Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgments
- 1 The Promise of Protest
- 2 Costly Protest and Political Representation
- 3 How Legislators Perceive Collective Action
- 4 How the Average Legislator Responds
- 5 The Limits of Costly Protest
- 6 Costly Protest in a Digitized World
- 7 The Democratic Value of Costly Protest
- 8 Appendices
- Bibliography
- Index
- Books in the Series
6 - Costly Protest in a Digitized World
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 February 2022
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgments
- 1 The Promise of Protest
- 2 Costly Protest and Political Representation
- 3 How Legislators Perceive Collective Action
- 4 How the Average Legislator Responds
- 5 The Limits of Costly Protest
- 6 Costly Protest in a Digitized World
- 7 The Democratic Value of Costly Protest
- 8 Appendices
- Bibliography
- Index
- Books in the Series
Summary
This chapter considers whether the Internet alters the relationship between protesters’ resources and legislative behavior. Gause argues that digital technologies reduce costs more for online protests than offline protests, making online protests less likely to receive legislative support. Moreover, digital technologies decrease protest costs; however, they do so primarily for high-resource groups.Nevertheless, digital technologies have changed the role of formal interest groups. In the past, formal interest groups provided resources that made it hard for legislators to detect issue salience. Online, viral collective action is more indicative of social media stimuli and influencers than high issue salience. Formal interest groups are now vital to legislative behavior.
To assess these arguments, Gause collects data on protests covered in 2012 in newspapers across the United States. Gause finds that legislators are more likely to support online protests than in-person protests. Whether online or offline, legislators are more likely to support costlier protests. Consequently, protest costs continue to dictate how legislators respond to protest demands.
Keywords
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- Information
- The Advantage of DisadvantageCostly Protest and Political Representation for Marginalized Groups, pp. 141 - 169Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022