Impact of Modern Information and Communication Technologies on Social Movements
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THE IMPACT OF MODERN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES ON SOCIAL MOVEMENTS TITLE PAGE by Piotr Konieczny BA, University of Northhumbria, 2004 MA, University of Pittsburgh, 2007 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Department of Sociology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2012 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY This dissertation was presented by Piotr Konieczny It was defended on 15 July 2011 and approved by John Marx, Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Pittsburgh Suzanne Staggenborg, Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Pittsburgh Stuart Shulman, Professor, Department of Political Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst Dissertation Director: John Markoff, Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Pittsburgh ii Copyright under Creative Commons CC-BY-SA 3.0 by Piotr Konieczny 2012 iii ABSTRACT THE IMPACT OF MODERN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES ON SOCIAL MOVEMENTS Piotr Konieczny, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2012 Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have empowered non-state social actors, notably, social movements. They were quick to seize ICTs in the past (printing presses, television, fax machines), which was a major factor in their successes. Mass email campaigns, blogs, their audio- and video- variants (the podcasts and the videocasts), social networks like Facebook and MySpace, and other tools, such as Twitter, are increasingly popular among the movements and their activists. The extremely rapid diffusion of new technologies has raised a lot of questions about their impact on many areas of life from macroeconomic consequences to interpersonal relations, including much comment on their impact on social movements. Social historians are even rethinking the whole history of media. However, up to this point, we have no broad view of how social movement organizations are making use of the media. What types of movements are making use of new media? In what way are they using them and for what purposes? Are they more common in younger organizations, or in organizations that operate on larger geographic scales? Does their use lead to a sense of democratic empowerment? iv To answer these questions, this study analyzes an internet-based survey of four populations of social movement organizations ranging from the local to the international in geographic scope (four specific populations analyzed are: Pittsburgh (USA), Poland, the international movements, and the movements with high visibility online). This dissertation explores the use (and the non-use) of ICTs in the first broad survey on their use by modern social movements. It provides a broad overview of the movement's demographics (location, range, goal) and their membership (size, activity). It details the diffusion and use of over twenty ICTs, analyzing the success stories of email, static websites, phones and social networking, as well as the relatively poor performance of blogs, podcasts and faxes. Primary research questions revolve around the blurring boundaries between members and non-members (unofficial supporters and volunteers), the use of new media (by whom and for what), and the consequences of those trends (such as opposition to professionalization, or the empowerment of activists). v TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................1 THEORY: LITERATURE REVIEW AND MAJOR CONCEPTS....................................6 STUDIES OF LITERACY AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION TOOLS........................................................................................6 THE TOOLS OF THE REVOLUTIONARIES............................................................10 THE ARRIVAL OF THE DIGITAL AGE: THE MORE THINGS CHANGE...........15 SOCIAL-MOVEMENTS.COM....................................................................................17 EMPOWERING INDIVIDUALS.................................................................................23 METHODOLOGY: KEY HYPOTHESES AND DATA COLLECTION........................25 HYPOTHESES.............................................................................................................25 SURVEY METHODOLOGY......................................................................................26 THE PITTSBURGH SURVEY....................................................................................31 THE INTERNATIONAL SURVEY.............................................................................34 THE POLISH SURVEY...............................................................................................41 THE INNOVATIVE SURVEY....................................................................................46 FINDINGS.........................................................................................................................48 RESPONSE RATES.....................................................................................................48 MOVEMENT DEMOGRAPHICS: REACH, AGE, SIZE, GOALS...........................49 MEMBERSHIP: AGE, SIZE........................................................................................57 IMPORTANCE OF THE INTERNET.........................................................................60 DIFFUSION AND USE OF THE ICTS.......................................................................63 USEFULNESS AND EMPOWERMENT....................................................................67 DIFFUSION, USE, USEFULNESS AND EMPOWERMENT BY SPECIFIC ICTS 76 DIFFUSION, USEFULNESS AND EMPOWERMENT BY AGE, GOALS AND OTHER FACTORS......................................................................................................79 FUTURE GROWTH.....................................................................................................81 DISCUSSION....................................................................................................................85 MOVEMENT DEMOGRAPHICS: REACH, AGE, SIZE, GOALS...........................85 Geographical reach and location..............................................................................85 Organization's age....................................................................................................91 Organization's goals.................................................................................................94 MEMBERSHIP, PROFESSIONALIZATION AND VOLUNTEERING...................97 IMPORTANCE OF THE INTERNET.......................................................................104 vi DIFFUSION AND USE OF ICTS..............................................................................105 USEFULNESS AND EMPOWERMENT..................................................................109 DIFFUSION, USE, USEFULNESS AND EMPOWERMENT BY SPECIFIC ICTS .....................................................................................................................................111 DIFFUSION, USEFULNESS AND EMPOWERMENT BY AGE, GOALS AND OTHER FACTORS....................................................................................................126 FUTURE GROWTH...................................................................................................129 CONCLUSIONS..............................................................................................................131 Appendix 1: Tables..........................................................................................................136 BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................................156 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Do any of the following ICTs NOT USED by the organization sound interesting enough to be potentially used in the future? Summary table (All surveys).......................83 Table 2: Global reach or the organizations. ...................................................................136 Table 3: Surveyed organization headquarter location.....................................................136 Table 4: Age of surveyed organizations. ........................................................................137 Table 5: Relations between reach, headquarter location, age and membership..............137 Table 6: Relations between headquarter location, reach, age and membership..............138 Table 7: Regression models. ...........................................................................................138 Table 8: Top four issues of concern to an organization...................................................139 Table 9: Average reported age of membership and average reported age of the respondents......................................................................................................................139 Table 10: Membership of the organization: descriptive statistics (International Survey) ..........................................................................................................................................140 Table 11: Size. Activity of non-members (supporters). All Surveys..............................140 Table 12: Size of membership broken down by regions (International Survey).............141 Table 13: Size of membership broken down by organization age (International Survey). ..........................................................................................................................................141 Table 14: Size of membership