| Abstract [eng] |
The subject of this master thesis is a structure of a social movement and influence of new media on it. Linking social movements with political activism in postindustrial societies this works aims to find out possible influence of new media on political activism. The aim of this work is to explain impact of new media on social movement evolution by using established theories of social movement research. By way of this work established social movement theories were brought to the Lithuanian social context this way checking their validity in explaining political activism in Lithuania. The main objectives were these: to analyze theories of social movements; to analyze existing knowledge on new media; using these theories in explaining influence of new media on social movements; to define main concepts of the research; to create methodology of the case study; to carry out a case study; to discuss possible generalization of the results. A case study was used as a method. One mobilization case of public space preservation movement in Vilnius was chosen. A method triangulation, usual to use in case studies, contained observation of the newsgroup, used by activists, quantitative analysis of newsgroup activity and deep qualitative interviews with participants of the movement. The hypothesis was that “social movement was an all-channel network connecting social networks which existed already before the act of mobilization. Communication using new media strengthens the existing links but do not create a new network.” Hypothesis was not fully supported by the research. There were important limitations. Even though a movement was functioning as a network structure the study showed the type of this network being flexible and changing in time. There was a link of social movement network with past social networks. However research showed that social movement network, which was created by communication using new media, was a completely new, involving separate social networks, which were not linked before. Possible use of this pilot study in further analysis of the case as well as development of theory was discussed. This work might be used in further studies of social movements as well as in attempts to explain social occurrences, linked with topic of this work. |
