`We, the future without future:' exploring the interplay between youth activism and generational identity in the social media usage practices of FridaysForFuture

Anno
2021
Proponente Arianna Bussoletti - Assegnista di ricerca
Sottosettore ERC del proponente del progetto
SH3_12
Componenti gruppo di ricerca
Componente Categoria
Francesca Comunello Aggiungi Tutor di riferimento (Professore o Ricercatore afferente allo stesso Dipartimento del Proponente)
Abstract

Climate activism has become more and more relevant in recent years, with the FridaysForFuture movement (hereinafter FFF) at its forefront. Incipient literature on FFF has observed how especially young activists join the movement to safeguard the interests of their own generation, since older generations have doomed the planet and taken the future away from younger people. In this context, social media are privileged platforms for FFF-activists, who mainly resort to them for advocacy and awareness-raising while recruiting adhesion to the movement. FFF-activists' social media usage practices can therefore open windows in the unique ways young people make sense of social media as environments for both digital activism and generational identity-building processes.
Building on literature addressing youth social media activism, generational identity and `we sense', and climate activism the research will investigate the interplay between generational identity and youth social media activism focusing on FFFRome as an example. Through semi-structured interviews, it will address the following research questions:
RQ1: How do FFF-activists combine their generational identity with being FFFRome activists, if they do?
RQ2a. How do social media usage practices shape FFFRome's identity, if they do?

ERC
SH3_12, SH2_2, SH5_8
Keywords:
SOCIAL MEDIA, MOVIMENTI SOCIALI, GIOVANI, IDENTITA¿, CAMBIAMENTI CLIMATICI

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