Embedded data activism: the institutionalization of a grassroots environmental data initiative in China

Abstract

This study explores how a citizen-led environmental data initiative first emerged as bottom-up data activism and was then co-opted by a state-sponsored environmental campaign in China. This research employs the social movement institutionalization perspective to explore the interplay between environmental data activism and authoritarian political institutions. It investigates how grassroots activists contest and collaborate with institutional actors, thereby reshaping data activism tactics and strategies under a specific political opportunity structure. Our analysis demonstrates the institutionalization of data activism, which results in the coexistence of contention and collaboration between civil and institutional actors. This study is expected to advance the scholarship on data activism by highlighting the institutional environment within which data activism is shaped in a nondemocratic context.

Keywords:

• data activism
• grassroots data initiative
• movement institutionalization
• environmentalism
• authoritarian context
• China

Acknowledgements

We would like to express our gratitude towards the anonymous reviewers for their inspiring comments and suggestions. We would also like to show our respect to the hard-working environmental activists who have been dedicated to improving the environment in China. Finally, great thanks to our interviewees who have generously shared their experiences of environmental data practices with us.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

Zhejiang Philosophy and Social Science Planning Project [Grant No.22NDJC045YB]; The Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities; China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Funded Project [Grant No. 527000-X91901].

Notes on contributors

Yu Sun

Yu Sun is an Assistant Professor at the College of Media and International Culture at Zhejiang University. She engages in interdisciplinary scholarship spanning the fields of Chinese media, data activism, the online public sphere, feminist studies, and digital infrastructure and governance. Her current research focuses on the embeddedness of digital platforms in everyday life and social–technical infrastructures in global contexts.

Vincent Guangsheng Huang

Vincent Guangsheng Huang is an Assistant Professor at the College of Media and International Culture at Zhejiang University. His research interests reside mainly in social movements, political communication, critical/cultural studies, and public discourse in contemporary China.