Dissecting the Spirit of Gezi: Influence vs. Selection in the Occupy Gezi Movement

Abstract

Do social movements actively shape the opinions and attitudes of participants by bringing together diverse groups that subsequently influence one another? Ethnographic studies of the 2013 Gezi uprising seem to answer "yes, " pointing to solidarity among groups that were traditionally indifferent, or even hostile, to one another. We argue that two mechanisms with differing implications may generate this observed outcome: "influence" (change in attitude caused by interacting with other participants); and "selection" (individuals who participated in the movement were generally more supportive of other groups beforehand). We tease out the relative importance of these mechanisms by constructing a panel of over 30,000 Twitter users and analyzing their support for the main Turkish opposition parties before, during, and after the movement. We find that although individuals changed in significant ways, becoming in general more supportive of the other opposition parties, those who participated in the movement were also significantly more supportive of the other parties all along. These findings suggest that both mechanisms were important, but that selection dominated. In addition to our substantive findings, our paper also makes a methodological contribution that we believe could be useful to studies of social movements and mass opinion change more generally. In contrast with traditional panel studies, which must be designed and implemented prior to the event of interest, our method relies on ex post panel construction, and hence can be used to study unanticipated or otherwise inaccessible events. We conclude that despite the well known limitations of social media, their "always on" nature and their widespread availability offer an important source of public opinion data.

A Twitter-Based Analysis Of Hashtag And Mention Actions As An İndicator Of Turkish General Elections’ Outcomes

“…The first one is that with over 11 million active users, Turkey has one of the highest rates of Twitter usage in the world (Minto, 2013). The second one is that social media usage is rather political in Turkey according to Pew (PEW, 2012;Budak & Watts, 2015). 57% of social media users in Turkey share their views about politics in social networking sites, compared to a median of 34% across the globe.…”

Persistent Activist Communication in Occupy Gezi

“…The uprising was initially manned by environmental activists who had gathered to oppose the plans citing a desire to protect public space from commercial splintering. Protestors appealed for extensive public consultations by the government, increasingly regarded as authoritarian (Göle, 2013:9) and forceful towards dissident protests (Budak and Watts, 2015).…”

“I Have the Government in My Pocket…”: Social Media Users in Turkey, Transmit-Trap Dynamics, and Struggles Over Internet Freedom

“…The number of Twitter users in Turkey skyrocketed from 2 to 8 million during the demonstrations (Freedom House, ). Protesters considered the platform to be the most useful for sharing updated and credible news and information (Budak & Watts, ; Eslen‐Ziya, ; Genç, ; Inceoglu, ; Sobaci & Karkin, ; Varnali & Gorgulu, ). References to the Gezi Park demonstrations were so frequent during our interviews that we refer to this conjuncture as the “Gezi pivot,” as this moment prompted social media users to take up new positions as digital activists and journalists, recognize the value of online credibility, and assess the utility of platforms like Twitter during a time of political crisis.…”

“…As the Gezi pivot provided journalists and activists opportunities to assess the credibility and utility of social media, it also forged diverse and unexpected political alliances among socially marginalized groups (Budak & Watts, ; Inceoglu, ). Social media have become vital gateways to alternative news and information for such groups in Turkey, providing sites for transmitting diverse viewpoints and counteracting the progovernment stance of mainstream media.…”