Situated in the contemporary debate over the implications of the Internet to the contentious politics and authoritarian states, this study is an empirical investigation into the mechanism and the determinants of cyber-to-physical mobilisation in contemporary China. This research compares the mobilization processes of the two cyber-contentious episodes in China, namely the Xiamen PX Event in 2007 and the Sanlu Milk Scandal in 2008. It is grounded on a two-year cyber-ethnographic investigation and in-depth interviews with 14 people differently involved in the respective cyber-contentious episodes. In order to find out why some contentious activities are able to transform into street protests while others of similar nature are contained or even vanish in the cyberspace, this study examines the interactions between the four stakeholders in each contentious episode (i.e., the cyber-protesters, the media, the state power, and the market forces). It highlights the importance of the state power and the market forces in cyber-to-physical mobilisation, and determines the conditions under which cyber-to-physical mobilisation is feasible. This thesis elucidates how the state power and the market forces collectively condition cyber-to-physical mobilisation through the media (both the print and the digital media). The entire mechanism is powered by the tensions between cyber-protesters, the media, the state power and the market forces. The media framing of an incident influences the grievance formation of cyber-protesters, which further determines cyber-to-physical mobilisation. Thus, by manipulating the media framing, the state power or the market forces may control cyber-to-physical mobilisation, although it is not always a success. Based on the mechanism for cyber-to-physical mobilisation, this thesis further ascertains the conditions for cyber-to-physical mobilisation. The two contentious episodes show that cyber-to-physical mobilisation is prohibited when the respective core interests of the state power and the market forces are in complete unity (i.e., national mobilisation and industrial damage are eminent). On the contrary, if cyber-to-physical mobilisation merely triggers controllable regional mobilisation, the state will tolerate it; and if cyber-tophysical mobilisation only costs limited corporate damage, the market forces will allow it. Under such circumstances, cyber-to-physical mobilisation is possible. / published_or_final_version / Sociology / Master / Master of Philosophy

The shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018 paved the way for activism controlled by youth led by key students banding together following the incident. Student activists from the school emerged particularly via social media and organized large-scale efforts in order to create discourse surrounding gun control through their March For Our Lives movement. Studying the overlap between youth activism, the response to trauma, the systems at play within social media, and the role of commercialization, this paper dives into the complexities of activist based discourse as it evolves and the forces at play within youth activism in general. Looking at these existing efforts aids in exposing both the pros and cons of activism mediated by social media and the role that larger systems play in an activist’s mission. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2021. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Soaps operas, or daytime serials, have long been a staple of American culture. In April 2011, ABC-Disney announced the cancellation of All My Children and One Life to Live. Cancellations propelled the fans of these programs to launch efforts to save not only the shows, but the genre. Through the use of social media, websites, and traditional off-line activities that included calling and letter-writing, fans strived to make their voices heard. The study examines the creation of an online community and discourse through a textual-analysis case study of blogs on two fan activist websites. Dahlberg’s criteria for presence in an online public space and Habermas’ public sphere allows for the presentation of ideas within a group to encourage a sense of democracy in a grassroots effort to be heard against corporate interests. The case study will examine a fan website, Sudz.Tv, as a group organized in a virtual public space.

Activists are increasingly relying on online tactics and digital tools to address social issues. This shift towards reliance on the Internet has been shown to have salient implications for social movement formation processes; however, the effectiveness of such actions for achieving specific goals remains largely unaddressed. This study explores how the types of Internet activism and digital tools used by activism campaigns relate to success in meeting stated goals. To address these questions, the study builds on an existing framework that distinguishes between four distinct types of Internet activism: brochure-ware, which is oriented towards information distribution; e-mobilizations, which treats digital media merely as a tool for mobilizing individuals offline; online participation, which is characterized by wholly online actions such as e-petitions or virtual protests; and online organizing, where organization of a movement takes place exclusively via the internet with no face-to-face coordination by organizers. Ordinal regression models were conducted utilizing cross-sectional data from the Global Digital Activism Data Set (GDADS), a compilation of information on 426 activism campaigns from around the world that began between 2010 and 2012; additional data regarding the types of Internet activism used was also appended to the GDADS using source materials provided within the data set. The findings suggest that use of the Internet for mobilizing offline actions is negatively associated with campaign success, but that this does not hold true for protest actions organized without use of digital tools. E-petition use was also found to be negatively related to achievement of campaign goals.

Guided by Uses and Gratifications Theory, this study investigated the relationship between Chinese college students' use of social media and their social activism. Data collected from a goup-administered survey of 309 undergraduate students at a large university in eastern China was used to answer four research questions. The results indicated that Chinese college students who used social media for information seeking were likely to participate in individual social activism. Besides, students who used social media for self-status seeking and information seeking were likely to participate in collective social activism. No significant correlation between entertainment motivation and social activism were found. Neither can socializing motivation predict Chinese college students' social activism. In addition, gender had an impact on individual social activism and frequency of social media use could affect both individual and collective social activism.