When the French government decided to raise the fuel taxes hundreds of thousands of Frenchmen gathered to protest around the country, and the movement of the Yellow Vests was created. As the internal communication mainly took place over the internet, it allowed a leaderless structure where a large number of participants quickly mobilized. Researchers in the field of social movements argue that the formation of collective actions are fundamental for the survival of a movement. In this thesis, quotes from the Yellow Vests are studied as a form of opposition with the aim of investigating changes over time. By creating a tool of analyzing opposition from social movements, a quantitative content analysis is used to study 216 quotes of Yellow Vests in two French newspapers. The results imply that the news reporting of the Yellow describes the movement as having a relatively united external agenda with the desire to gain more direct influence over politics with the purpose of reducing the gap between the peopleand the elite. However, this agenda is given less attention as time passes. Instead, the focus shifts to dealing with questions about the use of violence and the role of leadership internally. This may indicate a weakening of the movement, yet there is still a maintenance of a strong willpower to continue mobilizing.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-390163 |
| Date | January 2019 |
| Creators | Hägerström, Emelie |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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