Social Media, Deliberative Democracy and Social Mobilisation

TY - ABST

T1 - Social Media, Deliberative Democracy and Social Mobilisation

AU - Nielsen, Jørgen Lerche

AU - Bodington, Malene

AU - Lerche, Søren

AU - Meyer, Kirsten

N1 - XVII ISA World Congress of Sociology Sociology on the Move Gothenburg, Sweden 11 - 17 July, 2010 Conference Abstracts Prepared in Cooperation with CSA Sociological Abstracts Sociological abstracts from CSA FOUNDING EDITOR: Leo P. Chall SUPERVISING EDITOR: Tyrone Nagai EDITORS: Laurel Conly, Edwin Fontanilla, David Miller, Matthew Ruben, Karen Stevens OPERATIONS MANAGER: Lynette Hunter ADVERTISING COORDINATOR: Britt Sieger EDITORIAL OFFICE: P.O. Box 22206, San Diego, CA 92192-0206, USA

PY - 2010

Y1 - 2010

N2 - Over the past 20 years, researchers have studied how the Internet framesdeliberative processes. What is needed to create a framework for dialogue& engagement, & how can the Internet be used to create & support socialcommunities? (Castells 2001, Dyson 1997, Rheingold 1993). However,these approaches have all taken a normative & meta-theoretical approachto the subject & are rarely grounded in empirical research. Much has beenwritten about using social media in a rationally, purpose-driven or strategicway, relating it to corporations, political organisations, and the latest inrelation to the Obama presidential campaign in 2008, where deliberativefeatures were successfully used to mobilise and organise 2 millions activists through his social network, Mybo.com. However, very little literatureaddresses the deliberative processes, nor does much past research build oncases that have successfully used social media to mobilise people. Anexamination of Kirkeasyl (Church Asylum), a Danish social movementthat mobilised people through social media, allows a better understandingof how social media can be used but also of how social media impacts themovements that use them. Kirkeasyl had no political affiliation, & activistsacross the political and social spectrum engaged in the movement to helpreject, soon-to-be-deported, & deported Iraqi refugees. The movement waslargely driven by value-based politics, action, political protest focused onthe government, & actions directed towards the police that carried outpolitical decisions. By employing social media, volunteers were found &mobilised for blockades and demonstrations when Iraqi refugees weredeported, a large amount of money was collected in a very short time, &traditional mass media & politicians were engaged in the debate surrounding the Iraqi refugees. Based on the theories of Castells, Dyson, Rheingold,Ganz, & Habermas, this paper analyses Kirkeasyl as a case where socialmedia was successfully used for dialogue, engagement, mobilisation, &as a springboard to spread the movement’s message & affect the politicaldebate.

AB - Over the past 20 years, researchers have studied how the Internet framesdeliberative processes. What is needed to create a framework for dialogue& engagement, & how can the Internet be used to create & support socialcommunities? (Castells 2001, Dyson 1997, Rheingold 1993). However,these approaches have all taken a normative & meta-theoretical approachto the subject & are rarely grounded in empirical research. Much has beenwritten about using social media in a rationally, purpose-driven or strategicway, relating it to corporations, political organisations, and the latest inrelation to the Obama presidential campaign in 2008, where deliberativefeatures were successfully used to mobilise and organise 2 millions activists through his social network, Mybo.com. However, very little literatureaddresses the deliberative processes, nor does much past research build oncases that have successfully used social media to mobilise people. Anexamination of Kirkeasyl (Church Asylum), a Danish social movementthat mobilised people through social media, allows a better understandingof how social media can be used but also of how social media impacts themovements that use them. Kirkeasyl had no political affiliation, & activistsacross the political and social spectrum engaged in the movement to helpreject, soon-to-be-deported, & deported Iraqi refugees. The movement waslargely driven by value-based politics, action, political protest focused onthe government, & actions directed towards the police that carried outpolitical decisions. By employing social media, volunteers were found &mobilised for blockades and demonstrations when Iraqi refugees weredeported, a large amount of money was collected in a very short time, &traditional mass media & politicians were engaged in the debate surrounding the Iraqi refugees. Based on the theories of Castells, Dyson, Rheingold,Ganz, & Habermas, this paper analyses Kirkeasyl as a case where socialmedia was successfully used for dialogue, engagement, mobilisation, &as a springboard to spread the movement’s message & affect the politicaldebate.

KW - Social Media

KW - deliberative democracy

KW - social mobilisation

KW - communicative action

KW - communities

KW - network organisation

KW - Web 2.0

M3 - Conference abstract for conference

ER -