Radicalism, identity construction and emotionality in social movements: #BogaziciDireniyor and the challenge to authoritarianism

Abstract

ABSTRACT Drawing upon recent insights in the social movements literature that have been looking at different facets of radicalisation, this paper explores processes of identity formation and ‘emotion transformation’ happening at the collective level and expressed through forms of non-conventional political participation. The key case study that is taken as an example is that of the recent pacific protests that took place at Boğaziçi University. Similar to recent studies that shed light on the study of radicalism in peaceful protests, we look at the main frames through which demands for social change by young activists participating in the protests are constructed and at the emotional frames that express grievances. In doing so, we focus on the representation of the movement on Twitter. These have the aim of challenging hegemonic discourses promoted by the status quo through forms of ‘radicalism through protest’ rather than ‘radicalism through violence’. In exploring this area, we conduct a qualitative analysis of social media content looking at the use and reproduction of key messages meant to share common frames that construct processes of collective identification but also at the processes of ‘emotion transformation’ that shape radical collective claims and which seek to challenge the dominant political system.