This thesis aims to illustrate how civil society organizations reflect on and communicate for societal change. The aim is also to broaden the understanding of how norms and logics on social media platforms characterize communication and the discourse about social engagement. With a basis in discourse theory, the particular focus of the study is on identifying discursive themes, and conflicts that exist within these themes. The analysis draws upon critical theories about the power position and technical affordance of social media platforms, as well as perspectives on the political subject - individually and collectively. The analysis is based on in-depth interviews with representatives from six environmental organizations, two of which are newer network-based movements. The results show discursive nodal points such as autonomous, individual-based and political. These partly gain their meaning through social media and technical affordances, which enable lower engagement thresholds, which in turn challenge the organizations’ ideas about long-term engagement. Political engagement is largely associated with online engagement, via social media, at the same time an opposite relationship shows that screen time takes focus from deepened or physical engagement. The results also show that organizations are aware of the power of social media platforms, where hidden algorithms and commercial logic contrast with the organizations’ visions, while at the same time the platforms play an important role for the organizations’ communication.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:umu-172066 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Rintala, Maja |
| Publisher | Umeå universitet, Institutionen för kultur- och medievetenskaper |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess, info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
Page generated in 0.0022 seconds