Social Work and Digital Activism

Sorority, Intersectionality, Homophily and Polarisation in #MeToo

Bibliographic Data

ID6018046
AuthorsJoaquín Castillo De Mesa (0000-0001-5022-6794, Universidad de Málaga), Chaime Marcuello Servós (0000-0002-0187-2754, Universidad de Zaragoza), Antonio López Peláez (0000-0003-0908-4821, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia), Paula Méndez-Domínguez (0000-0003-4278-9006, Universidad de Málaga)
Year2021
Volume28
Issue2
Pages351-375
Publication date2021-06-22
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAlternativas Cuadernos de trabajo Social (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1989-9971 • E-ISSN: 1133-0473
PublisherUniversidad de Alicante Servicio de Publicaciones (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.14198/altern2021.28.2.09
OpenAlexW3171094005
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited21

Introduction. Social Work is currently facing the significant challenge of dealing with social networking sites – which have become a parallel universe of socialisation – in which ever-increasing digital activism is taking place. The #MeToo movement stands out as a global benchmark. It has established itself as a digital-global feminist movement, fighting harassment and the abuse of women. Methodology. Adopting a social work perspective, a longitudinal analysis was performed of the #MeToo movement on Twitter between 2018-2019 based on social network analysis and netnography, in conjunction with specific algorithms. Results. The results showed significant patterns of sorority, homophily and affective polarisation through the echo chambers and filter bubbles that were identified in the detected Twitter communities. Furthermore, these online communities reflected real offline characteristics (geographical location, affinities, similarities). Discussion and conclusions. The #MeToo movement’s global effect and durability has led to a new understanding of social movements in the digital era. Social workers must not be blind to the exciting digital opportunities arising from digitalisation. They must combat homophily and the polarisation of global society on social networking sites, promoting values oriented towards tolerance of diversity. Practitioners must show awareness and intervene proactively in global digital spheres to understand, reflect and promote social justice, equality of rights and the empowerment of disadvantaged, vulnerable and oppressed people

Diversity (politics · Empowerment · Harassment · Homophily · Intersectionality · Political science · Public relations · Social media · Social science · Sociology · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Psychology · Social Media and Politics · Social Psychology

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access