Social Movements and Their Technologies: Wiring Social Change [Hardcover]

Now in paperback for the first time, Social Movements and their Technologiesexplores the interplay between social movements and their 'liberatedtechnologies'. It analyzes the rise of low-power radio stations and radicalinternet projects ('emancipatory communication practices') as a politicalsubject, focusing on the sociological and cultural processes at play. Itprovides an overview of the relationship between social movements andtechnology, and investigates what is behind the communication infrastructurethat made possible the main protest events of the past fifteen years. In doingso, Stefania Milan illustrates how contemporary social movements organize inorder to create autonomous alternatives to communication systems and networks,and how they contribute to change the way people communicate in daily life, aswell as try to change communication policy from the grassroots. She situatesthese efforts in a historical context in order to show the origins ofcontemporary communication activism, and its linkages to media reform campaignsand policy advocacy. 

Foreword.- Preface.- 1.Stealing the Fire: An Introduction to Emancipatory Communication Activism.- 2.Three Decades of Contention: The Roots of Contemporary Activism.- 3.Movement Formation and Identity Building.- 4.Organizational Forms.- 5.Repertories of Action: Mobilizing Inside, Outside and Beyond.- 6.Like a Karst River: A Transnational Movement in the Making?- Epilogue.- Appendix I:Methods and Epistemology of Engaged Research References.- Index.

The book is geared towards an advancedundergraduate audience and offers a comprehensive overview on how activists andorganizers have harnessed technology in their struggles for social change. & SocialMovements and Their Technologies is an important contribution to a growingliterature focused on the way activists and organizers utilize information andcommunication technologies in their work. (Todd Wolfson, Mobilă