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The Role of Social Networking Sites in Civic Activism in Russia and Finland

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  • Boris Gladarev
  • Markku Lonkila

Abstract

We thank Jeremy Morris, Natalia Rulyova, Vlad Strukov, Tuomas Ylä-Anttila, the anonymous reviewer of Europe-Asia Studies and the members of the Helsinki Research Group for Political Sociology seminar for useful comments on the essay. The research has been supported by the Academy of Finland.This essay compares the role of the social networking sites, Facebook in Finland and Vkontakte in Russia, in organising civic activism. It is based on data collected about two successful campaigns mobilised by local residents against urban building projects in St Petersburg and Helsinki in 2009. Though in both cities these sites were important channels for transmitting information and organising and coordinating the campaigns, their role was clearly limited in terms of impartial, democratic discussion of the issue of common concern: the sites were rather used to build and reinforce emerging collective identities and to create consensus within the movement. In contrast to the situation in Helsinki, Vkontakte also had a central role in creating and maintaining ties between formerly isolated campaigns against building projects elsewhere in St Petersburg, thereby helping to build a ‘network of grassroots resistance’ in the city.

Suggested Citation

  • Boris Gladarev & Markku Lonkila, 2012. "The Role of Social Networking Sites in Civic Activism in Russia and Finland," Europe-Asia Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 64(8), pages 1375-1394.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:ceasxx:v:64:y:2012:i:8:p:1375-1394
    DOI: 10.1080/09668136.2012.712272
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    Cited by:

    1. Vadim Voskresenskiy & Ilya Musabirov & Daniel Alexandrov, 2017. "Studying Patterns of Communication in Virtual Urban Groups with Different Modes of Privacy," HSE Working papers WP BRP 75/SOC/2017, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    2. Aleh Ivanou, 2016. "Social problem ownership at Taganka, Moscow: Explaining urban protests against infill development projects," Rationality and Society, , vol. 28(2), pages 172-201, May.
    3. Olesya Volchenko & Anna Shirokanova, 2017. "Generalized Trust and Media Consumption in Democratic and Nondemocratic Societies," HSE Working papers WP BRP 76/SOC/2017, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    4. Elena Lebedeva, 2022. "Local communities in the post-socialist cities: beyond market and state (the experience of Minsk)," Journal of Community Positive Practices, Catalactica NGO, issue 4, pages 21-34.

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