Action with(out) activism: understanding digital climate change action
International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy
ISSN: 0144-333X
Article publication date: 12 September 2016
Abstract
Purpose
A recent mainstream intervention in Australia involved the creation of a climate change communication institution, the Climate Council, from crowdfunding and support in social media. Such digital action invites further examination of supporters’ motivations. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the reported intentions and interests of the Climate Council’s supporters to gain a better understanding of mainstream climate change action in digital spaces.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reports on a survey that was undertaken by the Climate Council with their Founding Friends that sought to understand their motivations for supporting the institution. The survey received over 10,000 responses. From four selected questions, the paper considers all of the quantitative responses while a random sample of 100 responses was taken from the qualitative data.
Findings
The data show that most Climate Council supporters were motivated to maintain an institution that communicates the impacts of climate change while a minority desired more political engagement by the institution. The results capture an example of action with limited conscious activism.
Originality/value
Digital spaces fundamentally need the interconnections between people in order to function, in a similar way to physical spaces. Nonetheless, the power of online action, in all its contradictory forms, should not be overlooked in considering the range of possibilities available to those interested in effecting meaningful social change. Even mainstream interventions, as presented in this paper, that seem to disavow climate change activism on the whole, can nevertheless produce institutional changes that defy national governance shifts.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the Climate Council for working collaboratively with the authors on this research project. Also thanks to anonymous reviewers and editors Richard White and Tricia Wood for their work on this special issue.
Citation
McLean, J.E. and Fuller, S. (2016), "Action with(out) activism: understanding digital climate change action", International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Vol. 36 No. 9/10, pp. 578-595. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSSP-12-2015-0136
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited