The Internet and the anti-HST movement: considerations for social movements in the Internet age.
Date
2011-11-10
Authors
Sevenhuysen, Tim
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Abstract
The purpose of this thesis project was to investigate the role played by the internet in the movement to abolish the Harmonized Sales Tax in British Columbia. A constructivist grounded theory approach was applied to data collection and analysis: specifically, five participants in the anti-HST movement were interviewed, and interview data was triangulated with observations of the movement's online activities. This study analysed the relationship between social forces and the structures of online spaces, identifying several ways that internet structure affected the shape of the movement. In addition, this study found that while the anti-HST movement bore many traits of a traditional, political-economic social movement, some elements of new social movement theory and practice were present within the movement. Finally, the study explored the homogenizing tendencies of online interaction, and how those tendencies affected individuals' interaction with the movement, and the discourses that informed and organized the movement.
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Keywords
internet, online, social networking, social media, Facebook, Twitter, blog, social movement, campaign, sociology, politics, homogeneity, online spaces