1. What kind of activist are you?
Positioning, power and identity
in political online activism in Europe
Jakob Svensson, Karlstad University (Sweden)
Christina Neumayer, IT University Kopenhagen (Denmark)
Alexander Banfield-Mumb, UTI Research Group (Austria)
Judith Schoßböck, Danube University, Austria
CEDEM 12, Danube University, Austria

2. Background

Internet and activism – not only coordination
and mobilization – but also identification

Online negotiation of identity in three cases –
Sweden, Austria and Germany

Computers underline identity negotiation and
community building

Social media – self representation – mundane
citizenship (Bakardjieva)

Exploring identities – exploring common goals

3. Background

Power – in the form of we-them delineations

Friend-enemy constellations

Depart from a radical democratic perspective
(Mouffe)

Which types of activism
are represented in these
representations?

4. Cases
[1] middle-class activists in Sweden fighting to
save their bathhouse
[2] student protests in Austria
[3] anti-fascist protests in East Germany

5. Cases - criteria
• Counter-discourses outside established power
centres
• Identity performances
• Strategies to challenge power
• Sharing political positions through digital
communication platforms (cooperation,
community identification, mobilization,
coordination of collective action)

6. Findings

Activism as renewing/developing citizenship
participation – a coalition of excluded opinions

The Other could be another activist community/
politicians/entity

We witnessed temporary coalitions of US –
different political positions

Floating definitions of adversaries and enemies

Difference between those ready to act in civil
dissobedience or not

8. Outlook

Political action in contemporary democracies –
a multiplicity of voices

Activism awareness – What type of activist am I
in which context/cause?

Activism vs. identification with political causes
online

Other dimensions (e.g. physical presence,
anonymity...)

9. Contact
Jakob Svensson
jakob.svensson@kau.se
Christina Neumayer
chne@itu.dk
Alexander Banfield-Mumb
alexander.banfield-mumb@uti.at
Judith Schoßböck
judith.schossboeck@donau-uni.ac.at