Q. Underline the role of social media in contemporary social movements and describe its challenges.

Model Answer:

Contemporary collective action, characterizing New Social Movements (NSMs), has shifted from traditional class struggles to identity and rights-based claims. Social media acts as the primary vehicle for these “networked social movements”, extending Jurgen Habermas’s concept into a vast “Digital Public Sphere”.

Role of Social Media in Social Movements

• Resource Mobilization: Expanding on McCarthy and Zald’s theory, digital platforms drastically reduce the structural costs (time, capital, infrastructure) required for mobilizing collective resources.
• Frame Alignment: Utilizing David Snow and Robert Benford’s Framing Theory, activists bypass traditional media gatekeepers, enabling direct narrative building and ideological resonance (e.g., #BlackLivesMatter).
• Network Society: Manuel Castells observes that platforms forge decentralized, “rhizomatic” (leaderless) “networks of outrage and hope,” enabling rapid transnational solidarity without formal hierarchies.

Challenges of Digital Mobilization

• Weak Ties and Slacktivism: Malcolm Gladwell critiques that high-risk activism requires strong social ties. Social media primarily fosters weak ties, leading to what Evgeny Morozov terms “Slacktivism”—superficial, low-risk participation.
• Tactical Freeze: In Twitter and Tear Gas, Zeynep Tufekci argues digital movements scale so rapidly that they fail to build the offline organizational infrastructure necessary for long-term policy negotiation, resulting in a “tactical freeze.”
• Digital Panopticism: Applying Michel Foucault’s concept, the internet functions as a modern “Panopticon.” States utilize algorithmic surveillance and internet blackouts to exercise biopower and suppress dissent.

During the Indian Farmers’ Protest (2020-21), digital platforms served as a critical tool to build transnational solidarity, successfully bypassing local media constraints and internationalizing agrarian grievances.

Conclusion

While social media provides a powerful technological catalyst for modern mobilization, the underlying drivers remain rooted in structural inequalities. As emphasized by Neil Smelser’s Value-Added Theory and W.G. Runciman’s Relative Deprivation, offline systemic strain remains the true root cause and ultimate battleground for sustained social change.