Suchergebnisse

Social media and digital platforms have become essential tools for the new generation of youth activists. However, these tools subject youth to both new (and old) forms of surveillance and control. Drawing on in-depth interviews and social media walkthroughs with 61 youth activists, I examine hybrid tactics that these youth employ to resist surveillance and other forms of digitally mediated control as they participate in politics and social movements. I show that even in democracies like the United States and Canada, for individuals along intersecting axes of marginalization (e.g. race, gender), public political acts do not capture the full range of young people's political repertoires. Young people, especially those from marginalized groups, adopt hidden, under-the-radar tactics in response to pressures of social, state, and corporate surveillance. I develop the concept of "digital infrapolitics" referring to the ways in which digital politics and activism go below the radar under surveillance and control.

Social media platforms are arguably reshaping how youth participate in politics today, but little is known about how youth navigate cross-cutting talk with different-minded others online. Based on in-depth interviews, this study examines the discursive strategies civic-minded youth employ to talk politics across lines of political difference on social media. Applying Hirschman (1970) to informal political talk, this study surfaces young people's "voice" and "exit" strategies in cross-cutting political talk. Findings suggest that civic youth are well-versed in elements of rational deliberative discourse. However, youth appear to struggle when it comes to relational discourse that emphasizes reciprocity and relational listening. Youth tended to exit from political talk with different-minded others on social media. The low barriers for exit from cross-cutting talk on social media, combined with various psychosocial, dispositional factors, raise concerns about young people's premature exits from democratic engagement on social media.

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.

Abstract
In a time of transition, China is formulating principles for moral and civic responsibility and action that will serve the new goals for an expanding world power. How do young Chinese people define the 'good person' and 'good citizen', and the qualities to which they should aspire, in this changing climate? How do these mesh with the public messages and the historical traditions from which they derive? Using discourse analysis we report data from 8th and 11th grade students in Shanghai and Nantong that reveal four discourses around civic and moral responsibilities, norms and goals. Discourse analysis enables us to identify the underlying explanatory narratives that attribute causality and consequence, position people and institutions, imply judgements and values, and prescribe acceptable or expected actions. The four discourses are (1) Obeying Rules and Laws; (2) Building and Maintaining Relationships; (3) Striving towards Moral Perfection and High 'Quality'; and (4) Loving One's Country and Contributing to Society.