Activism

Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, or direct social, political, economic, or environmental change, or stasis with the desire to make improvements in society and to correct social injustice. Forms of activism range from writing letters to newspapers or to politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing businesses, rallies, street marches, strikes, sit-ins, and hunger strikes. One can also express activism through different forms of art. Daily acts of protest such as not buying clothes from a certain clothing company because they exploit workers is another form of activism. One view holds that acknowledging privileges and oppressions on a daily basis ranks as a form of activism. Research has begun to explore how activist groups in the United States and in Canada use social media to facilitate civic engagement and collective action.

The Online Etymological Dictionary records the English words "activism" and "activist" (in the political sense) from 1920 and from 1915 respectively.

Activism 2.0

Activism 2.0 can be defined as online activism “fitting into people’s everyday routines and finding ways for people to use technology and social media to habitually contribute to social change with small, practical acts and, often, clicks.”

Origin and Usage

Call+Response

Activism 2.0 is a concept introduced by Justin Dillon in his film Call + Response. This film explores the 21st century slave trade and attempts to draw public attention to promote community-based activism to abolish slavery.

Making A Difference by Editing Wikipedia

Because of Wikipedia's prominence in search engine results, and its ranking as one of the most popular sites on the web, it is considered by some to be a worthwhile form of activism to combat bias, such as racism (by removing false assumptions and stereotypes) in Wikipedia articles.

Activism 2.0 vs. Slacktivism

Online activism is often considered slacktivism which is a pejorative term that describes "feel-good" measures, in support of an issue or social cause, that make slacktivists have the illusion that their actions have meaningful social impacts, while their actual impacts are in fact very limited.