot

Abstract

"After a Facebook rebellion in Egypt and Twitter protests in Turkey, the internet has been proclaimed as a globe-shifting, revolutionizing force that can incite complex social phenomena such as collective actions. This book critically assesses this claim and highlights how internet use amplifies and shapes established mobilizing processes to foster collective actions. With a review of the current academic literature on the topic, as well as insights from popular science, practitioners, and activists, Schumann draws upon interdisciplinary empirical evidence to propose that the internet encourages self-organized, personalized collective actions. The research presented here demonstrates how internet-enabled technologies offer an infrastructure for online collective actions that expand individuals' repertoires of contention, as well as how specific types of internet use--in particular information gathering and discussions online--promote offline engagement"--Provided by publisher