Digital Activism and the Global Middle Class: Generation Hashtag

The book connects empirical evidence to classic theories of value change and political behaviour. It departs from a narrow ‘digital divide’ framing whereby Internet access produces Internet activism. It introduces the concepts of ‘digital self-expression’ and of ‘middle-class struggles’ to capture the value-stratified nature of political engagement in the online sphere. Drawing on a blend of ‘big-data’ text analyses, representative opinion research, and socioeconomic household analyses, a rich picture of the determinants of digital activism emerges.

This truly cross-disciplinary book will appeal particularly to students and scholars in Political Science, Sociology, International Development, and Communication, but also to anyone eager to learn about political activism, social transformation, and new media from a global perspective.