Work

New Technologies, New Identities, and the Growth of Mass Opposition in the A rab S pring

Year: 2013

Type: article

Abstract: The recent revolutions known as the Arab Spring have been characterized as the products of social media. However, there is an alternative view that revolution takes place on the street or the battlefield and that the role of social media has been overstated. We argue that some new technologies can serve to facilitate rapid social change when they provide ways to overcome restrictions on the freedoms of expression and association. In doing so, communication technologies enable the formation of new social identities that can challenge existing social orders by promoting the growth of a social movement that is positioned as loyal to the nation and its people but opposed to the government. Our analyses focus on the role of social media in spreading video images of dissent and the links between this video material, satellite television, and mobile telephones in Tunisia and Egypt.

Source: Political Psychology

DOI: 10.1111/pops.12060

Authors: Craig McGarty, Emma F. Thomas, Girish Lala, Laura G. E. Smith, Ana‐Maria Bliuc

Institutions: Murdoch University, University of Bath, Monash University

Language: English

Topic: Middle East and Rwanda Conflicts

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: green

Funders: Murdoch University, Australian Research Council