WestminsterResearch http://www.westminster.ac.uk/research/westminsterresearch The Purple Movement: Social Media and Activism in Berlusconi’s Italy Lorenzo Coretti Faculty of Media, Arts and Design This is an electronic version of a PhD thesis awarded by the University of Westminster. © The Author, 2014. This is an exact reproduction of the paper copy held by the University of Westminster library. The WestminsterResearch online digital archive at the University of Westminster aims to make the research output of the University available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the authors and/or copyright owners. Users are permitted to download and/or print one copy for non-commercial private study or research. Further distribution and any use of material from within this archive for profit-making enterprises or for commercial gain is strictly forbidden. Whilst further distribution of specific materials from within this archive is forbidden, you may freely distribute the URL of WestminsterResearch: (http://westminsterresearch.wmin.ac.uk/). In case of abuse or copyright appearing without permission e-mail [email protected] The$Purple$Movement:$$ Social$Media$and$Activism$$ in$Berlusconi’s$Italy$ ! ! ! Lorenzo!Coretti! ! ! A!thesis!submitted!in!partial!fulfilment!of!the!requirements! of!the!University!of!Westminster!for!the!degree!of!Doctor!of! Philosophy! ! ! ! ! ! ! May!2014! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! I!would!like!to!dedicate!this!thesis!to!my!parents,!Letizia!and!Piero,! Thanks!for!your!love!and!support! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ii! ! Acknowledgments$ First!and!foremost,!I!wish!to!thank!my!director!of!studies,!Anastasia!Kavada,!for!her! invaluable! support.! Her! confident! guidance,! vast! knowledge,! and! contagious! enthusiasm! made!this!thesis!possible.!! Special!thanks!should!also!go!to!my!second!and!third!supervisor,!Alessandro!D’Arma! and!Peter!Goodwin,!for!their!encouragement!and!faith!in!this!project.!I!would!further!like!to! thank!Maria!Way!for!her!acute!editing!eye.!I!would!also!wish!to!thank!my!colleagues!at!the! university,!particularly!Anthony!McNicholas!and!Tarik!Sabry,!for!their!time!and!knowledge.!! I!would!also!like!to!thank!all!the!staff,!in!particular!Fauzia!Ahmad.!She!has!always! been!very!responsive!in!providing!all!the!necessary!information.!Also!–!and!finally!–!I!am! very!grateful!to!my!friend!Daniele!Pica,!who!incessantly!encouraged!me!and!helped!me!to! achieve!this.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! iii! ! Abstract$ This!research!project!assesses!the!relationship!between!the!use!of!Facebook!and!the! development!of!social!movements!throughout!their!life!cycle!by!focusing!on!the!case!study! of!Popolo!Viola.!On!5th!December,!2009,!hundreds!of!thousands!of!Italian!citizens!took!to! the!streets!of!Rome!to!say!‘no’!to!the!politics!of!Silvio!Berlusconi’s!government!and!to!ask! for!his!resignation!as!Prime!Minister.!The!demonstration!was!planned!and!organized,!mainly! on! Facebook,! by! a! group! of! bloggers.! A! singleZissue! protest! rapidly! evolved! into! a! social! movement,!called!‘Popolo!Viola’,!‘Purple!People’.!The!colour!purple!was!chosen!because!it! was!not!previously!associated!with!any!political!movement,!and!as!a!word!to!the!wise!that! the! movement! was! not! linked! to! any! political! party.! New! groups! and! pages! arose! on! Facebook:! apart! from! the! page! ‘il! Popolo! Viola’,! which! now! had! more! than! 460,000! members!(data!August,!2013),!thousands!of!pages!and!groups!were!opened!at!a!local!level,! both!inside!and!outside!Italy.! Through!the!lenses!of!Social!Movement!Theory!and!the!Critical!Theory!of!Technology! this! study! focuses! on! the! role! played! by! the! use! of! Facebook! in! the! development! of! the! movement’s! organizational! structure,! the! building! of! its! collective! identity,! and! its! mobilization! processes.! The! methodology! adopted! for! this! purpose! includes! both! quantitative!and!qualitative!methods:!on!the!one!hand,!there!is!an!analysis!of!membership! data!and!interaction!levels!on!the!Popolo!Viola!Facebook!page,!and!a!survey;!on!the!other! hand,! there! are! inZdepth! interviews! with! the! Facebook! page! administrators,! influential! members!and!activists!of!the!movement,!and!content!analysis!of!the!online!conversations! among!activists.! The!findings!of!this!research!show!how!Facebook!proved!to!be!an!efficient!mobilizing! structure!for!the!social!movement!only!on!a!shortZterm!basis.!After!its!initial!success,!the! incompatibility! between! the! commercial! interests! behind! Facebook’s! design,! and! the! ideology!of!Popolo!Viola!became!manifest.!Facebook!failed!to!provide!the!movement!with! the!necessary!instruments!in!terms!of!a!shared!democratic!management!of!its!resources.! The!inability!to!manage!Facebook!pages!and!groups!according!to!commonly!agreed!values! promoted! vertical! power! structures! within! the! movement,! contributing! to! controversial! ! iv! ! management!of!the!Facebook!page!and!to!internal!divisions!which!significantly!hindered!the! potential!of!the!antiZBerlusconi!protest.! Moreover,!gradual!changes!in!the!Facebook!code!increasingly!promoted!topZdown! flows! of! communication! which,! in! conjunction! with! controversial! decisions! in! the! moderation! of! discussions! that! were! made! by! the! page! administrators,! progressively! decreased!the!plurality!of!voices!within!the!movement’s!page,!and!hampered!the!formation! of!a!strong!collective!identity.! Facebook! therefore! proved! to! represent! much! more! than! a! mere! communication! tool! for! Popolo! Viola,! playing! a! vital! role! in! influencing! the! movement’s! structure,! leadership,!communication!flows!and!collective!identity.!The!rise!and!fall!of!Popolo!Viola,! with!all!its!complexity,!constitutes!a!useful!case!study!of!the!evaluation!of!technology!as!a! problematic! force! for! social! change.! That! said,! this! is! not! an! issue! which! relates! to! the! technology! itself,! but! rather! to! the! values! and! interests! that! drive! the! actors! who! are! involved! in! this! power! struggle.! Taking! into! account! the! relationships! between! culture,! technology! and! capital,! this! study! offers! a! balanced! assessment! of! the! dynamics! which! characterize! the! development! of! social! movement! protest! on! commercial! Social! Network! Media.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! v! ! Table&of&Contents& " Chapter"One"–"Introduction"..........................................................................................................................."5" Chapter"Two"–"The"Anti8Berlusconi"Protest"in"Italy"........................................................................."13" 2.1$Introduction"............................................................................................................................................."13" 2.2$The$Opportunity$Structures$of$Popolo$Viola"................................................................................"13" 2.2.1$Concentration$of$Power$in$Italy"..............................................................................................."14" 2.2.2$Corruption$and$Mafia".................................................................................................................."18" 2.2.3$Cost$of$Politics$in$Italy"................................................................................................................."20" 2.2.4$Youth$Unemployment"................................................................................................................."21" 2.3$Origins$of$Popolo$Viola"........................................................................................................................"22" Chapter"Three"–"The"Affordances"of"Social"Network"Media:"a"Critical"Perspective"..........."26" 3.1$Introduction"............................................................................................................................................."26" 3.2$Social$Network$Media".........................................................................................................................."28" 3.3$Technological$Affordances"................................................................................................................."31" 3.4$Critical$Theory$of$Technology"............................................................................................................"33" 3.5$Facebook$and$its$Affordances"..........................................................................................................."35" 3.6$The$Political$Economy$of$SNM$and$Facebook".............................................................................."42" 3.7$Conclusion"................................................................................................................................................"46" Chapter"Four"–"Social"Movement"Theory".............................................................................................."49" 4.1$Introduction"............................................................................................................................................."49" 4.2$Resource$Mobilization,$Political$Process$and$New$Social$Movements"..............................."50" 4.3$Networks$of$Networks:$Defining$Social$Movements"................................................................."53" 4.4$Participation$as$the$outcome$of$a$Mobilization$Process".........................................................."56" 4.4.1$Action$Frames$and$Framing$Processes".................................................................................."58"