Kent Academic Repository Full text document (pdf) Citation for published version Petrosian, Vardan (2015) Occupy Democracy: A Study of New Media Use by a Sub-branch of the Occupy London Movement. Master of Arts by Research (MARes) thesis, University of Kent,. DOI Link to record in KAR https://kar.kent.ac.uk/54421/ Document Version UNSPECIFIED Copyright & reuse Content in the Kent Academic Repository is made available for research purposes. Unless otherwise stated all content is protected by copyright and in the absence of an open licence (eg Creative Commons), permissions for further reuse of content should be sought from the publisher, author or other copyright holder. Versions of research The version in the Kent Academic Repository may differ from the final published version. Users are advised to check http://kar.kent.ac.uk for the status of the paper. Users should always cite the published version of record. Enquiries For any further enquiries regarding the licence status of this document, please contact: [email protected] If you believe this document infringes copyright then please contact the KAR admin team with the take-down information provided at http://kar.kent.ac.uk/contact.html Occupy Democracy: A Study of New Media Use by a Sub-branch of the Occupy London Movement By Vardan Petrosian1 Abstract The rise of new media through network globalisation has led to innovative forms of “new” social movements. This study will explore whether Occupy London, a branch of the global Occupy movement, fits within the realm of a “new” social movement. A further six areas of contention are drawn from a review of literature exploring old and new social movement theory, globalisation/alter-globalisation and perspectives on sousveillance and new media. Through ethnographic participant observation and semi-structured interviewing during Occupy Democracy’s May 2015 occupation of Parliament Square, this research studies the political makeup of the movement, its demogaphy, perception by law enforcement and use of traditional and alternative sousveillance techniques in order to fully understand the advancement of the movement, its aims and future. It further analyses how the movement’s advancement in their use of the Internet and other new media platforms could potentially cause a shift from its continuous media blackout to a more growing presence within the criminological landscape. 1 This thesis is submitted in fulfilment of the degree of Masters by Research in Criminology, September 2015, University of Kent. Supervisory panel: Dr. Phil Carney and Prof. Roger Matthews. Student ID: 14903798. Word Count: 28,810 i Acknowledgements I would like to thank my friends and family for their unconditional encouragement throughout the duration of my postgraduate studies, and my girlfriend Nara Mackenzie for her enormous patience and reassuring words that motivated me to continue challenging myself. I express my sincerest gratitude to my supervisors Dr Phil Carney and Prof Roger Matthews for unremitting support in my academic development throughout the researching and writing of this thesis. Much of this work is attributed to the fiery supervisory techniques of my panel, who have pushed me consistently to progress as an ethnographer and researcher in the study of criminology. I express my appreciations to David Manlow for his words of encouragement at the most challenging times. Finally, I would like to acknowledge my work-colleague Paul West for his brilliant advice on techniques of alleviating writer’s block. ii Contents 1. Literature Review ............................................................................................................ 2 1.1. “Old” Social Movements ................................................................................................................. 2 Classical Approach .................................................................................................................................................. 3 Resource Mobilisation Approach ..................................................................................................................... 4 1.2. “New” Social movements ................................................................................................................ 6 Origins .......................................................................................................................................................................... 6 Demography .............................................................................................................................................................. 7 Production of Knowledge .................................................................................................................................... 8 Globalisation and Alterglobalisation .............................................................................................................. 9 1.3. Occupy ............................................................................................................................................... 11 Occupy Wall Street and Occupy London .................................................................................................... 11 Demography ........................................................................................................................................................... 13 Values ........................................................................................................................................................................ 14 Occupy and Alterglobalisation ....................................................................................................................... 17 The Battle for Space ............................................................................................................................................ 18 1.4. Sousveillance .................................................................................................................................. 20 1.5. New Media and Occupy ................................................................................................................ 22 1.6. Research Questions ...................................................................................................................... 24 2. Methodology .................................................................................................................... 26 2.1. Epistemology .................................................................................................................................. 26 2.2. Approach .......................................................................................................................................... 27 2.3. Methods ............................................................................................................................................ 29 2.4. Digital Recording & Visual Criminology ................................................................................ 32 2.5. Analysis ............................................................................................................................................. 35 2.6. Ethics ................................................................................................................................................. 36 2.7. Challenges ........................................................................................................................................ 39 Access ........................................................................................................................................................................ 39 Data Collection ...................................................................................................................................................... 40 3. Findings/Analysis ........................................................................................................... 41 3.1. Occupy Democracy ........................................................................................................................ 42 3.2. Politics ............................................................................................................................................... 44 Campaigns ............................................................................................................................................................... 44 Spectrum .................................................................................................................................................................. 45 Green Party ............................................................................................................................................................. 48 Cannabis ................................................................................................................................................................... 49 3.3. Demography .................................................................................................................................... 51 3.4. Law Enforcement ........................................................................................................................... 54 Police-Demonstrator Relationships ............................................................................................................. 55 Arrests ......................................................................................................................................................................