Online Rebellion: Self-Organized Criticality of Contemporary Protest Movements

Dmitry Zhukov,Sergey Lyamin,Konstantin Kunavin

doi:10.1177/2158244020923354

Abstract

The theory of self-organized criticality (SOC) is applicable for explaining powerful surges of protest activity on social media. The objects of study were two protest clusters. The first was a set of Facebook groups that promoted the impeachment of the Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff. The second was a set of groups on the social network Vkontakte that provided support for anti-government rallies in Armenia, referred to as Electric Yerevan. Numerous groups in the examined clusters were functioning in SOC mode during certain periods. Those clusters were able to generate information avalanches—seemingly spontaneous, powerful surges of creation, transmission, and reproduction of information. The facts are presented that supported the assumptions that SOC effects in social networks are associated with mass actions on the streets, including violence. The observations of SOC make it possible to reveal certain periods when the course of a sociopolitical system is least stable.

Highlights

The causes and mechanisms of contemporary protests are one of the most mysterious subjects in political science
There definitely should be certain reasons and mechanisms behind them, which we believe can be partially explained by referring to the theory of self-organized criticality (SOC)
To achieve the goal of this study, the following questions and objectives were set: 1. Does SOC occur in online groups? Does SOC relate to contemporary mass protests? To answer these questions, we compared the emergence of pink noise in social networks with actual political events

Summary

Introduction

The causes and mechanisms of contemporary protests are one of the most mysterious subjects in political science. Such events have none of the classic revolutionary characteristics well known in modern history. There lack sufficient reasons like extreme impoverishment of the masses as a result of world wars or global economic crises. There are surges of social activity without extensive preparation, quick self-organization, a disproportion between causes and consequences, institution collapses, poor controllability, and unpredictability of results. Such rebellions emerge as if from nothing. There definitely should be certain reasons and mechanisms behind them, which we believe can be partially explained by referring to the theory of self-organized criticality (SOC)

Objectives

Methods

Conclusion