David Karpf
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199898367
- eISBN:
- 9780199949717
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199898367.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
The internet is facilitating a generational transition within America’s advocacy group system. New “netroots” political associations have arisen in the past decade and play an increasingly prominent ...
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The internet is facilitating a generational transition within America’s advocacy group system. New “netroots” political associations have arisen in the past decade and play an increasingly prominent role in citizen political mobilization. At the same time, the organizations that mediate citizen political engagement and sustained collective action are changing. They rely upon modified staff structures and work routines. They employ novel strategies and tactical repertoires. Rather than “organizing without organizations,” the new media environment has given rise to “organizing through different organizations.” This book provides a richly detailed analysis of this disruptive transformation. It highlights changes in membership and fundraising regimes—established industrial patterns of supporter interaction and revenue streams—that were pioneered by MoveOn.org and have spread broadly within the advocacy system. Through interviews, content analysis, and direct observation of the leading netroots organizations, the book offers fresh insights into 21st-century political organizing. The book highlights important variations among the new organizations—including internet-mediated issue generalists like MoveOn, community blogs like DailyKos.com, and neo-federated groups like DemocracyforAmerica.com. It also explores a wider set of netroots infrastructure organizations that provide supporting services to membership-based advocacy associations. The rise of the political netroots has had a distinctly partisan character: conservatives have repeatedly tried and failed to build equivalents to the organizations and infrastructure of the progressive netroots. The book investigates these efforts, as well as the late-forming Tea Party movement, and introduces the theory of Outparty Innovation Incentives as an explanation for the partisan adoption of political technology.Less
The internet is facilitating a generational transition within America’s advocacy group system. New “netroots” political associations have arisen in the past decade and play an increasingly prominent role in citizen political mobilization. At the same time, the organizations that mediate citizen political engagement and sustained collective action are changing. They rely upon modified staff structures and work routines. They employ novel strategies and tactical repertoires. Rather than “organizing without organizations,” the new media environment has given rise to “organizing through different organizations.” This book provides a richly detailed analysis of this disruptive transformation. It highlights changes in membership and fundraising regimes—established industrial patterns of supporter interaction and revenue streams—that were pioneered by MoveOn.org and have spread broadly within the advocacy system. Through interviews, content analysis, and direct observation of the leading netroots organizations, the book offers fresh insights into 21st-century political organizing. The book highlights important variations among the new organizations—including internet-mediated issue generalists like MoveOn, community blogs like DailyKos.com, and neo-federated groups like DemocracyforAmerica.com. It also explores a wider set of netroots infrastructure organizations that provide supporting services to membership-based advocacy associations. The rise of the political netroots has had a distinctly partisan character: conservatives have repeatedly tried and failed to build equivalents to the organizations and infrastructure of the progressive netroots. The book investigates these efforts, as well as the late-forming Tea Party movement, and introduces the theory of Outparty Innovation Incentives as an explanation for the partisan adoption of political technology.
David Karpf
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199898367
- eISBN:
- 9780199949717
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199898367.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the book’s central argument. It uses the February 2011 labor protests in Wisconsin to examine the role that internet-mediated advocacy groups play in American ...
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Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the book’s central argument. It uses the February 2011 labor protests in Wisconsin to examine the role that internet-mediated advocacy groups play in American politics today. It also discusses the prevailing scholarship on internet politics, arguing that it has fallen into two categories—“organizing without organizations/theory 2.0,” which examines new forms of online participation, and “political normalization,” which highlights the resilience of elite political institutions. The chapter also challenges existing arguments regarding “clicktivism” and suggests that researchers have overlooked the “organizational layer” of politics. Sustained, large-scale collective action such as the Wisconsin protests is mediated through a new generation of advocacy groups that have a substantial impact on the practice of politics. The largest effect of the internet on politics is felt not through organizing without organizations, but through organizing with different organizations. The chapter also introduces core terminology, explains the method of analysis, and provides an overview of the book.Less
Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the book’s central argument. It uses the February 2011 labor protests in Wisconsin to examine the role that internet-mediated advocacy groups play in American politics today. It also discusses the prevailing scholarship on internet politics, arguing that it has fallen into two categories—“organizing without organizations/theory 2.0,” which examines new forms of online participation, and “political normalization,” which highlights the resilience of elite political institutions. The chapter also challenges existing arguments regarding “clicktivism” and suggests that researchers have overlooked the “organizational layer” of politics. Sustained, large-scale collective action such as the Wisconsin protests is mediated through a new generation of advocacy groups that have a substantial impact on the practice of politics. The largest effect of the internet on politics is felt not through organizing without organizations, but through organizing with different organizations. The chapter also introduces core terminology, explains the method of analysis, and provides an overview of the book.
David Karpf
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- December 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190266127
- eISBN:
- 9780190266165
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190266127.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics, Democratization
Some of the most remarkable impacts of digital media on political activism lie not in the new types of speech it provides to disorganized masses, but in the new types of listening it fosters among ...
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Some of the most remarkable impacts of digital media on political activism lie not in the new types of speech it provides to disorganized masses, but in the new types of listening it fosters among organized pressure groups. Beneath the easily visible waves of e-petitions, “likes,” hashtags, and viral videos lie a powerful undercurrent of activated public opinion. In this book, David Karpf offers a rich, detailed assessment of how political organizations carefully monitor this online activity and use it to develop new tactics and strategies that help them succeed in the evolving hybrid media system. Karpf discusses the power and potential of this new “analytic activism,” exploring the organizational logics and media logics that determine how digital inputs shape the choices that political campaigners make. He provides the first careful analysis of how organizations like Change.org and Upworthy.com influence the types of political narratives that dominate our Facebook newsfeeds and Twitter timelines. He investigates how MoveOn.org and its “netroots” peers use analytics to listen more effectively to their members and supporters. He also identifies two boundaries of analytic activism—the analytics floor and analytics frontier—which define the scope of this new style of organized citizen engagement. The book concludes by examining the limitations of analytic activism, raising a cautionary flag about the ways that putting too much faith in digital listening can lead to a weakening of civil society as a whole.Less
Some of the most remarkable impacts of digital media on political activism lie not in the new types of speech it provides to disorganized masses, but in the new types of listening it fosters among organized pressure groups. Beneath the easily visible waves of e-petitions, “likes,” hashtags, and viral videos lie a powerful undercurrent of activated public opinion. In this book, David Karpf offers a rich, detailed assessment of how political organizations carefully monitor this online activity and use it to develop new tactics and strategies that help them succeed in the evolving hybrid media system. Karpf discusses the power and potential of this new “analytic activism,” exploring the organizational logics and media logics that determine how digital inputs shape the choices that political campaigners make. He provides the first careful analysis of how organizations like Change.org and Upworthy.com influence the types of political narratives that dominate our Facebook newsfeeds and Twitter timelines. He investigates how MoveOn.org and its “netroots” peers use analytics to listen more effectively to their members and supporters. He also identifies two boundaries of analytic activism—the analytics floor and analytics frontier—which define the scope of this new style of organized citizen engagement. The book concludes by examining the limitations of analytic activism, raising a cautionary flag about the ways that putting too much faith in digital listening can lead to a weakening of civil society as a whole.
David Karpf
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- December 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190266127
- eISBN:
- 9780190266165
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190266127.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics, Democratization
Chapter 3 explores the digital petition industry. It assesses the various ways that online petitions act as powerful media objects within the hybrid media system and discusses the differing ...
More
Chapter 3 explores the digital petition industry. It assesses the various ways that online petitions act as powerful media objects within the hybrid media system and discusses the differing organizational logics of the three largest US-based petition platforms—Change.org, MoveOn.org, and the White House’s We the People petition website. The chapter draws on a unique comparative dataset composed of the top 10 featured petitions at Change.org and MoveOn Petitions over a six-month time period. It uses this dataset to highlight how analytics, driven by divergent missions, visions, and business models, can lead two open petition sites to emphasize entirely different types of political opportunities.Less
Chapter 3 explores the digital petition industry. It assesses the various ways that online petitions act as powerful media objects within the hybrid media system and discusses the differing organizational logics of the three largest US-based petition platforms—Change.org, MoveOn.org, and the White House’s We the People petition website. The chapter draws on a unique comparative dataset composed of the top 10 featured petitions at Change.org and MoveOn Petitions over a six-month time period. It uses this dataset to highlight how analytics, driven by divergent missions, visions, and business models, can lead two open petition sites to emphasize entirely different types of political opportunities.