TY - JOUR
T1 - The Dangers, Directness, and Purposes of Online Collective Actions
AU - Lowery, Cassie
AU - Edwards, Matthew
AU - Smith, Laura G. E.
PY - 2025/11/22
Y1 - 2025/11/22
N2 - Most research on online collective action investigates low-effort, social media-based actions rather than tactics with highly disruptive potential. To better account for the variety of forms of collective actions that use digital technologies, we conducted an open-source intelligence search (Study 1a) and an expert consultation survey (Study 1b; N = 21), to create a database containing 31 types of actions. In Study 2, we interviewed activists (N = 20) and found six key dimensions underlying those actions. In Study 3, participants (N = 273) rated the actions across the dimensions. Based upon the (dis)similarities of each action’s rating across the dimensions, we identified two main types and five sub-types of online collective actions: Ingroup-assisting actions (collaborative resource generation, ingroup mobilisation, and digital picketing) and outgroup-attacking actions (disruptive clicktivism and technology-enabled attacks). The results showed that digital collective actions substantively differ from each other based on the six underlying dimensions, from the social-psychological function, to the skill required, to the groups being targeted. This work offers a multi-dimensional explanation for the variations across the domain of online activism, and offers a way forward for future collective action work to explore psychological motivations underlying choices across action type.
AB - Most research on online collective action investigates low-effort, social media-based actions rather than tactics with highly disruptive potential. To better account for the variety of forms of collective actions that use digital technologies, we conducted an open-source intelligence search (Study 1a) and an expert consultation survey (Study 1b; N = 21), to create a database containing 31 types of actions. In Study 2, we interviewed activists (N = 20) and found six key dimensions underlying those actions. In Study 3, participants (N = 273) rated the actions across the dimensions. Based upon the (dis)similarities of each action’s rating across the dimensions, we identified two main types and five sub-types of online collective actions: Ingroup-assisting actions (collaborative resource generation, ingroup mobilisation, and digital picketing) and outgroup-attacking actions (disruptive clicktivism and technology-enabled attacks). The results showed that digital collective actions substantively differ from each other based on the six underlying dimensions, from the social-psychological function, to the skill required, to the groups being targeted. This work offers a multi-dimensional explanation for the variations across the domain of online activism, and offers a way forward for future collective action work to explore psychological motivations underlying choices across action type.
M3 - Article
SN - 0162-895X
JO - Political Psychology
JF - Political Psychology
ER -