Journey into Social Activism

Qualitative Approaches

Joshua D. Atkinson

• Publisher: Fordham University Press
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9780823274147, 9780823274130
• eBook ISBN: 9780823274154
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Communication Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

Academic study of social activism and social movements has become increasingly prevalent over the years; this is due in large part to the fact that activists have captured public imagination and gained substantial influence in political discourse. For instance, Occupy Wall Street activists, Tea Party activists, and activists affiliated with the Arab Spring have transformed political debates and have become the focus of mainstream news media coverage about a variety of different political topics.Journey into Social Activism explicates the philosophical foundations of the study of activism and illustrates four different research sites in which activism can be observed and studied: organizations, networks, events, and alternative media. The book will introduce students and scholars to important qualitative approaches to the study of social activism within these four research sites, which is based entirely on successful research projects that have been conducted and published in recent years. Ultimately, this book will prove integral to any students and scholars who wish to use qualitative methods for their research endeavors concerning social
activism in contemporary society.

PART I

Research Foundations

Part I explores the building blocks that are at the heart of good qualitative inquiry concerning social activism: history, methodology, and methods.

Chapter 1 introduces the history of research on social activism and explicates different scholarly views of social movements. This history lesson is vital for any research project as researchers should be aware of the accomplishments of those who came before them—not only to make meaningful contributions in the present but also to avoid “reinventing the wheel” by exploring concepts and topics that have already been thoroughly researched. Only by comprehending past (qualitative or quantitative) endeavors can researchers effectively situate their own pursuits and begin to construct new projects.

Chapter 2 explains the different methodological positions that researchers can adopt for the study of social activism; that is, the different ontological and epistemological frameworks through which they approach their topics. This is important as the methodological framework influences not only how researchers engage with the world but also how they conceptualize activism. Only by fully grasping their methodological positions can researchers begin to approach the topic of social activism and formulate ideas about research projects.

Chapter 3 introduces a variety of different qualitative methods that have been used in the study of social activism. These methods were culled from a review of qualitative studies conducted over the past decade. The goal of collecting this information is to identify the most commonly used methods (or those that proved to be the most useful), uncover the valuable lessons learned from those research projects, and provide information about how these different methods can be used in the study of activism today.

CHAPTER ONE

The Study of Social Activism

This chapter explores:

(1) Justifications for studying social activism, including the role of activism in democracy and social discourse, the importance of activism for the formation of political identity, and resistance to the forces of political economy and media power.

(2) A condensed history of the study of social movements, including the early stages of research which established a view of social movements as phenomena in society, subsequent research which understood social movements as shifts in meaning across society, and contemporary research which describes social movements as networks of organizations and activists.

After graduate school I worked feverishly to get different sections of my dissertation published in well-respected academic journals. I eventually managed to publish a theory piece and a content analysis piece in two interdisciplinary journals and collaborated with my dissertation advisor to publish the central findings of my project in a regional communication journal. However, every time I submitted a manuscript to the journals published by the most influential organizations in the discipline (e.g., International Communication Association, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication), I found that I was running into a wall. At first I thought that it might have something to do with my writing style. However, even though my writing improved, rejection letters continued to pile up. It wasn’t until I received a scathing review from a journal editor that I came to realize the problem: I had failed to position myself clearly within the larger body of literature concerning activism and social movements. To be sure, I knew the theories and concepts, but I did not discuss how my own research fit within the existing literature. I presented my research to the editors and reviewers of these journals as something floating in a vacuum. In response to the editor’s comments, I spent the following months rereading the literature on activism and social movements and finding the places where my research overlapped. Only then was I able to connect with the influencers in the field.

Years later I was asked by some graduate students about what I felt was the most important thing to keep in mind when conducting research. I started to spout something about diligence and process, but then I stopped and told them to disregard what I had just said. To be sure, diligence and process are important, but connecting your ideas and your research to a larger body of literature is integral. I think I went so far as to claim that 75 percent of academic research is organization. I told them the research that came before are building blocks and that researchers have to be able to organize those blocks into a coherent structure onto which they can build. “The truth is,” I said, “I know a lot of folks in the discipline who are a lot smarter than me, but never seem to be able to publish their research.” The difference, I told them, was that I had figured out how to effectively organize those building blocks around my research.

This chapter provides a justification for studying social activism in contemporary society, as well as a brief introduction to the body of literature on social movements. Over the years, I have come to recognize that qualitative researchers must fully grasp all of these important points before they engage in any projects. Understanding the literature on social movements and activism—as well as the importance of such studies to academic conceptualizations of democracy and social change—will enable qualitative researchers to form strong foundations for any queries and pursuits. As I mentioned, research concerning activism does not exist in a vacuum. I understood that there was a large, intertwined body of literature concerning activism and social movements. However, I did not use that literature when designing my research; understanding that body of literature aided me tremendously in my own endeavors. Such knowledge also aids in the formulation of research questions, the construction of research tools, and the selection of research sites. Ultimately, we must thoroughly understand our topic of inquiry before we can commit to any project, whether those endeavors are single exploratory studies or long-term research projects meant to span an entire career. When approaching the topic of social activism, researchers should ask themselves: What research projects and inquires have preceded my interests? What are the important concepts or theories that have emerged from those projects? How do my own research interests fit into those emergent concepts or theories?

WHY STUDY SOCIAL ACTIVISM?

Over the years, scholars have developed different perspectives through which to view and understand the concept of social activism. My focus here is on the rationales for the study of such endeavors. The question often arises as to why someone should study the actions, protests, organizations, or media of social activists. What is the point? For instance, the British philosophical group Comedia (1984) critiqued alternative media, as well as the academic study of alternative media, as irrelevant. The journalism scholar Chris Atton (2002, 34) responded to the Comedia critique by stating: “Success can only be judged against increased circulation and increased market penetration . . . the alternative press is by its very nature in a subordinate position to that of the mainstream press.” Essentially, because of the low circulation and poor quality of alternative media, this form of activism has limited impact on society. Alternative media may motivate some activists to stage protests or develop an identity, but those results make little significant contribution to social issues or political discourse. Indeed, many scholars have argued that social protest serves more of an ego function to build up the self-esteem of individuals and that many people primarily engage in activism because of their self-pity and sense of victimhood (Gregg 1971; Stewart 1999).

Despite such critiques the study of social activism has persisted, due in large part to the understanding that activism plays an important role in democratic discourse. According to Stephen Lucas (1980), social movements and activism are integral to the different social and political discourses that effectively shape communities and culture. Lucas notes that scholars must be aware that social movements are essential to “explicating the cumulative metamorphosis of discourse in response to emerging exigencies imposed from within and without of the movement” (263). Within this context, social movements and activism do not so much influence politics in a direct manner, but constitute much of the discourse that constitutes and shapes a society. Consequently, the research of many scholars (past and contemporary) has extended our knowledge about three overlapping topics: democracy and social discourse, the formation of political identity, and the political economy of communication and media power.

DEMOCRACY AND SOCIAL DISCOURSE

Many scholars have worked to demonstrate the important role that social activism can have in the democratic process and social discourse about problematic issues. For example, the rhetorician Leland Griffin (1980) demonstrates how activist groups often serve a dialectical function in society as they debate issues, policies, and more. For Griffin, activism is an important component for a vibrant democracy, as the debates between activists who sought change and their counterparts who sought to protect the status quo often brought a plethora of information to the citizenry. Lucas (1980) took a similar approach to activism and social movements; in his view, such human endeavors are a collection of discourses that have developed over time. For instance, information about the horrors of segregation, apartheid, and other such institutions only became visible to the mainstream news media—and subsequently to the citizenry—whenever activists who crusaded against those problems engaged in efforts to win over support. The actions and protests of activists drew the attention of media, and their oppositional perspectives were often incorporated within news articles and reports. At the same time, activists who associated with the status quo ultimately sought to preserve those institutions and injected different information into the debate. In this way, citizens were provided with important information about such subjects as they went to the ballot box and engaged with one another in their local communities. A good example of this view of activism can be seen in the SlutWalks described by Bonnie Dow and Julia Wood (2014). SlutWalks were organized by feminist activists in response to advice from a police constable in Canada that women should avoid dressing like “sluts” to best protect themselves from sexual assault. Feminist activists noted that such advice simply placed blame for assault onto women and shielded perpetrators from guilt; they used social media to invite women to come together for a “slut walk” in which they could reclaim women’s sexuality. As feminist activists involved in these protests often donned sexualized clothing such as lingerie and stiletto shoes, the walks drew the attention of the news media and thus enabled the feminist activists to bring alternative information and perspectives into social dialogue concerning rape and sexual assault.

Other scholars have explored the tactics and strategies used by activists to contribute information and competing perspectives on social discourse without the aid of mainstream news media. For instance, Lynn Owens and Kendall Palmer (2003) demonstrate how anarchists utilized the Internet to tell alternative narratives about free trade and globalization. Owens and Palmer note that much of the mainstream media coverage of anarchists and their protests was quite negative. Nevertheless, the anarchists engaged in a process of “funneling,” in which they linked their own websites to other peripheral activist websites; those peripheral sites were often linked to more mainstream websites. In the case of the protests against the World Trade Organization, for example, people became interested in anarchists because of the negative portrayals of those activists that emerged in news reports at the time. However, when those people began to look up information about the anarchists online, they found links in mainstream Internet sources to “liberal” activist groups that led them to the anarchist websites; there the anarchists were able to tell their story unabated by the negative mainstream media coverage. In another example, Phaedra Pezzullo (2003; 2007) explored the ways in which collective memory can be constructed through various activities like activist “tours.” Pezzullo studied tours promoted by the Sierra Club, in which people were driven by bus around environmentally damaged areas throughout the United States. These tours gave activists and members of the environmentally ravaged communities opportunities to weave stories and engage in performances, thus building a shared memory about areas of the country that had been ignored if not forgotten. This process was particularly important as it allowed the activists to shed light onto issues that were not covered by or portrayed in the mainstream media.

Many other scholars have demonstrated the important role that activism plays in our political parties and campaign politics. The rhetorician Charles Stewart has published multiple studies about the role of the John Birch Society in the politics of the Republican Party. Analyzing the rhetorical strategies of the John Birch Society, Stewart and his coauthors Craig Smith and Robert Denton (2001) argue that the John Birch Society—established by Robert Welch in 1958 and named for the first American soldier killed by communists—functioned as a monolithic authoritarian structure for teaching conservative American principles and values. This structure was perceived to be necessary by conservatives so that they may combat equally monolithic and authoritarian forces commanded from Moscow. The John Birch Society stood as a watchdog group that scrutinized the activities of various groups in the United States, particularly politicians. Stewart (2002) further explicated his rhetorical view of the John Birch Society by noting that the group (at the time) was organized around a worldview based on communist conspiracy theories. Essentially, this worldview dictated that there were communists around every corner, working to disrupt the United States in any meaningful way. This conspiracy was further complicated by the fact that everybody was involved: the media, celebrities, and politicians. For this reason, nobody could be trusted, which ultimately led the John Birch Society to engage in boundary maintenance and scrutiny of outsiders. All of this is important to the notion of democracy, as the John Birch Society used to play an important role in the campaign politics of the Republican Party from the late 1960s until the 1980s. Along similar lines, Suzanne Berg and I (Atkinson and Berg 2012a; 2012b) studied the alternative media of Tea Party activist groups around the time of the 2010 midterm elections. Our research demonstrates that the central theme found in alternative media utilized by Tea Party activists is “purity.” In addition, the content of various Tea Party blogs and websites focuses on conservative heroes and villains (liberals, Muslims, unions, etc.); the content also focuses on the biblical roots of the Constitution and the threats that the aforementioned villains pose to those roots. This theme of purity serves as a frame that is important for Tea Party activists in their appraisal of Republican Party candidates, which led to the sudden fall of many candidates who were labeled RINOs (Republicans in Name Only).

THE FORMATION OF POLITICAL IDENTITY

Other scholars have studied the role of activism in the formation of political identity. Essentially, according to these scholars, activist communities or groups not only generate information for use in discourse and debates but also shape the worldviews and interpretive frameworks that people use to understand political issues and events. For instance, Robert Huesca (2001) writes about the notion of participatory civic communication within the networked society. The notion of the networked society has become particularly important as asynchronous interactive media and technology allow for the emergence of global networks that can bypass the power and influence of traditional institutions such as the Catholic Church or the Democratic Party. Traditional institutions are nodes grounded in space and time which does not fit well within a world increasingly networked through asynchronous interactive media; to be involved in those traditional institutions, one must go to specific places at specific times (e.g., sermons, masses, conventions). Institutions constructed through interactive media enable people to be involved from anywhere, whenever they have the time. Huesca claims that activist networks often utilize interactive media and have become more attractive to people than the traditional institutions of the Republican and Democratic Parties. People can engage with organizations such as Indymedia or Focus on the Family through websites and social media much more effectively than they can with those traditional political institutions. Taking part in online discussions, blogging, or even watching videos can shape the worldviews of Internet users. As a result, social movement networks are becoming an integral site for the shaping of political identity.

Atton (2002) and Graham Meikle (2002) build on this concept of participatory civic communication in a networked society by demonstrating different actions that shape an activist’s identity. Both explored the alternative media commonly used by activists, as well as its importance for shaping one’s political identity. Atton explains how the possession of alternative zines has helped to foster a resistance identity for activists. Zines are cheaply produced, special-interest magazines that focus on only a few topics. For Atton (2002, 67–68), the zine, or any other alternative media, serves as a marker that indicates that the individual stands in resistance to the status quo or dominant power structures: “[The zine] presents an individual’s declaration and construction of self-identity and invites others to engage in a dialogue about that identity. By embodying one’s own history, experience, and opinions within a publication (however narrowly published) one is authorizing oneself to speak, validating one’s life, making public one’s voice—at least the parts of one’s voice that otherwise would not get heard.” In addition, Meikle discusses the role of open publishing associated with many online alternative media forums in the construction of political identity. Essentially, alternative online media, such as Indymedia.com or RedState.com, has allowed activists to publish articles or comment on existing articles. According to Meikle, actions (and interactions) such as open publishing, blogging, and commentary through social media has helped activists to feel involved in a community which, in turn, fostered the development of a political identity.

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA POWER

Many scholars have explored how activism functions in the face of the political economy of communication, a concept developed to help explain the impact of globalization and corporate consolidation on contemporary society. Robert McChesney (1998; 2004), one of the most renowned political economy scholars, has demonstrated that the consolidation of corporate media effectively depoliticizes people today. The process of consolidation puts most of the resources for media production and distribution in the hands of very few corporate actors, who, in turn, place a high value on profit. The centralization of resources and the profit motive both act as barriers to people outside of those corporate realms of media production; these barriers are a force that ultimately depoliticizes people. In addition, scholars such as Lance Bennett (2003) have explored whether this political economy, in which consolidation depoliticizes the citizenry, hinders the ability of activist groups to communicate and coordinate actions. Bennett argues that the emergence of the Internet and other interactive media has allowed for the development of activist networks that can defy the media conglomerates. The emergent networks have enabled activists to become producers of media in a world that is dictated by the one-way media logic of the political economy; interactivity empowers activists like never before. The question for Bennett is whether people will use these interactive technologies to go shopping or to build revolutions. Clemencia Rodriguez (2003; 2011) and Kevin Howley (2005; 2013) have contributed to this line of research by examining community media. For both scholars, community media represent an activist practice that is autonomous from the political economy that governs mainstream corporate media. Essentially, community journalists work alongside activists and citizens within minority and oppressed communities in order to produce autonomous news stories that can be circulated through either independent media outlets or sympathetic mainstream media. For Rodriguez, this process is important for disrupting the patterns of violence perpetrated on communities by authority figures, while Howley sees this process as important for media reform. The result for both is more participatory communication that helps alleviate the depoliticizing impact of political economy.

Other scholars, while not directly addressing the concept of political economy, have nonetheless explored the potential for activism in the face of media power constructed in the age of corporate conglomeration. Nick Couldry (2000; 2003)—similar to Bennett, Rodriguez, and Howley—explores the ways in which activists can challenge mainstream media frameworks through the use of alternative media. According to Couldry, media producers effectively create a frame that imbues meanings for those subjects that are portrayed for audiences through media content. Meaning is imbued in part because of the liminality associated with the media; if the media portrays something or someone, then...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Part I Research Foundations
• Part II Research Sites
• Concluding Remarks
• References
• Index