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Protests and Radicalization in the Digital Age

The Reopen Movement

Expected online publication date:  13 April 2026

Jeremy Menchik
Affiliation:
Boston University
Samuel Bazzi
Affiliation:
University of California
Clara Martiny
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Pujan Paudel
Affiliation:
Boston University
Seth Soderborg
Affiliation:
SNS Analytics and Indikator Politik
Gianluca Stringhini
Affiliation:
Boston University

Summary

This Element provides the first large-scale inquiry into the 'Reopen' protest movement against COVID-19 public health shutdowns. We synthesize digital ethnography inside the movement with text analyses of an original data set spanning more than 1.8 million Facebook comments and posts from over 224,000 online activists. We characterize the movement's origin, growth, and evolution as it interacted with public policies and offline protests. We explain individual- and group-level dynamics of radicalization over time, across topics, and, paradoxically, in response to content moderation. We extend existing theories of contentious politics to suggest that movements that fail to maintain their connection to offline organizations are especially prone to mutability, radicalization, and exhaustion. Together, our findings offer a powerful theoretical framework for understanding social movements in the digital age, while updating and extending classical social movement theory.

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Online ISBN: 9781009769204
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Accessibility standard: Unknown

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Protests and Radicalization in the Digital Age
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Protests and Radicalization in the Digital Age
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