Internet and Social Media As a Tool of Aggregating Protest Moods

Abstract

The ongoing sociocultural transformations contribute to the present the problem of the society and power relationship. Due to the changing forms, methods and channels of communication, including political communication, this article considers the role and place of the Internet, social media in aggregating protest moods. Since there is a lack of a consensus in the scientific literature on the phenomenon of political protest, the authors present a theoretical interpretation within the framework of political sociology supported by the Russian researchers’ developments of recent years. Protest political activity is seen as a form of political participation and communication with the authorities. The purpose of the research is to reveal the role of information technology and social media in aggregating protest moods on the basis of analyzing online publications. The scientific novelty is conditioned by a multifaceted study of the role and place of the Internet and social media in aggregating protest moods, the role of horizontal and vertical communications during protests. Methods of the research are theoretical and methodological analysis, ontological and system analysis and questionnaire survey. The sociological study has shown how the society’s perception of protests changes in the context of the virtual political space development, which in certain periods becomes more important than the physical political space. Keywords: political protest, protest activity, protest moods, social media, sociological study