Victoria Balan | Discourses of Digital Citizen Activism
Victoria Balan | Discourses of Digital Citizen Activism | Erasmus University Rotterdam, ESHCC | Supervisor(s): Prof. dr Susanne Janssen & Dr Delia Dumitrica | 1 January 2021 -1 January 2026 | balan[at]eshcc.eur.nl
Digital activism has been gaining increased attention in recent years: the media coverage of #MeToo stories from all around the world, the political debates on racial discrimination and police brutality in the context of the #BlackLivesMatter movement, the growing number of anti-vaccine groups on social media during the Covid-19 pandemic – all illustrate the rise of this phenomenon and its inclusion in the broader public discourse. At first glance, these developments appear to have a positive impact on democratic politics. Studies suggest that social media create new spaces where heterogenous opinions can be voiced, raising awareness of dissimilar views (and their legitimacy), and increasing political tolerance (Mutz, 2002). However, more recently, scholars began voicing concerns about the potential dangers that social media may bring to democratic politics, identifying polarization, eco-chambers, mis- and disinformation, and increased distrust in traditional media as potential threats (Tucker et al., 2018). In this divided debate, a holistic understanding of the discursive construction of digital activism is needed, as such discourses encapsulate specific meanings, values, and social norms that translate into practical behaviours, attitudes, and (political) actions (Dumitrica, 2016). Hence, this project is guided by the following research question: How is the impact of digital technologies on citizen participation in democratic politics articulated and circulated across different sites of public discourse? To do so, we employ an in-depth case study methodology and explore four sites of public discourse, namely: (1) news media discourses, (2) official government discourses, (3) digital activist discourses, and (4) local community discourses.
