Ricerc@Sapienza

The FridaysForFuture movement represent a new wave of environmentalism with a strong generational identity, whose young activists are consitutively networked (online and offline) and joined by a common representation of climate change. This research project addresses the use of social media by Italian teenagers participating in it. Specifically, the project aims to:
O1. Explore how they use and perceive social media (when organizing mobilizations, and sharing emotions, information and opinions related to climate change and the movement);
O2. Unveil how they represent climate change (when referring to their motivations for participation, and their knowledge and perception of the problem);
O3. Grasp how these two sense-giving processes are intertwined each other.

The theoretical framework draws upon differents strand of studies, encompassing literature about the technopolitical and connective use of social media by grassroots movements, the contributions about communication on climate change, and the researches on media practices and civic engagement of young people.
Given the exploratory objectives of the research project, a qualitative methodological approach is privileged. It blends (online and offline) participant observation with focus groups, both to be carried out with 14- to 19-year-old activists from Rome. Alternatively, if the COVID-19 health emergency will require physical distancing, both fieldwork activities will take place online and include activists from all over Italy.
The thematic analysis of the results will account for how social media usages, political struggles and generational identity are concretely intertwined within the sense-giving processes both between users and platforms, and between users themselves. Therefore, results will shed light on how and why precisely climate change is mobilizing young people, specifically and so massively.