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Social movements and email: expressions of online identity in the globalization protests

California State University - Northridge, USA,meliSSa.a.wall{at}cSun.edu

This study focuses on three email lists — one used by a professional organization (Friends of the Earth) and two by grass roots, street-level participants (Direct Action Network and People's Global Action) — in the Seattle World Trade Organization protests. Each list was examined in terms of how it contributed to the expression of collective identities online. Each group's list employed at least one of three processes identified here as key to collective identity: the Friends of the Earth list emphasized cognitive framing of the event; Direct Action Network focused on emotional investments among list members; and People's Global Action stressed setting boundaries among movement participants.Yet overall, none of the lists was entirely successful as a vehicle for expressing movement identities, suggesting that while the internet may facilitate certain organizational activities of social movements, it appears to have less impact on their symbolic ones.

Key Words: collective identity •email •globalization • internet • social movement • WTO

New Media & Society, Vol. 9, No. 2, 258-277 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/1461444807075007


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