The psychology of online activism and social movements: relations between online and offline collective action

Hedy Greijdanus; Carlos A de Matos Fernandes; Felicity Turner-Zwinkels; Ali Honari; Carla A Roos; Hannes Rosenbusch; Tom Postmes

doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2020.03.003

The psychology of online activism and social movements: relations between online and offline collective action

Hedy Greijdanus^*, Carlos A de Matos Fernandes, Felicity Turner-Zwinkels, Ali Honari, Carla A Roos, Hannes Rosenbusch, Tom Postmes^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

Abstract

We review online activism and its relations with offline collective action. Social media facilitate online activism, particularly by documenting and collating individual experiences, community building, norm formation, and development of shared realities. In theory, online activism could hinder offline protests, but empirical evidence for slacktivism is mixed. In some contexts, online and offline action could be unrelated because people act differently online versus offline, or because people restrict their actions to one domain. However, most empirical evidence suggests that online and offline activism are positively related and intertwined (no digital dualism), because social media posts can mobilise others for offline protest. Notwithstanding this positive relationship, the internet also enhances the visibility of activism and therefore facilitates repression in repressive contexts.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	49-54
Number of pages	6
Journal	Current Opinion in Psychology
Volume	35
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2020.03.003
Publication status	Published - Oct 2020

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Group Processes
Humans
Social Media

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1-s2.0-S2352250X20300324-mainFinal published version, 226 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "The psychology of online activism and social movements: relations between online and offline collective action",

abstract = "We review online activism and its relations with offline collective action. Social media facilitate online activism, particularly by documenting and collating individual experiences, community building, norm formation, and development of shared realities. In theory, online activism could hinder offline protests, but empirical evidence for slacktivism is mixed. In some contexts, online and offline action could be unrelated because people act differently online versus offline, or because people restrict their actions to one domain. However, most empirical evidence suggests that online and offline activism are positively related and intertwined (no digital dualism), because social media posts can mobilise others for offline protest. Notwithstanding this positive relationship, the internet also enhances the visibility of activism and therefore facilitates repression in repressive contexts.",

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AU - Greijdanus, Hedy

AU - de Matos Fernandes, Carlos A

AU - Turner-Zwinkels, Felicity

AU - Honari, Ali

AU - Roos, Carla A

AU - Rosenbusch, Hannes

AU - Postmes, Tom

PY - 2020/10

Y1 - 2020/10

N2 - We review online activism and its relations with offline collective action. Social media facilitate online activism, particularly by documenting and collating individual experiences, community building, norm formation, and development of shared realities. In theory, online activism could hinder offline protests, but empirical evidence for slacktivism is mixed. In some contexts, online and offline action could be unrelated because people act differently online versus offline, or because people restrict their actions to one domain. However, most empirical evidence suggests that online and offline activism are positively related and intertwined (no digital dualism), because social media posts can mobilise others for offline protest. Notwithstanding this positive relationship, the internet also enhances the visibility of activism and therefore facilitates repression in repressive contexts.

AB - We review online activism and its relations with offline collective action. Social media facilitate online activism, particularly by documenting and collating individual experiences, community building, norm formation, and development of shared realities. In theory, online activism could hinder offline protests, but empirical evidence for slacktivism is mixed. In some contexts, online and offline action could be unrelated because people act differently online versus offline, or because people restrict their actions to one domain. However, most empirical evidence suggests that online and offline activism are positively related and intertwined (no digital dualism), because social media posts can mobilise others for offline protest. Notwithstanding this positive relationship, the internet also enhances the visibility of activism and therefore facilitates repression in repressive contexts.

KW - Group Processes

KW - Humans

KW - Social Media

U2 - 10.1016/j.copsyc.2020.03.003

DO - 10.1016/j.copsyc.2020.03.003

M3 - Review article

C2 - 32330859

SN - 2352-250X

VL - 35

SP - 49

EP - 54

JO - Current Opinion in Psychology

JF - Current Opinion in Psychology

ER -

The psychology of online activism and social movements: relations between online and offline collective action

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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