Communication Technologies and Social Movements: A Systematic Review of Literature

Abstract

Communication technologies have become pervasive tools in social movements in recent years. These uses have met with growing researcher’s attention around the world. This is why the role of communication technologies in social movements is currently a hot topic in academic circles. Using the qualitative and quantitative content analysis, this study presents the result of a systematic literature review of 53 studies that deal with the use of communication technologies in social movements. The literature review was carried out under five categories. In the first and second categories, the emphasis was given to which social movements and communication tools these studies analyze; in the third and fourth categories, their methodologies and data collection techniques were examined; and in the fifth category, the relationship they establish between social movements and media was explored. According to the results, mostly the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street protests were examined in these studies and Twitter was analyzed the most. The results also showed that quantitative and qualitative content analysis techniques were used the most in these studies and computational-based data collection techniques were utilized at the highest level. Finally, the results proved a positive relationship between media and social movements in the examined studies.

Keywords

• Communication technologies,Social movements,Twitter,Facebook,Arab Spring

İletişim Teknolojileri ve Toplumsal Hareketler: Sistematik Bir Literatür İncelemesi

Abstract

Günümüzde iletişim teknolojileri toplumsal hareketlerde yoğun olarak kullanılmaya başlanmıştır. Bu durum, dünya genelinde araştırmacıların artan ilgisiyle karşılaşmıştır. Literatürde iletişim teknolojilerinin toplumsal hareketlerdeki rolü üzerine hararetli bir tartışmanın olması bu açıdan şaşırtıcı değildir. Bu çalışma, niteliksel ve niceliksel içerik analiz yöntemlerini kullanarak, toplumsal hareketleri iletişim ekseninde ele alan 53 makalenin sistematik literatür incelemesine ilişkin sonuçları sunmaktadır. Söz konusu çalışmalar beş kategori altında incelenmiştir. Birinci ve ikinci kategorilerde bu çalışmaların hangi toplumsal hareketleri ve hangi iletişim araçlarını analiz ettikleri üzerinde durulmuştur. Üçüncü ve dördüncü kategorilerde bu çalışmaların hangi metodolojiyi ve hangi veri toplama tekniklerini kullandıkları incelenmiştir. Beşinci kategoride ise bu çalışmaların toplumsal hareketler ve medya arasında nasıl bir ilişki kurduklarına bakılmıştır. Birinci ve ikinci kategoriler altında yapılan sorgulama en fazla Arap Baharı ve Occupy Wall Street protestolarının incelendiğini ve en fazla Twitter’ın analiz edildiğini göstermiştir. Üçüncü ve dördüncü kategoriler altında yapılan araştırma en fazla niceliksel ve niteliksel içerik analiz tekniklerinin kullanıldığını ve en çok sayısal-tabanlı veri toplama tekniklerinin tercih edildiğini ortaya koymuştur. Beşinci ve son kategori altında yapılan inceleme ise medya ve toplumsal hareketler arasında olumlu bir ilişki kurulduğunu göstermiştir.

Keywords

• İletişim teknolojileri,Toplumsal hareketler,Twitter,Facebook,Arap Baharı

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