CFF-KG-TMMC-accepted.pdf (310.84 kB)
Navigating the technology-media-movements complex
journal contribution
posted on 2018-07-04, 09:15 authored by Cristina Flesher Fominaya, Kevin GillanIn this article we develop the notion of the technology-media-movements complex (TMMC) as a field-definition statement for ongoing inquiry into the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in social and political movements. We consider the definitions and boundaries of the TMMC, arguing particularly for a historically rooted conception of technological development that allows better integration of the different intellectual traditions that are currently focused on the same set of empirical phenomena. We then delineate two recurrent debates in the literature highlighting their contributions to emerging knowledge. The first debate concerns the divide between scholars who privilege media technologies, and see them as driving forces of movement dynamics, and those who privilege media practices over affordances. The second debate broadly opposes theorists who believe in the emancipatory potential of ICTs and those who highlight the ways they are used to repress social movements and grassroots mobilization. By mapping positions in these debates to the TMMC we identify and provide direction to three broad research areas which demand further consideration: (i) questions of power and agency in social movements; (ii) the relationships between, on the one hand, social movements and technology and media as politics (i.e. cyberpolitics and technopolitics), and on the other, the quotidian and ubiquitous use of digital tools in a digital age; and (iii) the significance of digital divides that cut across and beyond social movements, particularly in the way such divisions may overlay existing power relations in movements. In conclusion, we delineate six challenges for profitable further research on the TMMC.
Funding
Marie Sklodowska Curie Grant 326712
History
School
- Social Sciences
Department
- Politics and International Studies
Published in
Social Movement StudiesVolume
16Issue
4Citation
FLESHER FOMINAYA, C. and GILLAN, K., 2017. Navigating the technology-media-movements complex. Social Movement Studies, 16 (4), pp.383-402.Publisher
© Taylor & Francis (Routledge)Version
- AM (Accepted Manuscript)
Publisher statement
This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Acceptance date
2017-06-02Publication date
2017Notes
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Social Movement Studies on 23 Jun 2017, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/14742837.2017.1338943ISSN
1474-2837eISSN
1474-2829Publisher version
Language
- en