What Really Matters in Creating Mass Mobilization, Classical Organization or New Social Media? – A Comparative Case Study of the Mass Mobilization Process in France and South Korea

: A Comparative Case Study of the Mass Mobilization Process in France and South Korea

: Jeong Im Hyun

Publisher: Punctum books

: Brooklyn, NY

: 2015

: Contention

: 3

: 1

: 15

: 2330-1392

: http://contentionjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Jeong-Im-Hyun_Cont.pdf(external)

This article explores why people adopt different processes to participate in mass mobilizations,

using the 2006 Anti-CPE (labor law) Movement in France and the 2008 Candlelight Movement

against American Beef Imports in South Korea as case studies. In France, initiators and

participants followed the ‘ready-made’ way: left-wing organizations led the whole process of mass

mobilizations. In contrast, in South Korea, initiators came from ‘nowhere’: they were middle

and high school students without any political organizations; participants were ‘tainted’ by the

left wing political line. The key finding of this study is that the levels of demarcation of political

lines in people’s everyday life may explain this difference. In France, strong establishment of a

political line in people’s everyday life brought fewer new actors, creating less surprise but a solid

mobilization; in South Koreas, the less-established political line in people’s everyday life attracted

more new actors, creating more surprise but ‘frivolous’ mobilizations.

Jeong-Im Hyun

Center for East Asian Studies, University of Turku

WHAT REALLY MATTERS IN CREATING MASS

MOBILIZATION, CLASSICAL ORGANIZATION OR

NEW SOCIAL MEDIA?

A COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY OF THE MASS

MOBILIZATION PROCESS IN FRANCE AND SOUTH

KOREA

Corresponding author:

Jeong-Im Hyun, Email: hyunjeongim@hotmail.com

Keywords

mobilization process, new media, micro-mobilization, meso-mobilization

Jeong-Im-Hyun_Cont.pdf