
Protests and Radicalization in the Digital Age
The Reopen Movement
Cambridge University Press
Will be published approx. on 31. July 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
75 pages
978-1-009-76878-8 (ISBN)
Description
This Element provides the first large-scale inquiry into the 'Reopen' protest movement against COVID-19 public health shutdowns. We synthesize digital ethnography inside the movement with text analyses of an original data set spanning more than 1.8 million Facebook comments and posts from over 224,000 online activists. We characterize the movement's origin, growth, and evolution as it interacted with public policies and offline protests. We explain individual- and group-level dynamics of radicalization over time, across topics, and, paradoxically, in response to content moderation. We extend existing theories of contentious politics to suggest that movements that fail to maintain their connection to offline organizations are especially prone to mutability, radicalization, and exhaustion. Together, our findings offer a powerful theoretical framework for understanding social movements in the digital age, while updating and extending classical social movement theory.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
Weight
25 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-009-76878-8 (9781009768788)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Jeremy Menchik | Samuel Bazzi | Clara Martiny
Protests and Radicalization in the Digital Age
The Reopen Movement
Book
approx. 07/2026
Cambridge University Press
€68.50
Not yet published
Persons
Author
Boston University
University of California
University of Oxford
Boston University
SNS Analytics and Indikator Politik
Boston University
Content
1. Introduction; 2. Cycles of contention, the tea party, and the reopen movement; 3. Methods and data; 4. The reopen movement: cycles of contention in the digital age; 5. Conclusion; References.