Description
Book SynopsisGrowing numbers of citizens find pathways to engagement through simple, everyday discourses shared over social media networks. The Logic of Connective Action offers a framework and a rich set of case studies to explain these increasingly common forms of public engagement with contemporary issues, and shows how they complement more conventional models of collective action in contentious politics.
Trade Review'W. Lance Bennett and Alexandra Segerberg's The Logic of Connective Action is a welcome introduction to the topic and should, I hope, convince more sociologists that our theories of movements should consider social media as a distinctive resource, one that transforms the way people engage in activism rather than simply augmenting traditional communications … This book makes a strong case that social media and other forms of online activism should grab the attention of social movement scholars.' Brayden G. King, American Journal of Sociology
'Playing off Olson's title, Bennett and Segerberg describe the emerging development of 'connective' action, in which the lower costs of social media and the ability to claim credit for one's substantive contribution to policy debates have fueled new modes for personal political involvement. Through the development of a sophisticated matrix of mobilization types and techniques and a set of widely divergent case studies of social movement in a variety of political settings, they show the potential for technology to motivate, inform, and engage previously uninvolved individuals in the policy process … Summing up: recommended.' S. E. Frantzich, Choice
'Scholars interested in social movements or activism, political organizing, political communication, civic engagement, new information and communications technologies, and media studies would find the book particularly useful. This path-breaking work, along with others (Bimber, Flanagin, and Stohl, 2012, and Castells, 2012), will change how we think about organization and contentious action for years to come.' Hao Cao, International Journal of Communication
Table of ContentsIntroduction; 1. The logic of connective action; 2. Personalized communication in protest networks; 3. Digital media and the organization of connective action; 4. How organizationally enabled networks engage publics; 5. Networks, power, and political outcomes; 6. Conclusion: when logics collide.
