Social activism as a practice of forming networked social movements

This paper proposes a theoretical interpretation of social activism and its role in the practices of forming networked social movements. In today’s information society, the importance of solidarity practices for agents in social networks is increasing. The terms «activism», «online activism», «activism», «communication activism», «media activism», «collectivism» and so on have become widespread. They are used as markers of new practices for shaping social and political activist movements in social networks. However, the issue of social activism is not a sufficiently relevant topic in sociology. Discussions regarding the place and role of social activism in the practices of network social movement formation are more popular than scientific. Technological innovations of the information society have influenced forms of social interaction, communication, and solidarity of different levels of the agency. They transform and create innovative modes of social activism - from networking resources to collaborative activities to art-activism. Social networks are an active dynamic configuration space for various forms of social activism because they contain constantly updated information content created by network community agents in the form of comments, replies, likes, posts, and more. Networks are becoming a practical mechanism for social consolidation amid a crisis of legitimacy and trust in government. There is a shift in the practices of social and political activist movements into the internet space and social networks. The problem of new social movements has become especially relevant in recent years in connection with the proliferation of protest movements in the globalized society, which require relevant theoretical and methodological principles to study them. The paper deals with the consideration of social activism from the standpoint of the theory of the information society of M. Castels, the pragmatic sociology of L. Boltanski and L. Teweno and the theoretical developments of G. Reingold and S. Harrebi.