Occupy Wall Street. The movement in its third anniversary

Photo by Chris Li on Unsplash

13/11/2017

This is the second paper published on the journal UOC R&I Working Papers, whose main objective of is the open access and online publication of preliminary results from the researchers of the different UOC departments, programs, research centers (IN3 and eLearn Center) and knowledge fields.

The published working paper has been written by Antonio Calleja, Daniel Blanche, Arnau Monterde and Mireia Fernández-Ardèvol, members of the IN3 research group Communication Networks and Social Changes (CNSC).

Occupy Wall Street. The movement in its third anniversary explains how the emergence of networked social movements in 2011 has opened a new door in the social movements’ literature. By adopting a technopolitical and situated approach, in this paper, we explore the case of the Occupy Wall Street movement three years after its formation in September 2011. Through an online survey and a nonprobabilistic sampling procedure, we pay special attention to the perceptions and opinions of the movement’s participants. We distinguish seven thematic sections: the relationship with the movement, previous political participation and motivations, the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs), the emotions experienced, the evolution of the movement, its influence on institutional politics, and its impacts on several aspects of social life. The results show that the respondents (N=522) are overall adherent to the movement and that the majority participated at some point. Most think that the movement still exists in one way or another, and perceive its impact on several areas, institutions, behaviours, and ideas. We conclude by describing OWS as a case that adequately fits the concept of a networked social movement. Finally, we suggest further developments in the understanding of these movements by further applying the online survey designed for this study and complementing analyses via other research methods.

You can download the article by clicking here.