In this blog, I will be writing about my research project on students and their participations in protests either being online or offline. A protest is an event or activity in which individuals join with others to openly express their views on a social issue. A protest can be used to influence public opinion, draw attention to and share information about a perceived injustice, gain a large audience for the cause, advance public policy or legislation, learn more about an issue, connect with others who are passionate about the issue, speak one’s truth, and bear witness. Protests may also serve as a source of inspiration and a sense of belonging to a broader movement. Protests have one main goal: to demand change. The advent of the Internet and social media has also given rise to new modes of engagement and avenues for political mobilization (Rechert, 2020).

Young people have been labeled as apolitical due to their low levels of participation in institutionalized political activities; however, youth are active in non-institutionalized and “latent” forms of political participation and are ready to take political action if necessary (Amn and Ekman, 2014; Fu et al., 2016; Weiss, 2020).

Since Hong Kong protest regarding the extradition bill. It was the first time I saw a new face of Hong Kong Students (protestors). Personally, I have never thought that in a small city like Hong Kong, protest would get this serious. Seeing students in the frontline and their passion towards Hong Kong’s better future had me amazed. As a student myself, I was always timid and could not imagine risking my life, my studies, and going for protests. This made me question, why so many students are willing to do so? I wanted to know what motivated them, and why they thought of taking such measures. Then I found out protests are not only participated offline but also online using various social media platforms, for instance, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. I believed that if I did a research myself, I could deeply know about why the students around me participate in online/offline protests.

I made my survey as short as possible and direct but not offensive to any oppressors. My survey was about 13 questions long and takes about approximately 5 mins to complete. The reason why my survey was created concisely and direct was because of the fact that I, myself, understand that my topic is sensitive to a lot of students and I did not want students to leave my survey incomplete. I did this survey in an ethical manner by asking consent before the respondents could proceed. Unexpectedly, I received 27 responses whilst I was prepared to have less than 15.

I did not expect anyone around me to have participated in any offline protests at all. I anticipated that most students would rather create online posts and sign online petitions than any other protesting activities.I was partly correct but some responses and my data collected gave me a new set of information that surprised me and I learnt different trends among the students around me. I will explain my findings below and give suggestions accordingly.

The first thing that deeply caught my attention was the number of students that have bought or boycotted a product or service as a form of protest and the number of students that have donated money and resources to help build protests. 13 students each (48.1%) have selected both methods as a form of support.Some students have also participated protests in person and took their precious time to create materials such as artwork, memes and informative videos (7.4% each). A group can develop a feeling of collective identity in a variety of ways (Blumer, 1946). Identification with a generic other fosters relationships of solidarity and so heightens emotions of community. Setting boundaries in terms of interest and/or values between a challenged group and its enemies is a nearly universal trend in collective identity building. Whether as an opponent or an enemy, the identification of another produces conflict.

One main focus of my survey was to find out why students participated in protests in general, I believed it was mainly because of peer influence as in students would mirror their peers, posting and raising awareness on different social issues and following their actions just to fit in and regard protests as a trend rather than an obligation. It turned out that the highest number of students being 20(74.1%) participate in protests so as to fulfil their role as a member of a society. The second highest number of students 20 (55.6%) participate in order to increase their sense of belonging. The least students selected peer influence as their drive for participation(11.1%).

Traditional definitions of social identity include “that element of an individual’s self-concept that arises from his [or her] knowledge of his [or her] participation in a social group (or groups), as well as the value and emotional importance associated to that membership” (Tajfel, 1978, p. 63)

conclusion – what did you find, short view on protest. (add people comments)

After my research, in my opinion, students have evolved and made good use of social media platforms to raise awareness. They use various methods such as signing online petitions and become one in order to bring change to the society. Students feel like doing online/offline protests not only it increases their sense of belonging but also helps fulfil their role as a member of a society.

References:

Weiss, Elaine, and Paul Reville. 2019. Broader, Bolder, Better: How Schools and Communities Help Students Overcome the Disadvantages of Poverty. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Education Publishing Group.

Tajfel, H. (1978). The achievement of inter-group differentiation. In H.Tajfel (Ed.), Differentiation between social groups (pp. 77–100). Lon-don: Academic Press.

Reichert, F., and Print, M. (2017). Mediated and moderated effects of political communication on civic participation. Inf. Commun. Soc. 20, 1162–1184. doi:10.1080/1369118X.2016.1218524