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Show 280 Colin Sibbernsen SOCIAL MOVEMENT THEORY IN THE DIGITAL AGE: RECONSIDERING REPERTOIRES OF CONTENTION Colin Sibbernsen (Claudio Holzner) Department of Political Science University of Utah honors college spring 2012 This project is an enquiry into the current and future status of social movements. The digital age has created new opportunities for social movements. I will address how new technology is changing social movements and consider how such changes apply to existing social move-ment theory. Social movement theory today is a pluralistic, complex set of theories that reflects changing conceptions of how and why social movements are carried out. I will chronologically describe the evolution of social movement theory in order to establish a foundation from which to make my argument. I will consider how the rapid advancement of technology interacts with social movements. With this foundation, I will consider how these changes are explained by exist-ing social movement theories. I will analyze the most recent tactics utilized by social movement actors in the digital age. Using the "occupy wall street movement" as a case study, I will argue that a new digital repertoire of contention, characterized by "e-activism," will be a key aspect in the future of social movements. This emerging repertoire affords reduced costs for participation, organization, and reduces the need for physical togetherness in both organization and collec-tive action participation. Ultimately, social movements organize more rapidly and occur more frequently as technological progression continues. Claudio Holzner |