Digital channels, the change in community structures and its consequences for social participationAndreas JungherrBamberg University

The Argument:

Political participation & collective action depend on local community structures

Change in community structures leads to change in the modes of political participation

The Question?

What does this mean for political organizers?

The situation:

Change in community structures is constant

In developed countries one of the biggest changes in community structures has been initiated through:

Lower cost of travel

Ever increasing specialization and isolation of work

Local disconnection through frequent work-related travel

Digital communication

In short:

People could escape theDictate of Geography

New communities form around:

Communities of practice

Communities of interest

Communities of location lose influence

How does this change political organizing?

Granovetter‘s ties:

Strong tiesvsWeak ties

Strong ties: The acquaintances of a person are also acquainted with one another

Weak ties: The acquaintances of a person are not acquainted with one another

Strong ties lend themselves easily to political organizing.

Weak ties...not so much

Weak ties lend themselves to the distribution of news

Small world hype

The Conjecture:

People who are connected in communities of practice or interest through weak ties are difficult to move to collective action

Right?

Twitter-Activism

Low-cost, consequence free: Activism as lifestyle

Still...

The potential:

Political organizers and campaigns which manage to provide digital communities with a local backbone have a huge potential

Examples:myobama.comteAM Deutschland

These campaigns try to connect the fast information distribution through weak ties with the possibility for collective action of strong ties.

Once again, the future is local!