Qualifying Engagement: A Study of Information and Communication Technology and the Global Social Justice Movement in Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract

Scholarly commentary has underscored the importance of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) in organizing the Global Social Justice Movement (GSJM). This study examines key communicative assumptions regarding technology and activist participation in the GSJM by asking three research questions: (a) what impacts of ICT-enabled brokerage are evident in the GSJM in Aotearoa New Zealand; (b) how are activists' attitudes embedded in the metaphors they use; and (c) what concerns do activists express about ICTs? Findings suggest strong associations between GSJM activists' conceptualizations of communication and their highly diverse attitudes toward and engagement with ICTs. Contrasts between activists and scholarly discussions of ICTs and the GSJM are highlighted.

Keywords:

• Activism
• Brokerage
• Metaphors
• Global Social Justice Organizing
• Information and Communication Technology
• Organizational Communication
• Social Movements

Acknowledgements

This essay is based on data collected as part of a grant on collective action against economic globalization, funded by the Marsden Foundation of the Royal Society of New Zealand (06-UOW-001).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Shiv Ganesh

Shiv Ganesh (PhD, Purdue University) is Senior Lecturer at the University of Waikato, New Zealand

Cynthia Stohl

Cynthia Stohl (PhD, Purdue University) is Professor at the Department of Communication, University of California, Santa Barbara