Unintended consequences: the negative impact of e-mail use on participation and collective identity in two ‘horizontal’ social movement groups

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Flesher Fominaya
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Global Justice ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Identity Processes ◽  
E Mail

The relation between face-to-face and online communication and its impact on collective identity processes is understudied. In this article I draw on two case studies conducted during a 3-year ethnographic study of the Global Justice Movement network in Madrid, Spain, from 2002 to 2005 to explore the unintended impact of e-mail on the sustainability, internal dynamics, and collective identity of two groups committed to participatory and deliberative practices as key features of their collective identity. I found that despite an explicit commitment to ‘horizontalism’ the use of e-mail in these two groups increased existing hierarchies, hindered consensus, decreased participation, and worked towards marginalization of group members. In addition, the negative and unintended consequences of e-mail use affected both groups, independently of activists’ evaluation of their experience in their face-to-face assemblies (one of which was overwhelmingly perceived as positive and one of which was perceived as negative). The article draws on e-mail research in organizations, online political deliberation research, and existing studies of e-mail use in social movement groups to analyse these findings.

The Role of Social Identity in Decisions to Protest

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Burt Klandermans ◽  
J.Van Stekelenburg
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Identity Processes ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Individual

Social identity processes play a crucial role in the dynamics of protest, whether as antecedents, mediators, moderators, or consequences. Yet, identity did not always feature prominently in the social or political psychology of protest. This has changed—a growing contingent of social and political psychologists is involved now in studies of protest behavior, and in their models the concept of identity occupies a central place. Decades earlier students of social movements had incorporated the concept of collective identity into their theoretical frameworks. The weakness of the social movement literature on identity and contention, though, was that the discussion remained predominantly theoretical. Few seemed to bother about evidence. Basic questions such as how collective identity is formed and becomes salient or politicized were neither phrased nor answered. Perhaps social movement scholars did not bother too much because they tend to study contention when it takes place and when collective identities are already formed and politicized. Collective identity in the social movement literature is a group characteristic in the Durkheimian sense. Someone who sets out to study that type of collective identity may look for such phenomena as the group’s symbols, its rituals, and the beliefs and values its members share. Groups differ in terms of their collective identity. The difference may be qualitative, for example, being an ethnic group rather than a gender group; or quantitative, that is, a difference in the strength of collective identity. Social identity in the social psychological literature is a characteristic of a person. It is that part of a person’s self-image that is derived from the groups he or she is a member of. Social identity supposedly has cognitive, evaluative, and affective components that are measured at the individual level. Individuals differ in terms of social identity, again both qualitatively (the kind of groups they identify with) and quantitatively (the strength of their identification with those groups). The term “collective identity” is used to refer to an identity shared by members of a group or category. Collective identity politicizes when people who share a specific identity take part in political action on behalf of that collective. The politicization of collective identity can take place top-down (organizations mobilize their constituencies) or bottom-up (participants in collective action come to share an identity). In that context causality is an issue. What comes first? Does identification follow participation, or does participation follow identification?

scholarly journals KECENDERUNGAN PERILAKU CYBERBULLYING PESERTA DIDIK BERDASARKAN JENIS KELAMIN

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 180
Author(s):  
Ipah Saripah ◽  
Ajeng Nurul Pratita
Keyword(s):  
Negative Impact ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Descriptive Research ◽  
Low Intensity ◽  
Class Viii ◽  
Behavior Based ◽  
Impact Of Technology

AbstrakPenelitian dilatarbelakangi oleh mudahnya penggunaan komunikasi secara online yang dapat menimbulkan perilaku cyberbullying di kalangan remaja. Penelitian bertujuan menghasilkan data empirik mengenai kecenderungan perilaku cyberbullying yang dilakukan peserta didik Kelas VIII di salah satu SMP di Kota Bandung Tahun Ajaran 2017/2018. Pendekatan penelitian yang digunakan adalah kuantitatif dengan metode penelitian deskriptif dan desain penelitian survei. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan: 1) kecenderungan perilaku cyberbullying peserta didik Kelas VIII berada pada intensitas rendah sekali baik secara keseluruhan maupun berdasarkan bentuk; 2) kecenderungan perilaku cyberbullying berdasarkan jenis kelamin pada peserta didik kelas VIII berada pada intensitas rendah sekali pada setiap bentuk yang ada, namun terdapat dua bentuk yang memiliki intensitas tinggi yakni cyberstalking dan exclusion. AbstractThe ease of utilizing technology and the shifting pattern of communication from face to face to online make adolescents one of the most vulnerable communities to the negative impact of technology. One of the negative effects of technology and online communication is the emergence of cyberbullying behavior among teenagers. There is a different attitude and intensity between boys and girls in cyberbullying events. The study aimed to produce empirical data regarding the tendency of cyberbullying behavior based on gender by Class VIII students in one of the junior high schools in Bandung City Academic Year 2017/2018. The research approach used is quantitative with descriptive research methods and survey research designs. The results of the study show: 1) the tendency of cyberbullying behavior of Class VIII students to be at very low intensity both overall and based on form; 2) the tendency of cyberbullying behavior based on gender in Class VIII students is at very low intensity in each form, but there are two forms of behavior that have high intensity, namely cyberstalking and exclusion.

scholarly journals Not all students are online: The case of business graduate students in Kazakhstan

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-29
Author(s):  
Joseph Yap
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Business Students ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
Physical Interaction ◽  
Virtual Reference ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Graduate Business Students ◽  
E Mail

Graduate students who are on the go prefer to have research help virtually for convenience. But, not in the case of Kazakhstan. Our two-year data would show that almost half of the transactions we recorded are face-to-face encounters. While business graduate students use e-mail and chat for research help, they mostly prefer physical interaction. They visit the library on-site for multiple reasons. This study will provide us insights that despite the provision of technological enhancements for online communication and virtual reference, graduate students show up in the library to ask in-person research assistance. This article will describe the types of transactions received from graduate business students.

scholarly journals Risk of Depression in Family Caregivers: Unintended Consequence of COVID-19

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Gallagher ◽  
Mark A. Wetherell
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Confidence Interval ◽  
Family Caregivers ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
General Health Questionnaire ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Poor Mental Health ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Face To Face

BackgroundCOVID-19 is likely to exacerbate the symptoms of poor mental health family caregivers. To investigate whether rates of depression increased in caregivers during COVID-19 and whether the unintended consequences of health protective measures, i.e., social isolation, exacerbated this risk. Another aim was to see if caregivers accessed any online/phone psychological support during COVID.MethodData (1349 caregivers; 7527 non-caregivers) was extracted from Understanding Society, UK population level dataset. The General Health Questionnaire cut-off scores identifying those with and without depression were our primary outcome.ResultsAfter adjustment for confounding caregivers had a higher risk of having depression compared with non-caregivers, Odds ratio (OR) = 1.22 (95% confidence interval (95% CI), 1.05-1.40)), p=.008 evidenced by higher levels of depression pre-COVID-19 (16.7% vs 12.1%) and during COVID-19 (21.6% vs 17.9%), respectively. Further, higher levels of loneliness increased the risk of depression almost 4-fold risk in caregivers, OR = 3.85 (95% confidence interval (95% CI), 3.08-4.85)), p<.001), while access to therapy attenuated the risk (47%. While 60% of caregivers with depression reported not accessing any therapeutic support (e.g., online or face to face) during COVID-19.ConclusionCOVID-19 has had a negative impact on family caregivers’ mental health with loneliness a significant contributor to caregiver’s depression. However, despite these detriments in mental health, the majority of caregivers do not access any online or phone psychiatric support. Reducing feelings of isolation therefore provides an opportunity for psychiatric services and health care professionals to support at-risk caregivers.

scholarly journals Building and fostering a sense of community : a case study of the ComCult weblog

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Gagatsis
Keyword(s):  
Sense Of Community ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Face To Face

In this thesis, I set forth to examine and explore a blog's ability to build and foster a sense of community, to construct and maintain a collective identity within this community and its effectiveness as a method of communication. I launched a community blog for the Communication and Culture program, of which I am enrolled as an MA student, to address the following questions; 1) Do blogs encourage a sense of community? 2) Do blogs help to construct and maintain a collective identity within this community? 3) How is a blog more or less effective than previous online communication mediums?Key findings include the blog's small-scale success in fostering a sense of community for the group of students that participated on the blog, and the ComCult community's need to focus on encouraging face-to-face interaction in order to foster a stronger sense of community and a stronger collective identity.

scholarly journals Building and fostering a sense of community : a case study of the ComCult weblog

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Gagatsis
Keyword(s):  
Sense Of Community ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Face To Face

In this thesis, I set forth to examine and explore a blog's ability to build and foster a sense of community, to construct and maintain a collective identity within this community and its effectiveness as a method of communication. I launched a community blog for the Communication and Culture program, of which I am enrolled as an MA student, to address the following questions; 1) Do blogs encourage a sense of community? 2) Do blogs help to construct and maintain a collective identity within this community? 3) How is a blog more or less effective than previous online communication mediums?Key findings include the blog's small-scale success in fostering a sense of community for the group of students that participated on the blog, and the ComCult community's need to focus on encouraging face-to-face interaction in order to foster a stronger sense of community and a stronger collective identity.

scholarly journals Hunger Hurts but Starving Works: A case study of gendered practices in the online pro-eating-disorder community

2010 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 595-626 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krista Whitehead
Keyword(s):  
Eating Disorder ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
Identity Work ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Ethnographic Methods ◽  
Eating Disordered ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Self Worth

This paper investigates collective identity-work of Pro-eating disorder (Pro-ED) groups on the Internet. Using an adaptation of face-to-face ethnographic methods to investigate online communication (Mann and Stewart 2000), the author analyzes five collective organizing practices in Pro-ED groups that reveal a highly gendered character: 1) promoting surreptitiousness, 2) organizing in and around the realm of domesticity, 3) equating beauty with self-worth, 4) relying on friendship as a chief organizing principle, and 5) using fandom as a method of attracting and maintaining members. In spite of exceptional resistance to their activities, women in the Pro-ED community are able to achieve a collective Pro-ED identity wherein they maintain eating-disordered lifestyles. The case study presented here interrupts popular sociological understandings of collective identity mobilization as having categorically positive consequences for its members.

Response Rates in Online Surveys With Affective Disorder Participants

2020 ◽  
Vol 228 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanja Burgard ◽  
Michael Bošnjak ◽  
Nadine Wedderhoff
Keyword(s):  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Response Rates ◽  
Contact Mode ◽  
General Anxiety Disorder ◽  
General Anxiety ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Survey Participation ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Design Characteristics ◽  
E Mail

Abstract. A meta-analysis was performed to determine whether response rates to online psychology surveys have decreased over time and the effect of specific design characteristics (contact mode, burden of participation, and incentives) on response rates. The meta-analysis is restricted to samples of adults with depression or general anxiety disorder. Time and study design effects are tested using mixed-effects meta-regressions as implemented in the metafor package in R. The mean response rate of the 20 studies fulfilling our meta-analytic inclusion criteria is approximately 43%. Response rates are lower in more recently conducted surveys and in surveys employing longer questionnaires. Furthermore, we found that personal invitations, for example, via telephone or face-to-face contacts, yielded higher response rates compared to e-mail invitations. As predicted by sensitivity reinforcement theory, no effect of incentives on survey participation in this specific group (scoring high on neuroticism) could be observed.

Social anxiety is associated with similar emotional impairments during digital and face-to-face communication in daily life

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Doorley ◽  
Kristina Volgenau ◽  
Kerry Kelso ◽  
Todd Barrett Kashdan ◽  
Alexander J. Shackman
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Digital Communication ◽  
Instant Messaging ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
Medium Study ◽  
Reconstruction Method ◽  
Communication Behaviors ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Emotional Impairments ◽  
Emotional Safety

Background:Retrospective studies have found that people with elevated social anxiety (SA) show a preference for digital/online communication, which may be due to perceptions of enhanced emotional safety. Whether these preferences for/benefits of digital compared to face-to-face communication manifest in the real world has yet to be explored. Methods: We recruited samples of college students (N = 125) and community adults (N = 303) with varying levels of SA, sampled their emotions during digital and face-to-face communication using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) (Study 1) and a day reconstruction method (DRM) (Study 2), and preregistered our hypotheses (https://osf.io/e4y7x/). Results: Results from both studies showed that SA did not predict the likelihood of engaging in digital compared to face-to-face communication, and SA was associated with less positive and more negative emotions regardless of communication medium. Study 2 also showed that whether digital communication was synchronous (e.g., in real time via phone/video chat) or asynchronous (e.g., texting/instant messaging) did not impact the association between SA and emotions. Limitations: EMA and DRM methods, despite their many advantages, may be suboptimal for assessing the occurrence of digital communication behaviors relative to more objective methods (e.g., passively collecting smartphone communication data). Using event-contingent responding may have also yielded more reports of digital communication, thus strengthening our power to detect small, cross-level interaction effects. Conclusions:These results challenge beliefs that digital/online communication provides a source of emotional safety for people with elevated SA and suggests a greater need to address SA-related emotional impairments across digital communication platforms.

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