DIGITAL ACTIVISM: FORMS AND THEORETICAL APPROACHES

Abstract

The article is devoted to the concept of digital activism, it reviews terms, forms and current theoretical approaches. The question of the place of digital activism in socio-political science remains open. Some researchers argue that digital activism has no lasting effect, so there is no need to create new theoretical approaches. Others advocate that digital activism has its distinct features therefore the development of a special theoretical approach is needed. Furthermore, there is an intermediate opinion that suggests updating existing models of social movement analysis to study digital activism. We conclude that the latter point of view is the most productive as it allows us to examine specific cases of digital activism and determine which components of digital activism distinguish it from social movements and which, on the contrary, bring it closer together. This approach may justify the formation of a theoretical basis for the study of digital activism. In addition, the article addresses the issue of consistency in the use of terms denoting digital activism and confusion in the study of various forms of digital activism. An analysis of publications in the Web of Science Core Collection database reveals that the term "digital activism" is the most preferred term for Internet activism.