Education, Activism and Digital Technologies: A Systematic Review
Abstract Although digital activism and mobilization around education is booming worldwide, few educational studies have addressed the relationship between education and activism mediated by digital technologies. This article explores how the scientific literature has conceptualized the relationship between education and activism mediated by digital technologies through a systematic review of international studies published between 1996 and 2016. The research uses thematic analysis to identify emergent patterns and relationships in the scientific literature. Thus, 392 articles were reviewed, and 40 were selected for a more detailed analysis. The findings show that it is necessary to problematize certain conceptual distinctions that some studies make (e.g., formal, non-formal, informal education). We propose a new typology of political practices, which transcend this type of distinctions present in the scientific literature. Conclusions address a necessary integration of a “practical turn” when analyzing the links between activism, digital technologies, and education since this approach allows one to challenge the binary distinctions and oppositions identified in the scientific production of knowledge.
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Bekkers, V., Beunders, H., Edwards, A., & Moody, R. (2011). New Media, Micromobilization, and Political Agenda Setting: Crossover Effects in Political Mobilization and Media Usage. The Information Society, 27, 209–219. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/01972243.2011.583812
Biddix, J. P. (2010). Technology Uses in Campus Activism Form 2000 to 2008: Implictions for Civic Learning. Journal of College Student Development, 51(6), 679-693. doi:https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2010.0019
Biddix, J. P. & Park, H W. (2008). Online Networks of Student Protest: the Case of the Living Wage Campaign. New Media and Society, 10(6), 871–89. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444808096249
Bolldén, K. (2016). The emergence of online teaching practices: a socio-material analysis. Learning, Media and Technology, 41(3), 444-462. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2015.1044536
Boumlik, H., & Schwartz, J. (2016). Conscientization and Third Space: A Case Study of Tunisian Activism. Adult Education Quarterly, 66(4), 319–335. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/0741713616652475
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative research in psychology, 3, 77-101. doi:https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Castells, M. (2012). Redes de indignación y esperanza. Madrid: Alianza
Chiluwa, I., & Ifukor, P. (2015). War against our Children: Stance and Evaluation in #BringBackOurGirls Campaign Discourse on Twitter and Facebook. Discourse and Society, 26(3), 267–296. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926514564735
Delgado, R. Ocampo, A. M., & Robledo, C.M. (2008). La acción colectiva juvenil. Un modelo de análisis para su abordaje. Ponto-e-vírgula, (4), 196–216.
Enguix Grau, B. (2016). Activismo y Prácticas Digitales en la Construcción de una Esfera LGTB en España. Revista Dados, 59(3), 755–787. doi:https://doi.org/10.1590/00115258201691
Emejulu, A., & McGregor. C. (2017). Towards a Radical Digital Citizenship in Digital Education. Critical Studies in Education, 1-17. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/17508487.2016.1234494
Feixa, C., Juris, J. & Pereira, I. (2012). La globalización alternativa y los novísimos movimientos sociales. Revista del centro de investigación de México, (37), 23-39.
Fernández-Planells, A. (2013). #acampadabcn: el 15M desde Catalunya. In C. Feixa & J. Nofre (Eds.), Generación indignada. Topías y utopías del 15M (pp. 87-116). Lleida: Milenio publicaciones.
Freire, P. y Shor, I. (2014). Miedo y osadía: La cotidianidad del docente que se arriesga a practicar una pedagogía transformadora. Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI Editores.
Fullam, J. (2017). Becoming a youth activist in the internet age: a case study on social media activism and identity development. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 30(4), 406–422. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2016.1250176
Garcés, M. (2010). Movimientos sociales y educación popular. La piragua, 32, 55-68.
Gibbons Pyles, D. (2017). A social semiotic mapping of voice in youth media: the pitch in youth video production. Learning, Media and Technology, 42(1), 8-27. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2016.1095209
Glenn, C. L. (2015). Activism or ‘Slacktivism?’: Digital Media and Organizing for Social Change. Communication Teacher, 29, 81-85. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/17404622.2014.1003310
González-Lizarraga, M. G., Becerra-Traver, M. T., & Yanez-Diaz, M.B. (2016). Cyberactivism: A new form of participation for University students. Comunicar, 24(46), 47-54. doi:https://doi.org/10.3916/C46-2016-05
Hardt, M., & Negri, A. (2004). Multitud. Barcelona: Random House Mondadori S.A.
Heron-Hruby, A., & Landon-Hays, M. (Eds.). (2014). Digital Networking for School Reform: The Online Grassroots Efforts of Parent and Teacher Activist. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. doi:https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137430748
Irving, C. J., & English, L.M. (2011). Community in Cyberspace: Gender, Social Movement Learning, and the Internet. Adult Education Quarterly, 61(3), 262–278. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/0741713610380448
Juris, J. (2008). Performing Politics: Image, Embodiment, and Affective Solidarity during anti-Corporate Globalization Protests. Ethnography, 9(1), 61-97. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/1466138108088949
Juris, J. (2012). Reflections on #Occupy Everywhere: Social Media, Public Space, and Emerging Logics of Aggregation. American Ethnologist, 39(2), 259–279. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1425.2012.01362.x
Khoury-Machool, M. (2007). Palestinian Youth and Political Activism: the Emerging Internet Culture and New Modes of Resistance. Policy Futures in Education, 5(1) 17-36. doi:https://doi.org/10.2304/pfie.2007.5.1.17
Knibbs, K. (2013). Slactivists, unite! Social media campaigns aren’t just feel-good back patting. Retrieved from: https://goo.gl/a8dLKN
Knorr-Cetina, K. (2001). Objectual practice. In T. Schatzki, K. Knorr-Cetina & E. Savigny (Eds.), The Practice Turn in Contemporary Theory (pp. 184-197). London and New York: Routledge.
LaRiviere, K., Snider, J., Stromberg, A., & O’Meara, K. (2012). Protest: Critical Lessons of Using Digital Media for Social Change. About Campus, 17(3), 10-17. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/abc.21081
Linder, Ch., Myers, J.S., Riggle, C., & Lacy, M. (2016). From Margins to Mainstream: Social Media as a Tool for Campus Sexual Violence Activism. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 9(3), 231-244. doi:https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000038
McAdam, D., McCarthy, J. & Zald, M. (1999). Oportunidades, estructuras de movilización y procesos enmarcadores: hacia una perspectiva sintética y comparada de los movimientos sociales. In: D. McAdam, J. McCarthy & M. Zald (comps.), Movimientos Sociales: perspectivas comparadas (pp. 21-46). Madrid: Istmo.
Melucci, A. (1999). Acción colectiva, vida cotidiana y democracia. México: El Colegio de México-Centro de Estudios Sociológicos.
Metzger, M. W., Erete, S.L., Barton, D. L. Desler, M.K., & Lewis, D.A. (2015). The new political voice of young Americans: Online engagement and civic development among first- year college students. Education, Citizenship and Social Justice, 10(1), 55–66. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/1746197914558398
Mills, A., Schechter, S., Lederer, S., & Naeher, R. (2011). Global Stories of Citizenship: Oral History as Historical Inquiry and Civic Engagement. The Oral History Review, 38(1), 34–62. doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/ohr/ohr042
Osses, S., Sánchez, I., & Ibáñez, F. (2006). Investigación cualitativa en educación. Hacia la generación de teoría a través del proceso analítico. Estudios Pedagógicos, 32(1), 119-133.
Pearson, E., Tindle, H., Ferguson, M., & Litchfield, C. (2016). Can We Tweet, Post, and Share Our Way to a More Sustainable Society? A Review of the Current Contributions and Future Potential of #Social media for sustaintability. Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 41, 363:397. doi:https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-110615-090000
Peña, P., Rodríguez, R, & Sáez, C. (2016). Student Movement in Chile, Situated Learning and Digital Activism. Commitment, Social Change and Technological Uses in Teenagers. OBETS, 11(1), 287-310. doi:https://doi.org/10.14198/OBETS2016.11.1.11
Rueda, R. (2004). Tecnocultura y sujeto cyborg: esbozos de una tecnopolítica educativa. Nómadas, 21, 70-81.
Share, R. A., & Shayne, J. (2008). Youth-Adult Partnership in Community Organizing: A Case Study of the My Voice Counts! Campaign. Journal of Community Practice 14 (4): 113-127. doi:https://doi.org/10.1300/J125v14n04_07
Schatzki, T. (2001). Introduction: practice theory. T. Schatzki, K. Knorr-Cetina & E. Savigny (Eds.), The Practice Turn in Contemporary Theory (pp. 10-23). London and New York: Routledge.
Suaza, L. M. (2013). Hackeando al patriarcado: metáforas y prácticas sociales de mujeres con tecnologías. En R. Rueda, L. Ramírez y A. Fonseca (eds.), Ciberciudadanías, cultura política y creatividad social (pp. 145-197). Bogotá: Universidad Pedagógica Nacional: 145-197.
Tarrow, S. (1997). El poder en movimiento. Madrid: Alianza editorial.
Tilly, Ch. (1995). Lo movimientos sociales como agrupaciones históricamente específicas de actuaciones políticas. Sociológica, 28, 1-18.
Theocharis, Y. (2012). Cuts, Tweets, Solidarity and Mobilisation: How the Internet Shaped the Student Occupations. Parliamentary Affairs, 65, 162–194. doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsr049
Touraine, A. (1987). El regreso del actor. Buenos Aires: Editorial Eudeba.
Touraine, A. (1997) ¿Podremos vivir juntos? México D.F.: Fondo de Cultura Económica.
Tufekci, Z. (2017). Twitter and Tear Gas. The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest. New Haven and London: Yale University Press
Urresti, M. (2008). Ciberculturas juveniles. Buenos Aires: La Crujía.
Valenzuela, S. (2013). Unpacking the Use of Social Media for Protest Behavior: The Roles of Information, Opinion, Expression, and Activism. American Behavioral Scientist, 57(7), 920–942. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764213479375
Vivitsou, M., & Viitanen, K. (2015). The pedagogies of the future: through young people’s eyes in storytelling experiences with the digital in Finland and Greece. In S. Zlitni & F. Lienard (Eds.), Electronic Communication: Political, Social and Educational Uses (pp.123-141). Bern: Peter Lang.
Weeks, P. (1999). Cyber-activism: World Wildlife Fund’s Campaign to Save the Tiger. Culture y Agriculture, 21(3), 19-30. doi:https://doi.org/10.1525/cag.1999.21.3.19
Bekkers, V., Beunders, H., Edwards, A., & Moody, R. (2011). New Media, Micromobilization, and Political Agenda Setting: Crossover Effects in Political Mobilization and Media Usage. The Information Society, 27, 209–219. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/01972243.2011.583812
Biddix, J. P. (2010). Technology Uses in Campus Activism Form 2000 to 2008: Implictions for Civic Learning. Journal of College Student Development, 51(6), 679-693. doi:https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2010.0019
Biddix, J. P. & Park, H W. (2008). Online Networks of Student Protest: the Case of the Living Wage Campaign. New Media and Society, 10(6), 871–89. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444808096249
Bolldén, K. (2016). The emergence of online teaching practices: a socio-material analysis. Learning, Media and Technology, 41(3), 444-462. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2015.1044536
Boumlik, H., & Schwartz, J. (2016). Conscientization and Third Space: A Case Study of Tunisian Activism. Adult Education Quarterly, 66(4), 319–335. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/0741713616652475
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative research in psychology, 3, 77-101. doi:https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Castells, M. (2012). Redes de indignación y esperanza. Madrid: Alianza
Chiluwa, I., & Ifukor, P. (2015). War against our Children: Stance and Evaluation in #BringBackOurGirls Campaign Discourse on Twitter and Facebook. Discourse and Society, 26(3), 267–296. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926514564735
Delgado, R. Ocampo, A. M., & Robledo, C.M. (2008). La acción colectiva juvenil. Un modelo de análisis para su abordaje. Ponto-e-vírgula, (4), 196–216.
Enguix Grau, B. (2016). Activismo y Prácticas Digitales en la Construcción de una Esfera LGTB en España. Revista Dados, 59(3), 755–787. doi:https://doi.org/10.1590/00115258201691
Emejulu, A., & McGregor. C. (2017). Towards a Radical Digital Citizenship in Digital Education. Critical Studies in Education, 1-17. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/17508487.2016.1234494
Feixa, C., Juris, J. & Pereira, I. (2012). La globalización alternativa y los novísimos movimientos sociales. Revista del centro de investigación de México, (37), 23-39.
Fernández-Planells, A. (2013). #acampadabcn: el 15M desde Catalunya. In C. Feixa & J. Nofre (Eds.), Generación indignada. Topías y utopías del 15M (pp. 87-116). Lleida: Milenio publicaciones.
Freire, P. y Shor, I. (2014). Miedo y osadía: La cotidianidad del docente que se arriesga a practicar una pedagogía transformadora. Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI Editores.
Fullam, J. (2017). Becoming a youth activist in the internet age: a case study on social media activism and identity development. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 30(4), 406–422. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2016.1250176
Garcés, M. (2010). Movimientos sociales y educación popular. La piragua, 32, 55-68.
Gibbons Pyles, D. (2017). A social semiotic mapping of voice in youth media: the pitch in youth video production. Learning, Media and Technology, 42(1), 8-27. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2016.1095209
Glenn, C. L. (2015). Activism or ‘Slacktivism?’: Digital Media and Organizing for Social Change. Communication Teacher, 29, 81-85. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/17404622.2014.1003310
González-Lizarraga, M. G., Becerra-Traver, M. T., & Yanez-Diaz, M.B. (2016). Cyberactivism: A new form of participation for University students. Comunicar, 24(46), 47-54. doi:https://doi.org/10.3916/C46-2016-05
Hardt, M., & Negri, A. (2004). Multitud. Barcelona: Random House Mondadori S.A.
Heron-Hruby, A., & Landon-Hays, M. (Eds.). (2014). Digital Networking for School Reform: The Online Grassroots Efforts of Parent and Teacher Activist. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. doi:https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137430748
Irving, C. J., & English, L.M. (2011). Community in Cyberspace: Gender, Social Movement Learning, and the Internet. Adult Education Quarterly, 61(3), 262–278. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/0741713610380448
Juris, J. (2008). Performing Politics: Image, Embodiment, and Affective Solidarity during anti-Corporate Globalization Protests. Ethnography, 9(1), 61-97. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/1466138108088949
Juris, J. (2012). Reflections on #Occupy Everywhere: Social Media, Public Space, and Emerging Logics of Aggregation. American Ethnologist, 39(2), 259–279. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1425.2012.01362.x
Khoury-Machool, M. (2007). Palestinian Youth and Political Activism: the Emerging Internet Culture and New Modes of Resistance. Policy Futures in Education, 5(1) 17-36. doi:https://doi.org/10.2304/pfie.2007.5.1.17
Knibbs, K. (2013). Slactivists, unite! Social media campaigns aren’t just feel-good back patting. Retrieved from: https://goo.gl/a8dLKN
Knorr-Cetina, K. (2001). Objectual practice. In T. Schatzki, K. Knorr-Cetina & E. Savigny (Eds.), The Practice Turn in Contemporary Theory (pp. 184-197). London and New York: Routledge.
LaRiviere, K., Snider, J., Stromberg, A., & O’Meara, K. (2012). Protest: Critical Lessons of Using Digital Media for Social Change. About Campus, 17(3), 10-17. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/abc.21081
Linder, Ch., Myers, J.S., Riggle, C., & Lacy, M. (2016). From Margins to Mainstream: Social Media as a Tool for Campus Sexual Violence Activism. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 9(3), 231-244. doi:https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000038
McAdam, D., McCarthy, J. & Zald, M. (1999). Oportunidades, estructuras de movilización y procesos enmarcadores: hacia una perspectiva sintética y comparada de los movimientos sociales. In: D. McAdam, J. McCarthy & M. Zald (comps.), Movimientos Sociales: perspectivas comparadas (pp. 21-46). Madrid: Istmo.
Melucci, A. (1999). Acción colectiva, vida cotidiana y democracia. México: El Colegio de México-Centro de Estudios Sociológicos.
Metzger, M. W., Erete, S.L., Barton, D. L. Desler, M.K., & Lewis, D.A. (2015). The new political voice of young Americans: Online engagement and civic development among first- year college students. Education, Citizenship and Social Justice, 10(1), 55–66. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/1746197914558398
Mills, A., Schechter, S., Lederer, S., & Naeher, R. (2011). Global Stories of Citizenship: Oral History as Historical Inquiry and Civic Engagement. The Oral History Review, 38(1), 34–62. doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/ohr/ohr042
Osses, S., Sánchez, I., & Ibáñez, F. (2006). Investigación cualitativa en educación. Hacia la generación de teoría a través del proceso analítico. Estudios Pedagógicos, 32(1), 119-133.
Pearson, E., Tindle, H., Ferguson, M., & Litchfield, C. (2016). Can We Tweet, Post, and Share Our Way to a More Sustainable Society? A Review of the Current Contributions and Future Potential of #Social media for sustaintability. Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 41, 363:397. doi:https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-110615-090000
Peña, P., Rodríguez, R, & Sáez, C. (2016). Student Movement in Chile, Situated Learning and Digital Activism. Commitment, Social Change and Technological Uses in Teenagers. OBETS, 11(1), 287-310. doi:https://doi.org/10.14198/OBETS2016.11.1.11
Rueda, R. (2004). Tecnocultura y sujeto cyborg: esbozos de una tecnopolítica educativa. Nómadas, 21, 70-81.
Share, R. A., & Shayne, J. (2008). Youth-Adult Partnership in Community Organizing: A Case Study of the My Voice Counts! Campaign. Journal of Community Practice 14 (4): 113-127. doi:https://doi.org/10.1300/J125v14n04_07
Schatzki, T. (2001). Introduction: practice theory. T. Schatzki, K. Knorr-Cetina & E. Savigny (Eds.), The Practice Turn in Contemporary Theory (pp. 10-23). London and New York: Routledge.
Suaza, L. M. (2013). Hackeando al patriarcado: metáforas y prácticas sociales de mujeres con tecnologías. En R. Rueda, L. Ramírez y A. Fonseca (eds.), Ciberciudadanías, cultura política y creatividad social (pp. 145-197). Bogotá: Universidad Pedagógica Nacional: 145-197.
Tarrow, S. (1997). El poder en movimiento. Madrid: Alianza editorial.
Tilly, Ch. (1995). Lo movimientos sociales como agrupaciones históricamente específicas de actuaciones políticas. Sociológica, 28, 1-18.
Theocharis, Y. (2012). Cuts, Tweets, Solidarity and Mobilisation: How the Internet Shaped the Student Occupations. Parliamentary Affairs, 65, 162–194. doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsr049
Touraine, A. (1987). El regreso del actor. Buenos Aires: Editorial Eudeba.
Touraine, A. (1997) ¿Podremos vivir juntos? México D.F.: Fondo de Cultura Económica.
Tufekci, Z. (2017). Twitter and Tear Gas. The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest. New Haven and London: Yale University Press
Urresti, M. (2008). Ciberculturas juveniles. Buenos Aires: La Crujía.
Valenzuela, S. (2013). Unpacking the Use of Social Media for Protest Behavior: The Roles of Information, Opinion, Expression, and Activism. American Behavioral Scientist, 57(7), 920–942. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764213479375
Vivitsou, M., & Viitanen, K. (2015). The pedagogies of the future: through young people’s eyes in storytelling experiences with the digital in Finland and Greece. In S. Zlitni & F. Lienard (Eds.), Electronic Communication: Political, Social and Educational Uses (pp.123-141). Bern: Peter Lang.
Weeks, P. (1999). Cyber-activism: World Wildlife Fund’s Campaign to Save the Tiger. Culture y Agriculture, 21(3), 19-30. doi:https://doi.org/10.1525/cag.1999.21.3.19
Aguilar Forero, N., & Cifuentes Álvarez, G. A. (2019). Education, Activism and Digital Technologies: A Systematic Review. Education in The Knowledge Society, 20, 14. https://doi.org/10.14201/eks2019_20_a14
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