Online Activism and COVID-19: Conceptualising the Role of Collective Identity in Relation to Contemporary Activism Challenges

Abstract: Advancing digitisation affects all areas of life, including activism and political participation. While the internet has long been seen as a way of democratising society and its systems, in recent years more and more critical voices opposing this view have been raised. One of the main criticisms is that the low-threshold opportunities for participation offered by digital media lead to slacktivist practices. This is especially relevant for NGOs as their success relies on voluntary work, donations, and activation of individuals beyond slacktivist practices. Building on the increased importance of mediatisation processes, especially during a disruptive and digitisation-enhancing event such as the COVID-19 pandemic, this study makes use of mediatisation theories paired with the concept of collective identity in order to understand the challenges of contemporary activism in a deeply mediatised world. The results are based on a qualitative mixed-methods approach built on focus groups with Swedish and German members of Amnesty International youth groups and semi-structured in-depth interviews with full-time employees responsible for the social media channels of two German NGOs. The results of this study provide insights into contemporary activism challenges as well as a conceptualisation of the role of collective identity in relation to these challenges. The challenges brought up by the participants are tied to the overarching goal of creating sustainable activation beyond an initial act of support while specifically referring to the impoverishment of relationships between group members during the COVID-19 pandemic.